More Good News for Our Old Journal

Founded in 1928, our journal is the oldest endocrine periodical in the German-speaking parts of Europe as already pointed out by H. S. in an editorial published in the first issue of 2004. The overall acceptance and the prestige of a scientific journal critically depends on the quality of manuscripts submitted. The development of Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes over the last ten years or so impressively underscores this notion.

The editorial office has been receiving an ever increasing number of excellent manuscripts from all over the world. Due to a rigorous review process and stringent space limitations more than 50 % of the submitted papers have to be rejected, thereby ensuring the high quality of published manuscripts. Along these lines, the journal's impact factor as an objective criterion of acceptance in the scientific community testifies a remarkably successful development. Starting with a factor of 0.1 in 1992, the journal has now reached a 2003 impact factor of nearly 2 (1.956). We would like to thank all authors of manuscripts, reviewers, and associated editors who made invaluable contributions to this success.

However, it is never advisable to indulge in complacence. The number of issues per year has already been increased from 8 to 10 in 2004. And the goals for the next years are set, that is to firmly establish the journal in the field of endocrinology and diabetes with a stable impact factor in this range or even higher. As we all have witnessed over the past few years, it eventually pays off to send high-quality manuscripts to the journal, and the editors would like to encourage you to send your best papers to Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes.

In order to expedite manuscript processing, the editors and the publisher have decided to implement full electronic handling of manuscripts as of January 1, 2005. From this date onwards all manuscripts should be submitted online. Of note, the full review process will also take place via the internet. Furthermore, publication of accepted, print-ready manuscripts on the publisher's website (www.thieme.de/eced) will be installed at the beginning of March, 2005. Thus, articles tagged with a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) will be accessible for the public and can be cited after final acceptance, well in advance of a printed version in one of the next hardcopy issues of the journal. We would like to thank the representatives of Thieme Verlag for their immediate support of the editors' suggestions. Editors and publisher will continue with their efforts to reduce the processing time for any submitted manuscript to a minimum, thus providing a further incentive for you to submit your important work to Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes.

A key intention of former and present editors has always been to establish the journal as an interactive scientific platform for both endocrinology and diabetology. Therefore, we shall make sure that the full gamut of both disciplines is reflected in each issue of the journal. We hope that a carefully balanced blend between endocrinology and diabetology, between molecular and clinical approaches as well as between full articles, reviews, and case reports will make every issue a pleasure to read for many physicians and scientists all over the world.

Finally, there are some additional good news for our journal: Since September 2004 our editorial team is complete again. Professor Thomas Gudermann will act as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes. T. G. is an experimental endocrinologist with a clinical background and currently serves as Director of the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Marburg, Germany. Therefore, as of November 2005 the new editorial office will be operative in Marburg.

We believe that our journal is well prepared to face the competition and challenges lying ahead. Nothing, however, can be achieved by the editors and the publisher alone without the dedicated support of endocrinologists and diabetologists all over the world. We would like to ask you all for your continuing assistance in further improving the scientific quality of Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes.

Thomas Gudermann, Marburg, Editor-in-Chief

Helmut Schatz, Bochum, Editor-in-Chief

Editorial Office Institute of Pharmacology and Toxikology, Medical Faculty, University of Marburg

Karl-von-Frisch-Straße 1

35043 Marburg

Germany

Email: [e-mail]