On the shoulders of giants.

Although this metaphor has been used (and sometimes abused) over the years, it certainly seems entirely appropriate at this particular time and place as I take over the role of Editor-in-Chief (EIC) from Amira Klip, PhD, who for the past three years has provided outstanding editorial guidance to the American Journal of Physiology Endocrinology and Metabolism (AJPEndo). This issue marks the official transition to a new editorial team. It is with great honor and some trepidation that I assume the role of EIC of the journal, one of the preeminent scientific journals. It is my belief that the scientific advances of tomorrow will be achieved by disseminating and understanding the research being published today in AJPEndo. I hope that you will find this editorial informative, and I invite your feedback. First, at both the professional and personal levels, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Klip. The journal has flourished under her stewardship, and the new editorial team will strive to maintain and enhance this increasing trajectory. Dr. Klip’s unwavering commitment to scientific excellence has manifested itself within each issue, and her vision for the journal to “become the home for mechanistic cellular and animal studies and for sophisticated and insightful human studies” is well on its way to fruition. I will not elaborate upon her extensive contributions and accomplishments as EIC but would urge all to read her recent editorial article entitled “Three Years in Reviews” (1). Additionally, thanks go to the past Associate Editors (AEs)—Drs. Patricia Brubaker (University of Toronto, Canada); Meredith Hawkins (Albert Einstein College of Medicine); André Marette (Laval University Medical Research Center, Canada); Kelle Moley (Washington University School of Medicine); Martin Myers, Jr. (University of Michigan); Michael Quon (National Institutes of Health); Assaf Rudich (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel); and Juleen Zierath (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)— for their service to the Journal and their high scientific and ethical standards. As a result of their tireless efforts, and with the support of our outstanding Editorial Board (more later) and our Editorial Manager, Ms. Karen Dodson, the editorial team has reduced the time to first decision for submitted manuscripts to 19 days. If you see these AEs at your next scientific meeting, please join me in offering them our heartfelt thanks. At this time it is my pleasure to introduce the new editorial team—some are returning veterans, some new “volunteers”— but all are highly qualified senior investigators with a demonstrated commitment and excitement toward basic and clinical research. Adhering to the axiom of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” several of the current AEs have reenlisted for another tour of duty, including Drs. Brubaker, Marette, Moley, Quon, and Rudich. The return of these dedicated individuals should ensure a smooth and efficient transition of leadership within the Journal. However, we have also taken the opportunity to bring fresh ideas and faces to the Journal by adding several new AEs for the upcoming three-year period. The new AEs for 2010– 2013 include Sue Bodine, PhD (University of California at Davis), Cheryl Conover, PhD (Mayo Clinic College of Medicine), and Gary Schwartz, PhD (Albert Einstein College of Medicine). As in the past, our AEs and Editorial Board have a wide diversity with respect to gender, geographical locale, and clinical versus basic science expertise. Regardless of their backgrounds, all the AEs are internationally recognized experts in endocrinology and metabolism. You will also note that we have an expanded Editorial Board with wider expertise in all aspects covered by the Journal (see current masthead of this issue for a complete listing). We have reviewed the needs of the Journal and now appoint Editorial Board members for a one-year term. The current board was selected on the basis of recommendations from the AEs and by their uniformly strong past reviewing contributions to AJPEndo or other journals. We welcome nominations for new editorial board members and for ad hoc reviewers wishing to gain editorial experience, because part of our continuing mission is to train the next generation. Collectively, the team feels deeply about the Journal and provides endless hours assisting authors with providing the scientific community with the very best science possible. With an uncertain future, the best resource is to have the right people on your team. As scientists, we crave the next big discovery. While each of us would like to be the one making the discovery, the next best thing is to read about it. Therefore, the Journal will present only papers of the highest quality to our readers. Over the past three years, papers published in AJPEndo have become more mechanistic in nature, with a diminishing emphasis on studies relying exclusively on correlation and associations. While high-quality descriptive papers will still find a home in the Journal, it is increasingly evident that the availability of sophisticated biochemical, cellular, molecular, and genetic tools will enhance the depth and scope of all studies investigating physiological function and relevance. Despite this emphasis, we wish to assure investigators that the Journal has not lost its focus; we will continue to “dance with who brought us.” Therefore, while the above-mentioned reductionist approach certainly provides mechanistic insight, there exist equally important studies to be published that will examine mechanisms using more integrative physiological approaches. Furthermore, the Journal will continue to actively solicit and welcome submission of physiological studies on humans. One of the most notable achievements at AJPEndo during the past three years has been the publication of an increased number of cutting-edge review-type articles [e.g., full Reviews, Minireviews, and Perspectives (1)]. This trend will continue with the desire to stimulate new and creative ways of looking at specific scientific questions. The Journal has a long-standing and storied history of publishing research related to metabolic changes in glucose, lipid, and protein metabolism. More recently, the metabolic derangements produced by diabetes, obesity, and exercise have become a prominent feature of the Journal. Although this focus is unlikely to change dramatically in the coming years, we will actively work to not marginalize other areas of endocrinology and metabolism. In the coming months and years, you will note an increased number of papers Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 299: E1–E2, 2010; doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00000.2010. Editorial