Abstract
In drafting my comments for this editorial, the theme of diversity and broad relevance came to mind. One of the European Stroke Organisation’s principles is that wherever possible gender balance should be achieved and that opportunities should be available across the range of age and experience. To keep the focus of the journal dynamic we aim to follow these same principles, and they are considered in several ways.
We sent out a recent call for applications to supplement and diversify our editorial board. At the time of writing before applications close, we know only that already there has been an overwhelming response. We anticipate that this will allow us to expand under-represented groups as well as to acknowledge the intensely loyal support of some of our most active reviewers. Successful candidates will be announced during the ESO Conference in Munich. Our existing loyal board members continue in their role.
Our young reviewer mentorship program has been running since January 2023, with great success. Each of our 11 trainees is paired with an experienced reviewer who coordinates the request, monitors the turnaround time and discusses, scores, and may edit the comments before their submission. As editors, we are alert to the potential pitfalls in considering advice from less experienced reviewers, but we have many safeguards in place to reassure authors and readers. The trainees already have shown research promise and were appointed competitively; at least one senior reviewer is still invited; the trainee’s review is vetted and perhaps modified before submission; the editor can supplement or override any aspect that raises concern; and initial experience has been that the trainees’ reviews are achieving a high standard and good level of agreement with experienced reviewers. Further, since many of our authors are trainees working in collaboration with senior mentors, it is appropriate that assessment of their work should include the views of true “peers.”
We aim for diversity of content, too. Research published in the journal has relevance across the world, and our content derives from authors in a wide range of communities. ESJ has received manuscripts from 78 countries and in the last year alone has accepted papers from 32 countries. We also want to highlight the ESJ special issue with manuscripts describing stroke care in the ESO-EAST countries.
The content of this issue of the journal follows a similar theme. Alongside two systematic reviews, a handful of papers on revascularization and some on etiology and outcome, we have five research papers on pregnancy, childhood stroke, or sex differences in care or outcomes:
Yannick Béjot et al., Acute revascularization for ischemic stroke during pregnancy and post-partum in France.
Anna Richardt et al., Etiology and Risk Factors of Ischemic Stroke During Pregnancy and Puerperium – A Population-based Study.
Julie Bindslev et al., Acute Triage of Childhood Stroke in Denmark What factors contribute towards ambulance on-scene times for suspected stroke patients? An observational study.
Yolanda Silva et al., Sex Differences in Acute Stroke Care: Metrics, Access to Treatment and Outcome. A Territorial Analysis of The Stroke Code System of Catalonia.
Pan Zhang et al., Sex Differences in Outcomes After Endovascular Treatment of Patients with Vertebrobasilar Artery Occlusion.