Abstract
The December 2018 issue of United European Gastroenterology Journal (UEGJ) is the last issue for the editorial team that started the journal in 2013. It was a bold move for UEG to launch a journal in an era of a rapidly expanding number of scientific journals, including many new open-access journals, and web-based sources of information for our field. The evolution of the journal and its growth to date confirm that there was a need for a high-quality publication of clinically relevant scientific information in the field of gastroenterology in the broad sense, with a close link to UEG. At the end of its 6th year of publication, UEGJ has acquired a respectable impact, reputation and status amongst journals in the gastroenterology and hepatology category.
It is with pride and gratitude that the editorial team looks back on these successful first six years. Success of a new journal depends on several crucial factors. For UEGJ, the committed backing from both the UEG Executive Committee and the UEG Office has given the journal an indispensable head start. I also want to thank the Journal Management Committee of UEG for their trust and support. Our publisher, SAGE, provided a highly dedicated and professional team to UEGJ, and they were instrumental in generating early successes like the first-year impact factor, access to Pubmed and the 2013 APEX award in the ‘New Magazines and Journals’ category. The editorial board, composed of internationally leading researchers in gastroenterology and hepatology, contributed with reviews of submitted papers, ideas for up-to-date content and helped to guard the high scientific level of journal content.
My greatest thanks go to the associate editors, a stellar team who did a tremendous job and with whom it was a privilege to interact. Thank you Oliver Pech, Arthur Kaser, Tim Greten and Janneke van der Woude for joining me on this exciting mission! The most indispensable factor in the road to success for a journal is the authors. I want to thank everybody who submitted their scientific work to UEGJ, especially the authors who did so in the period of 2012–2014, when the journal still had to build its strength and reputation.
For the journal, the hand-over to a new editorial team is timely and relevant. Each editorial team has its own focuses, and changing teams will help the journal maintain its broad scope and range of topics. The foreseeable path for UEGJ is growth towards further eminence and higher impact in the field. I wish Professor Joost Drenth, new editor-in-chief, and his team the best of luck, and hope they enjoy working for the journal as much as I did. I consider it a great privilege to have served as editor-in-chief for UEGJ.