JOP. Journal of the Pancreas: "Is it easier to steer a Ferrari than to steer an online journal?" Considerations on a 'pancreatic' electronic journal at the beginning of its 8th year of publication.

The first issue of JOP. Journal of the Pancreas was published in May 2000. May 2007 sees the beginning of the 8 year of publication and we believe that the time has come to evaluate our work. On a beautiful summer evening in the past millennium (September 10, 1999), during the course of a dinner in the countryside near Bologna, three friends: a pancreatologist (R. Pezzilli), a biostatistician (A.M. MorselliLabate) and a professional in the field of information technology (L. Morotti), conceived the idea of creating an innovative journal; our aim was to initiate something which could represent a reference point for the rapid dissemination and distribution of knowledge in pancreatology. Since its outset, it was immediately clear that we would be facing a challenge since “It isn't because things are difficult that we don't try, but by not trying, things become difficult” (Seneca). The three of us, the founding members of JOP, then decided to involve other people in the initiative. Those people who have played and are still playing a key role in the life of JOP are: Luca Burioni, a friend from Genoa who became the publisher of the Journal, Generoso Uomo from Naples, who enthusiastically became the co-editor of JOP and other researchers around the world who kindly accepted to become members of the Editorial Board. Why did we decide to create a new journal? As the reader will recall, there were two established journals at that time which were devoted to the pancreatology. Still, we felt that there was the need to create a journal with different characteristics: