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The Archives of Facial Plastic SurgeryThe First Decade
Wayne F. Larrabee Jr, MD, Editor
Arch Facial Plast Surg. 2008;10(6):369.
Editors seem to possess an innate need to create and celebrate important milestones in their publications and communities. These anniversaries provide an opportunity to remember the past, give thanks for the present, and contemplate the future. This issue of the Archives is dedicated to facial plastic surgery. We invited a range of authors at different stages in their careers to contribute their wisdom and insights on topics from the philosophical to the technical, from the laboratory to the operating suite, from the historical to the only imagined. We thank these authors for their contributions. We only wish we had more pages to include the many others who have written, reviewed, and supported the Archives throughout its first decade.
Although we acknowledge our bias, it is difficult to imagine a more dynamic specialty than facial plastic surgery. On the research frontier, advances in wound healing, laser technology, biomaterials, and other areas will transform facial plastic surgery in ways we can only imagine. Surgical techniques will advance in an exciting—but more predictable—manner and result in better, safer outcomes for our patients. The articles in this issue speak strongly about the present and future of both facial plastic surgery and the Archives. Our inclusion this year in the Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports and its designation of our first impact factor is both a testament to our maturity as a journal and an achievement that will make the journal more attractive to authors in both the United States and abroad.
The Archives was founded as an international, multispecialty journal. We have been fortunate to have quality authors, editors, and reviewers from outside the United States. To a large degree, our future growth will come in these scientifically vibrant countries. We also have talented authors, editors, and reviewers in all the specialties that contribute to facial plastic surgery. We have achieved widespread respect from these specialties for our commitment to peer-reviewed science, both clinical and basic. A major goal for the next decade is to expand contributions and readership from specialties to include plastic surgery, maxillofacial surgery, dermatologic surgery, and oculoplastic surgery. When our journal was founded, George D. Lundberg, MD, the editor in chief of JAMA at that time, expressed his hope that this could be a "healing journal," a publication based on the common ground of science where specialty competition could be put aside and all would present their best research to advance patient care. His vision continues to be our vision—and with patience and determined editorial efforts we will achieve it.
A medical journal needs more than excellent authors to accomplish its mission. In the past decade of working with the JAMA and Archives leaders and staff I have learned more than I could have imagined about the process and science of medical editing. The major lessons, however, have not been technical but ethical. The importance to our profession and our patients of an ethical, peer-reviewed process have been continually emphasized by Catherine D. DeAngelis, MD, MPH, Editor, JAMA, and Editor in Chief, Scientific Publications and Multimedia Applications. This moral leadership is immensely important to the integrity of our publication and to the development of a credible, evidence-based medicine.
A major paradigm change not addressed elsewhere is our transformation to a Web-based journal. Although the paper journal remains the journal of record, many enhancements, such as videos, Web-only content, search functions, and rapid publication available on the Web make it the preferred media platform for the future. Efficiencies introduced with the Web-based editorial system have added significantly to our ability to publish a quality product more rapidly. This change is particularly beneficial to our authors, editors, and reviewers from outside the United States. Our progress on the Web is due in large part to the hard work and quiet dedication of JAMA and Archives Web editor, Margaret A. Winker, MD. We thank her and offer special accolades for her exceptional efforts.
In the next decade, we must preserve the passion for medicine that defines our specialty. Our dedicated researchers and clinicians will surely develop new science and technology to improve quality and safety for our patients. The editorial board and staff of the Archives look forward to publishing this research in new and imaginative ways for decades to come.
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author: Dr Larrabee, Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, 600 Broadway, Ste 280, Seattle, WA 98122 (archfacial{at}jama-archives.org).
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