Abstract
In 2016, the term of David Dodick as the Editor-in-Chief of Cephalalgia will come to an end, and I am honored and humbled to have been elected to take over the post. This is a massive task, and I sincerely thank David for his outstanding work over the past seven years in securing and enhancing the success of Cephalalgia. I can only hope to keep up with the standards he has set.
Cephalalgia lives because of its authors, reviewers and Associate Editors, and all the former Editors, starting with Ottar Sjaastad, and succeeded by Marcia Wilkinson, K Michael Welch, Peter J Goadsby and David Dodick, have collectively done a marvelous job in raising and retaining the reputation of the journal. In fact, they have been so successful that Cephalalgia is undisputed amongst the top neurological and neuroscience publications. I have the utmost respect and genuine admiration for the work they have done and am fully aware that we are all standing on the shoulders of giants.
I ran for the position as Editor-in-Chief with three goals in mind: Firstly, to secure the best scientific authors and papers to ensure Cephalalgia stays at the forefront of clinical and scientific publications in headache. Although this seems obvious, it is also specific as Cephalalgia is the Journal of the International Headache Society. The headache field is fast moving, and next to publishing cutting edge research we will ask our readers directly what themes should be focused on, for example in comprehensive short reviews.
A much neglected issue in the headache society, which I hope to foster in the coming years, is the broad field of facial pain, a topic where our knowledge is much limited. In fact, our pathophysiological knowledge and treatment options regarding facial pain stand where we had been with migraine 20 years ago. Excellent clinical observations and emerging scientifically-based new concepts should find, where appropriate, a home in Cephalalgia.
With my editorial colleagues, I will explore opportunities to broaden the journal towards clinical content by implementing educational papers and CME articles, perhaps embraced by a new format tentatively called “Cephalalgia Campus”, without compromising the backbone of Cephalalgia, i.e. publishing ground-breaking, innovative and up-to-date basic and clinical research. The overarching theme is, and will be, to only publish what increases our knowledge of headache and trigeminal pain. It is my hope that every issue of Cephalalgia will contain something of interest to all its readers in clinic, science and clinical science.
The second goal is to raise and retain the reputation and enhance the visibility of Cephalalgia with easy and fast access to its contents. Particularly the latter is crucial for authors and readers alike. We will explore all new and emerging possibilities that the Internet provides, from audio slides to providing source data and discussing tools for open access. All of this should start with the simplest step, which is that all members of IHS receive the Table of Contents. To this end, it is essential that all members send their e-mail addresses to the IHS office, we promise not to share this and only send you information that you want.
Another goal is, to give dedicated scientists the opportunity to learn from the more seasoned and experienced editors. This will include two new positions of ‘Junior Editor’ on the Editorial Board, where each Junior Editor will be directly linked to an Associate Editor to ensure that young academics get the chance to acquire editorial skills early in their career. Last but not least, Cephalalgia is and has always been, proud to very strictly follow rules, guidelines of transparency and tenets of registration, as well as the highest scientific standards and while I am Editor-in-Chief, Cephalalgia will firmly continue to adhere to these principles. In the future, every manuscript that is sent in will be screened for originality using iThenticate, and it is my goal that no manuscript is published that has not be rigorously reviewed by a statistician.
Lastly, I intend to continue publishing data from my group in Cephalalgia and have appointed one associate editor to handle and act as EIC with such a manuscript. It goes without saying that I will be completely blinded to all actions, correspondence and reviewers that are involved with handling such a manuscript. I shall not be discouraged if the paper is rejected. That is the nature of the best journals.
It is a great honor to get the chance to head this journal and together with my editorial colleagues we are all absolutely devoted to the task ahead: to keep Cephalalgia the best journal for the best papers on headache and trigeminal pain.