A vision and path forward for PAIN (2023-2028) from the incoming Editor-in-Chief

Introduction With this January 2023 issue of PAIN, I begin my journey as the new and fifth Editor-in-Chief of PAIN. It is a tremendous honor to be entrusted with the leadership of the flagship journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). I would like to thank the members of the search committee, IASP council, executive and administration, and colleagues for their support and encouragement (https://www.iasp-pain.org/publications/iasp-news/iasp-announces-new-editor-in-chief-of-pain/), and the editorial board for their warm welcome. I especially thank the outgoing Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Frank Keefe, for his time, guidance, advice, kindness, and patience in my transition into the position. I also thank the PAIN section editors and the administrative staff behind PAIN, Sally Weiss (Managing Editor) and Anna Lombardo (Assistant Managing Editor), whose efficiency, expertise, and dedication has eased my learning curve into this role. The state of the journal is superb and so I will strive to carry on and build on the outstanding work of the previous 4 Editors-in-Chief, all giants in the field of pain who brought their expertise, background, and leadership style to the position and raised the quality and profile of PAIN: Drs. Patrick Wall (the founder of PAIN), Ronald Dubner, Allan Basbaum, and Francis Keefe. In this editorial, I provide my vision and an overview of my goals and aspirations for PAIN. Who am I? I would like to introduce myself to you for those who do not know me. I bring a broad background to the position. At my core, I am a basic neuroscientist, but have worked in a translational and highly collaborative environment with scientists, clinicians, physicists, and neuroethicists for 35+ years. I originally trained as a neurophysiologist and conducted single-cell and primary afferent electrophysiology and anatomical studies of peripheral and central nociceptive systems, as well as behavioural or psychophysical studies as a trainee and early career investigator. Throughout this time, I was mentored by Drs. Jonathan Dostrovsky (who was trained by Pat Wall), Barry Sessle, James Campbell, Srinivasa Raja, and Richard Meyer. I was “in the right place at the right time” during the 1990s and 2000s, and that afforded me the opportunity to work with pioneers (Jonathan Dostrovsky, Ronald Tasker, and Andres Lozano) of intraoperative approaches to study thalamic and cortical neuronal and stimulation-evoked responses and neuromodulation in patients undergoing neurosurgical procedures. During that time, I also began to retool and eventually put aside my electrode to focus on brain imaging of structure, connectivity, and function using magnetic resonance imaging and magnetoencephalography under healthy conditions and in people with chronic pain. These approaches allowed me to further explore individual differences in brain structure, function, and plasticity that may hold some clues towards finding biomarkers of treatment outcomes. Explorations of the human brain and the development of machine learning and artificial intelligence, led to my interest in neuroethics and how it pertains to the pain field, as well as the societal and policy implications related to neuroethics. I place a high value on teaching and mentorship, have gained insights through meaningful interactions with people with lived experience of pain, and have been engaged in and led EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusiveness) activities. Thus, I bring my broad research, interests, and extensive experience in administrative, editorial, and society leadership roles at local, national, and international levels, including within the IASP, to the role of Editor-in-Chief of PAIN. It is not lost on me that I represent gender and geographic diversity as the first female and first Canadian-based Editor-in-Chief which I hope serves as inspiration and pride to others and contributes to the broad perspective of our editorial team. Vision and goals for PAIN Simply stated, my vision as Editor-in-Chief is to: Fortify PAIN as the premier international journal within the pain field in an ever-changing and advancing world, with respect to principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). Towards this vision, I have 7 main goals: (1) Ensure PAIN is relevant and topical. As Editor-in-Chief, I will strive to embrace and encourage submissions not only within current areas of interest but also across broad areas as the field evolves, such as those emerging due to technological and therapeutic advances, ethical, and societal issues. (2) Maintain journal integrity and competitiveness. The outstanding reputation of this journal arises from the quality of its content. I will continue to strive to publish outstanding and engaging content across a variety of article formats (original research, reviews, perspectives, commentaries, etc). I am also cognizant of the pace at which information is coming at us all from many sources and so it is also important to attract and sustain the attention and excitement of those working in and interested in the field of pain. For example, the “look and feel” of both visual and textual elements of the journal need to be compelling, as does how we disseminate our content through our email and social media alerts. There are also important practical issues, including web site and submission usability, interactive elements, and access that contribute to the attractiveness of the journal to authors and readers. These will all be explored in the context of the ever-changing and competitive scientific and technological environment. I consider scientific integrity as fundamental to the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge. With that in mind, the process of carefully examining proofs should be viewed as essential to ensure that the final version of a paper does not contain (typically inadvertent) errors. Given the ease of downloading uncorrected proofs, it has become commonplace for these versions of papers to be read and sometimes discussed at journal clubs and other gatherings. Thus, to safeguard against reading and potentially citing and perpetuating errors, PAIN will no longer post uncorrected proofs. This is an important change towards protecting your publications and the historical record of your work and maintaining journal integrity. To facilitate this process, authors are asked to return their corrected proofs in a timely fashion. Articles will be published online ahead of print within approximately 2 weeks after the proof correction process. (3) Reduce barriers for authors and readers. I recognize the many financial hardships and technical difficulties that authors face in submitting a paper for publication and will consider how best to ease these burdens. (4) Improve and speed up the review process. The timely dissemination of your work is paramount for advancing science that builds on itself. It is particularly important to trainees and early-mid career investigators who are building their body of work and accomplishments, to have their work reviewed fairly and in a reasonable period. The review process depends on the ever-increasing burden on our outstanding and hard-working section editors, and the available pool of expert reviewers, many of whom are vastly overworked and some with conflicts of interest as science becomes more and more collaborative, and internal journal operational procedures are also important. There is no quick and easy path to improve these issues, but moving forward, there are a number of potential changes I will explore and consider to increase efficiencies, streamline processes, reduce reviewer fatigue, and expand the available expert pool of reviewers, all with the goal to improve the assessment of your submissions and provide feedback to you in a reasonable period. Stay tuned for more developments on this front. (5) Engage early career investigators and trainees. My mentors mostly worked in a different scientific, technological, and societal environment than I did, and my mentees face a different world than I did as I developed and grew my research program. Scientific, clinical, and educational work thus must learn from the past but be able to navigate ever-changing and demanding times. Thus, PAIN needs to consult with, engage, and train early career investigators and trainees to ensure that the journal is of value to younger generations and that they are nurtured to become the next generation of outstanding investigators, clinicians, and educators, who can engage in journal activities as reviewers, board members, and leaders. Opportunities and journal features will be developed towards this goal. (6) Outreach to improve global engagement. As an international journal, it is important to provide opportunities for everyone in the field, regardless of country of origin. However, there are particular challenges for those in low-income and middle-income countries to fund, conduct, and disseminate research. PAIN will explore how best to engage and tackle issues for those facing such challenges that can help improve the path to publishing in the journal. (7) Embrace and implement EDI best practices. Equity, diversity, and inclusiveness is at the core of my vision for PAIN. This pertains to the people who serve the journal, those who publish in the journal, and the research being disseminated. PAIN already requires that “sex be considered a biological factor in research design, analyses, and reporting in vertebrate animal and human studies. Strong justification from the scientific literature, preliminary data, or other relevant considerations must be provided for applications proposing to study only one sex” (https://edmgr.ovid.com/pain/accounts/ifauth.htm). This is a good first step but is limited in scope and policy. A deeper dive into the multiple issues of EDI in scholarship will be undertaken and informed by the many organizational, institutional, and granting agencies that are advancing EDI principles in research. A recent joint editorial authored by the editors-in-chief of 7 pain publications, including PAIN and PAIN Reports, sets out 4 fundamental EDI principles for authors, reviewers, editors, and publishers, with a particular focus on sex, gender, ethnicity, race, and socioeconomic factors (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2022.11.005). The specifics of how these principles will be implemented at PAIN will be forthcoming after further consultation. Path forward Over the coming year and throughout my tenure, I will work with the Editorial Board, journal staff, our publisher Wolters Kluwer, IASP, and Pain Research Forum, and consult with stakeholders (eg, trainees, early-career investigators, etc.) as appropriate, to adjust, modify, and develop mechanisms and policies to best achieve the aforementioned goals towards my vision and to ensure that PAIN is the journal of choice for your excellent work and ideas. I look forward to working and learning from those who serve in various capacities at the journal. I especially look forward to reading the ideas, perspectives, and scholarly work submitted by you, the authors, for consideration at PAIN. And finally I am also looking forward to 2 upcoming historic events: The 50th anniversaries of IASP in 2024 and of PAIN in 2025. Stay tuned for special journal features to commemorate both these significant milestones in our history.

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