Inaugural editorial: a new era for Circulation Research.

It is my pleasure to address you as the new Editor of Circulation Research. The journal is thriving as I inherit it from Steve Vatner’s dedicated and capable direction. Submissions are roughly double what they were when he took over (totaling nearly 1300 in 1998), and the journal’s shortterm ISI impact factor has risen to 8.44.1 This is particularly remarkable given that Circulation Research does not traditionally publish meeting abstracts, which artificially inflate the short-term impact factor. Most abstracts are cited only in the first 2 years after publication, which is the period covered by the conventional short-term impact factor. A more telling indicator of a journal’s preeminence in the field is its rank in 15-year impact factor ratings. In this long-term measure of scientific impact, Circulation Research’s rating of 64.4 ranks number one among cardiovascular journals (and 15th among all scientific journals), well above the 26th-place 53.8 rating of its closest competitor.2 Here, I would like to preview some of the changes that will occur in the journal. These changes are designed to maintain excellence while improving the efficiency of the review process and taking advantage of new technology. For operational details of these and other journal policies, please refer to the revised Instructions to Authors that appear elsewhere in this issue.