Next chapter for Veterinary Medicine and Science

Veterinary Medicine and Science launched in 2014 as an online, peer-reviewed, open access, truly international journal covering all aspects of veterinary science. The latter statement could not be more correct…..the journal accepts articles on all species and in my short time of accepting articles I have overseen ones on the species you would expect (dogs, cats, cattle, pigs, poultry, horses) all the way to rail (small to medium-sized, ground-dwelling birds) and pangolins. We look forward to this breadth of species submitted to the journal to continue. The journal has become established over the last five years under the leadership of Professor Ed Hall, as Editor-in-Chief, an extensive group of Associate Editors and an experienced Editorial Board. They have worked tirelessly to publish over 100 original articles, reviews and case reports over this time and deserve thanks from all. VMS has been accepted for indexing in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), and therefore the journal will receive its first Impact Factor in 2019. This will be a testament to and based on the work of Ed and his team. My vision for the next three years will be to build upon this benchmark. I completed a large animal (food animal and equine) internal medicine and emergency and critical care residencies at the Royal Veterinary College, London. I am also an associate diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging primarily for my interest and publications in food animal ultrasonography and hold an RCVS certificate in veterinary anaesthesia. My interests and clinical expertise thus encompass several species and areas, which I hope will be an asset to the journal. However, one person cannot manage the number and breadth of articles submitted alone. As such, a small, select, species-specific group of Associate Editors have been selected, and I would like to thank them all for the work that they have done so far and for what is to come. Professor Mark Bowen is staying on from the original Associate Editor team to handle equine, internal medicine and education submissions. The new Associate Editors are Prof Markus Freick, HTW Dresden, who will be managing reproductive and food animal papers and is our European representative; Dr Chris Luby, University of Saskatchewan who will also manage food animal papers and be the North American representative; Dr Cara Hallowell-Evans, based in private practice in the UK, will be managing exotic animal papers; Dr Katie Nash, based in private practice (VETMED) in Arizona, will handle the small animal papers; she also brings expertise from her time spent growing up and practising in Australia; Dr Mark White, who is a pig consultant based in the UK, who will manage the porcine papers and Dr Will Garton, who leads the Avivet poultry and gamebird team in the UK, will manage the poultry papers. Hopefully, this breadth of experience and geographical variety will provide support to authors in all areas of veterinary science from across the globe. Veterinary Medicine and Science aims to publish good quality articles from all aspects of veterinary science. One of the unique selling features of this journal is that it aims to publish sound science, where research integrity and ‘technical quality’ are more important than novelty or perceived (citation) impact. The editorial team aims to support authors to ensure science is published and are looking for reasons why an article could be accepted rather than rejected. We aim to work closely with authors to help revise their manuscript, with the assistance of reviewers, into a format suitable for publication. We are accepting original articles, reviews and also case reports. Case reports have been accepted by the journal previously, but we hope more will be submitted in the future. Many journals have stopped accepting case reports unless they are very novel or are a case series, which in my opinion limits the dissemination of unusual cases or case presentations to the veterinary community. Case reports are also a publication option or requirement for many professional qualifications, and there is a dearth of options of where to publish these; we hope that VMS will become that ‘go-to’ journal for many. VMS is a truly international journal accepting articles from all over the globe. It receives many articles from the United States, Africa and the Far East. We hope that with the support from the editorial team and with the acquisition of an Impact Factor in 2019 that this journal will also have appeal to currently under-represented regions such as Europe. Lastly, the journal would not be able to exist without reviewers, and I wish to thank all those that have reviewed previously and those that will review in the future. I have only been in this role a short time, and before it, I had been an active and frequent reviewer, but had minimal editorial experience. Wiley has supported me regarding training and technical aspects that I need to become a productive and successful editor in chief. However, no-one but you can help me with the biggest challenge I face, and that is recruiting appropriate reviewers. As an author, I want my papers to pass swiftly through the review and publication process. This, however, cannot happen if no-one is willing to give up their time to review. Reviewing papers, as well as being an opportunity to give back, is also an educational experience and provides opportunities to identify limitations in other peoples’ research which should allow you to improve your studies and manuscripts and ensure that they need fewer revisions. I would, therefore, like to reach out to the research and veterinary community and particularly to anyone who has complained about how long their paper has been in review to accept requests to review. I hope that anyone who submits to VMS will be willing to review for us. Every paper I review, I learn more. I look forward to working with authors, Associate Editors and reviewers over the next three years and hope to be approachable and supportive of a broad scope of veterinary research and will be happy to help if I can.

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