Abstract
The rise of the journal's impact factor and a concomitant increase in the number of submissions have made it necessary to reorganize the journal's editorial board (EB). The Journal has already re-organized its editorial team1, and over the past months, the editorial board was re-organized and complemented with new members.
After many years of contributing to the journal's editorial activities, several section editors left the EB for different reasons. We thank Sheilah Robertson, Peter O’Brien, and Melissa Bateson for all their work and wish them success in their future endeavors and activities. At the end of 2017, Nathalie Baehler, the journal's editorial assistant, left the editorial team. Initially, Nathalie was responsible for the first screen of incoming manuscripts which included checking for adherence to the ARRIVE reporting guidelines and over the past years she had oversight of the News section. We thank for her work and wish her all the best in her future activities.
Recently, the EB has undergone profound changes: several sections have been amalgamated, new sections have been created, and the number of editors has been increased in order to reduce the workload of the existing section editor(s). Specifically, the “Anesthesia, Analgesia, Pain and Stress” section has been strengthened with the addition of Patricia Foley and Patricia Hedenqvist. The “Anatomy and Neuroscience” section has been strengthened with the addition of Sara Wells. The “Behaviour” section has been strengthened with the addition of Marcel Gyger and Lars Lewejohann. The “Biostatistics” section was expanded into a new “Biostatistics and Experimental Design” section and strengthened with the addition of Hanno Würbel. The “Education” section has been strengthened with the addition of Christa Thöne-Reinecke. The “Imaging Techniques” section has been strengthened with the addition of Jordi Tremoleda. The “Physiology and Clinical Chemistry” section has been strengthened with the addition of Tertius Hough. The “Primate” section has been strengthened with the addition of Paul Honess. The “Reproductive Biology” has been strengthened by the addition of Colin Gilbert, a longstanding editorial board member, and Belen Pintado. The “Small Animal Models” section was strengthened with the addition of Jan-Bas Prins and Sara Wells. The “Systematic Review” section has been strengthened with the addition of Birgitte Kousholt. The “Veterinary Medicine” section has been strengthened with the addition of Nikolaos Kostomitsopoulos. Two new sections were created: the “Aquatic Organisms” section whose editors are Karin Finger-Baier, Jean-Philippe Mocho and Marcus Crim, and the “Nutrition and Diets” section whose editor is Graham Tobin. Several sections have been amalgamated, i.e. “Large Animal Models”, “Management of Animal Facilities”, “Molecular and Genetic Engineering”, “3Rs and Ethics”, and the editors of these amalgamated sections are longstanding members. The “Pathology and Microbiology” section is an amalgamated section which has been strengthened with the addition of Andre Bleich. The “Toxicology” and “Surgical Procedures” sections may still need strengthening. Some of the new section editors have already started handling manuscripts. We would like to welcome all new section editors and thank them for accepting to work for the Journal. At the same time, we also would like to thank the longstanding section editors for all their hard work over the past years.
A special issue on Microbiota whose guest editors are Axel Kornerup-Hansen and Craig Franklin is being planned for 2019 (date to be confirmed), and they are actively recruiting contributions. We are looking forward to publishing some exciting minireviews how microbiota are influencing laboratory animal experiments.