The Annals of Hepatology welcomes the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver (CASL).

EDITORIAL The Annals of Hepatology (AH) has the notable distinction of being only the second peer-reviewed journal published in the Americas dedicated solely to liver disease. Founded in 2002 1 as the official journal of the Mexican Association of Hepatology (MAH), the inaugural issue of the AH received the endorsement of the late Dr. Andres T. Blei 2 who, at the time, was the editor of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver and the Western Hemisphere's first journal dedicated to liver disease. Since then, the AH has quickly established itself as both a vehicle to promote hepatology in Latin America and as a truly international journal with submissions from around the world. By its fifth anniversary, the AH became the Official Journal of the Latin-American Association for the Study of the Liver (LASL) 3 and was indexed in all of the major journal databases. In this issue, the AH welcomes the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver (CASL) as its third official affiliated society. We regard this as a very important partnership for the AH in order to maintain and improve the quality of papers and disseminate its published scientific information. CASL, the professional society of Canadian (as well as international) medical specialists and allied health care professionals with an interest in liver, has a long history that dates back to 1971 when the organization started as the Canadian Liver Club. 4 In 1985, the organization changed to its current name and created its constitution as well as administrative structure. CASL has for many years, shared its official journal, the Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology, with the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology. This partnership remains a successful one but in this era of globalization and internationalization, CASL also welcomes the important idea articulated by Eric Yoshida and Kevork Peltekian, to utilize its new relationship with the Annals of Hepatology as an excellent opportunity, through the Annals of Hepatology, for starting a very productive relationship between CASL, LASL, and MAH. Indeed, prior to its official association with the AH, CASL and its members have, for several years, enjoyed an active unofficial association with the journal to mutual benefit. We note that the first Canadian to publish in the AH was Dr. Florence Wong 5 of the University of Toronto followed closely, a few issues later, by Dr. Sam Lee of the University of Calgary. …