Incoming editor-in-chief reaffirms journal policy on trials registration, funding for research and declaration of authorship roles
Professor-Emeritus Centre for Reproductive Medicine and Research Centre Reproduction and Genetics, Vrije Universiteit Brussels.
E-mail: Andre.VanSteirteghem{at}az.vub.ac.be
It felt like a historic moment for me when during the 22nd Annual Meeting in Prague (June 2006) I was appointed by the Executive Committee and the Annual General Meeting of ESHRE to be Editor-in-Chief of Human Reproduction, starting January 2007 with this first issue of volume 22. Over the years, the stature of the Journal has grown alongside that of the Society, and it has become one of the leading journals in the field of reproductive medicine and science. Until now Human Reproduction has had two Editors-in-Chief: the founding Editor Professor Robert Edwards who served from 1986 until the end of 2000 and Professor David Barlow from 2001 until the end of 2006. In the December 2006, Editorial of Human Reproduction, Professor Barlow presented an overview of where the Journal stands now. As incoming Editor-in-Chief, I fully appreciate that it is an immense task to continue in the footsteps of my predecessors.
Over the years, my connection with Human Reproduction has been as reader, author, reviewer, editorial board member, Associate Editor and Deputy-Editor and as a faithful supporter. As Deputy-Editor during 2006, I had the privilege to work directly with Professor Barlow and appreciate his major contributions to the excellent standing of the Journal. At the last meeting of the Executive Committee of ESHRE, Professor Barlow was appointed as Editor-Emeritus of Human Reproduction. The same Editor-Emeritus status will be given to the retiring editors of Human Reproduction Update and Molecular Human Reproduction.
During my career, I have had the privilege to serve ESHRE from its humble beginnings until now, and I have witnessed and participated in the immense growth of the Society. My attitude will be similar as Editor-in-Chief. I want to continue to offer a forum for the best research in our field. The success of a scientific journal that receives well over 1700 submissions a year must rely on close teamwork between the Editorial Team (Deputy-Editors, Managing and Senior Editor), secretarial staff of the Editorial Office and the Production Staff of the publisher; Oxford University Press. Although ultimately, the quality of any Journal is determined by its content, which means the accepted manuscripts. A thorough but fair review process, which can count on the expert advice of the Associate Editors and ad-hoc reviewers has been the guarantor of high-quality publications in Human Reproduction. It is my intention to ensure that these high standards of peer review are maintained and wherever possible improved upon.
With the two incoming Editors-in-Chief of our sister Journals (Professor John Collins for Human Reproduction Update and Professor Steve Hillier for Molecular Human Reproduction), we will liaise at regular occasions and continue and eventually expand certain educational activities such as a Pre-Congress Course on journal-related matters at each Annual Meeting.
Over the course of the last year, the Editorial team has been working on clarifying Journal Policy in a number of key areas. An updated version of the ‘Instructions for Authors’ of Human Reproduction is available on the website as of January 2007. As recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), all clinical trials need to be registered at their inception. In accordance with this, authors of clinical trials will be required to register their trial with one of the ICMJE-recognised trial registries (http://www.icmje.org/faq.pdf). Upon submission, authors will be asked to provide evidence in the form of a trial registry number. This unique identifier will be published at the end of the abstract in accord with the ICMJE.
In line with World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) guidelines (http://www.wame.org/wamestmt.htm#fundres), the journal considers it the responsibility of the author to protect the integrity of the research record from bias related to the source of funding by fully declaring all sponsorships, the roles played by sponsors in the research as well as institutional affiliations and relevant financial ties.
Human Reproduction also adheres to the ICMJE guidelines regarding ‘Authorship and Contributorship’ (see http://www.icmje.org/index.html#author). Declaration of Authors’ roles is required at submission, and this information will be listed for each author on the title page of the article. A maximum of 10 authors may be listed.
I look forward to working with you and to maintaining an open forum for authors readers and reviewers. Whenever needed, I will be in contact with you via editorials and will make myself available for questions and feedback, because it is my intention that the Journal can be the centre point for good communications throughout its broad field of reproductive medicine.
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