Refining the changes. Or, how to modify the shape, not the spirit.

I n the January issue of the European Respiratory Journal (ERJ) we outlined some of the issues that we felt to be important in the peer-review process [1], and hoped that the changes we were about to implement would reduce the reviewing turnaround time. Six months on, we are proud to announce that the median length of time it takes for authors to be notified with a first decision about their manuscript has reduced from 32 to 20 days. As we believe a further reduction in this turnaround time to be an unrealistic aim, we are starting to explore new ways in which to reshape the Journal without changing its core content and spirit. One such possibility would be to strengthen the links between the Journal and the scientific activities of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), while at the same time making the ERJ more attractive to a broader readership.