“authors may now request a fast‐track (‘Frontline’) service”

The beginning of 2008 sees a change in the editorial line-up of the European Journal of Immunology (EJI); I have been elected as Chairman of the Executive Committee (ExCo) of EJI and take office as of January 2008 in succession to Rolf Zinkernagel, who has stepped down after serving as Chairman from 2000 to 2007. During the past seven years Rolf ensured that the peer-review process of EJI was both rigorous and fair, and that EJI continued to be a top quality journal — EJI is one of the top ten primary immunology journals as ranked by ISI. Rolf also oversaw a number of changes to EJI, including the partnership with the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS), as outlined in his editorial in 2007 1. We are very grateful to Rolf for his enormous contribution to immunology in general and to EJI in particular. In the continually developing environment of scientific publishing there are clearly major challenges facing EJI, both in the short and long term. To maintain the impact EJI has on the scientific community, we need to uphold the tradition of a speedy, rigorous and fair review system. We also need to increase the appeal of EJI to readers and authors alike. To this end, the following initiatives are being taken: 1. We have introduced fixed terms of office for the ExCo. As a consequence Lorenzo Moretta stood down from the Committee at the end of 2007 having completed 15 years as a Committee member. I would like to take this opportunity to formally thank Lorenzo for his enormous contribution to EJI. I am extremely pleased to announce that Pamela Ohashi (T cells, signalling, autoimmunity; Ontario, Canada) and Ric­ardo Gazzinelli (parasitology, infection; Minas Gerais, Brazil) have joined the ExCo in 2008. This further broadens the subject expertise of the Committee and truly emphasises the global nature of EJI, bringing the number of ExCo members based outside Europe to a total of five; the others being Marco Colonna (St. Louis, USA), Takashi Saito (Yokohama, Japan) and Paola Ricciardi-Castagnoli (Singapore). The Editorial Board is also being updated and the new line-up will be announced shortly. 2. We will continue with and improve upon the two tier review process, as described here and below. All submitted articles will continue to be reviewed by at least two ExCo members who will decide whether a manuscript will progress further. This initial decision will be made, on average, within 10 days of submission. Papers that are subjected to in-depth review will receive a final editorial decision following full external peer review typically within one month after submission. 3. In order to streamline the peer-review process and publish the most significant studies with priority, authors may now request a fast-track (‘Frontline’) service. This request must be accompanied by a brief cover letter stating why Frontline status and fast-tracking are warranted. If the ExCo members concur, the paper will be ­expedited through the peer-review and publication processes — referees will be asked to provide a rapid review and priority will be given during production and allocation of manuscripts to issues. Articles declined for fast-tracking may, if their priority rating is sufficient, be processed as regular articles. This new fast-track service applies to both full length articles and Short Communications, and full details on this procedure can be found in the Instructions to Authors on the EJI website (www.eji-journal.eu) 4. For all submissions, authors are now required to briefly detail in the cover letter that accompanies the article the significance and novelty of the study to the immunology community. This will enable the scope and value of the manuscript to be quickly and accurately determined and to ensure that each manuscript is handled by the most appropriate ExCo member. 5. A new article format, the Short Communication (3000 words and three display items), was introduced in 2007 and has proved very popular with authors, accounting for almost 10% of all submissions. Authors are encouraged to submit their brief definitive studies in this article style. 6. Commissioned review articles by experts in the field of significant interest will be published in every issue of EJI starting later in the year. All review articles will be subjected to rigorous peer review. 7. ‘News and EFIS’, part of EJI’s Forum section, is a valuable tool for communicating information regarding meetings, grants and awards sponsored by the EFIS-EJI partnership. This partnership allows EJI to ­financially support the scientific community and so advance immunological research; however, the ‘News and EFIS’ section is not just confined to EFIS-related topics and also includes general information of interest to immunologists. Readers who wish to contribute to this section may contact the editorial team (ejied@wiley-vch.de). 8. The technical advances offered by electronic publishing and the internet are being harnessed by EJI. RSS feeds for News and journal content are now available on the EJI website. For more information, click on the RSS feed button. Furthermore, EJI has its very first podcast — an interview with Ralph Steinman which accompanies his recent EJI article 2. Further podcasts will appear throughout the year and if there is anyone you feel we should interview or a topic you feel deserves attention in a podcast, please let us know. EJI was created 38 years ago by a group of eminent European immunologists to advance a broad range of immunological research. This very spirit will be upheld. EJI will not only publish papers on those topics of great popular interest at the time of publication, currently fields such as TLR and Treg (see Table 1) but will continue to publish incisive papers on immunological topics that are less fashionable. Such less modish topics are still of significant interest to our readers as indicated in (Table 2). EJI will continue to evolve and more initiatives will no doubt emerge in the coming months which we shall share with the readers via editorials and the online news section of EJI (http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/ 25061/home/news/index.html). 1. Transient expression of FOXP3 in human activated nonregulatory CD4+ T cells: Wang, J. et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 2007. 37: 129–138. 2. IL-27 controls the development of inducible regulatory T cells and Th17 cells via differential effects on STAT1: Neufert, C. et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 2007. 37: 1809–1816. 3. Interferon-regulatory-factor 1 controls Toll-like receptor 9-mediated IFN-beta production in myeloid dendritic cells: Schmitz, F. et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 2007. 37: 315–327. 4. Induction of organ-selective CD4+ regulatory T cell homing: Siewert, C. et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 2007. 37: 978–989. 5. Faithful activation of an extra-bright red fluorescent protein in “knock-in” Cre-reporter mice ideally suited for lineage tracing studies: Luche, H. et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 2007. 37: 43–53. 6. Reciprocal generation of Th1/Th17 and Treg cells by B1 and B2 B cells: Zhong, X. et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 2007. 37: 2400–2004. 7. IL-35 is a novel cytokine with therapeutic effects against collagen-induced arthritis through the expansion of regulatory T cells and suppression of Th17 cells: Niedbala, W. et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 2007. 37: 3021–3029. 8. Activation of retinoic acid receptor-alpha favours regulatory T cell induction at the expense of IL-17-secreting T helper cell differentiation: Schambach, F. et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 2007. 37: 2396–2399. 9. Involvement of TBK1 and IKKepsilon in lipopolysaccharide-induced activation of the interferon response in primary human macrophages: Solis, M. et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 2007. 37: 528–539. 10. Macrophage fusion induced by IL-4 alternative activation is a multistage process involving multiple target molecules: Helming, L and Gordon, S., Eur. J. Immunol. 2007. 37: 33–42. 1. Toll-like receptor stimulation as a third signal required for activation of human naive B cells: Ruprecht, C. R and Lanzavecchia, A., Eur. J. Immunol. 2006. 36: 810–816. 2. Severe combined immunodeficiency and microcephaly in siblings with hypomorphic mutations in DNA ligase IV: Buck, D. et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 2006. 36: 224–235. 3. IL-22 regulates the expression of genes responsible for antimicrobial defense, cellular differentiation, and mobility in keratinocytes: a potential role in psoriasis: Wolk, K. et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 2006. 36: 1309–1323. 4. Systemic application of CpG-rich DNA suppresses adaptive T cell immunity via induction of IDO: Wingender, G. et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 2006. 36: 12–20. 5. Divergent effects of IL-12 and IL-23 on the production of IL-17 by human T cells: Hoeve, M. A. et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 2006. 36: 661–70. Finally, I am grateful to the management, support and commitment of the in-house editorial team of EJI, Dr. Cate Livingstone and Dr. Delphine Goux, who contribute enormously to the continuous success and progress of EJI.

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