Ready for another big year!

Peter D. Siersema

Dear readers, authors and friends of Endoscopy,

At the threshold of 2020, some of us may well have New Year’s resolutions, intending to change something in our habits or work, but one thing that probably remains unchanged is our dedication to endoscopy. And in 2020 Endoscopy will continue to publish stimulating high quality endoscopic research, reports of interesting new techniques and novel devices, and new or updated guidelines from the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Alongside these endeavors, you will also see some new features that will make our journal even more readable, and improvements in workflow to facilitate your submissions.

Once more we are ringing the changes on the Endoscopy cover page. Last year we had artist’s drawings of classic therapeutic interventions in gastrointestinal endoscopy, as part of Endoscopy’s 50th anniversary celebrations. The 2017 covers showed imaginative endoscopy-related art created by our editorial team. In 2020 we have another “art in endoscopy” project, initiated by a group of Dutch gastroenterologists in training. Our covers will feature examples of incidentally beautiful (almost artistic!) images encountered during routine endoscopic procedures. The photographs were originally submitted by a group of dedicated endoscopists as part of an exhibition organized during a Dutch Society of Gastroenterology meeting. With each cover image there will be a short introduction inside the journal from its creator.

During the coming year, there will be other changes, some suggested by our Editorial Board members. For example, the number of E-videos featured in Endoscopy will be increased, and they will be accompanied by a comment from an invited endoscopy expert. Another initiative that is currently underway is publication of papers online in their manuscript form as soon as possible after they have been accepted (generally known as “in press” publication). And exciting changes in the peer review process will be announced during 2020.

At the end of 2019, we bade farewell to our Co-Editors Michael Bourke, Raf Bisschops, and Mouen Khashab, who are leaving the team. I am very grateful for all the hard work they have done for the journal, and am comforted by the fact that the worldwide family of endoscopists is relatively small and I am sure we will all still have the chance to meet up with one another.

Finally, I would like to take the opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to all those involved in Endoscopy, whether as authors, reviewers, or readers of our journal. This year, I also had the pleasure of presenting awards, as the best reviewers of the year, to Seiichiro Abe (Japan), Nicolas Burgess (Australia), James East (UK), Alvaro Martínez Alcalá (Spain), and Joshua Melson (USA). A special thanks to the Editorial Office and to our publisher, Thieme, who make possible the appearance of each month’s Endoscopy. Last but not least, the collaboration with the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) remains highly appreciated. Alongside its usual publications in our journal, in 2020 ESGE will have a special online abstract issue for the third ESGE Days, on April 23–25, 2020 in Dublin.

For now, on behalf of the Editorial Team, I wish you a healthy, successful, and happy 2020!

Peter D. Siersema, Editor-in-Chief, Endoscopy