 EDITORIAL

2014: Challenges and opportunities

F. S. Haddad From The British Editorial Society of Bone & Joint Surgery, London, United Kingdom

 F. S. Haddad, MD(Res), MCh(Orth), FRCS(Orth), Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Editor-in-Chief The Bone & Joint Journal, 22 Buckingham Street, London, WC2N 6ET, UK Correspondence should be sent to Professor F. S. Haddad: [email protected] ©2014 The British Editorial Society of Bone & Joint Surgery doi:10.1302/0301-620X.96B1. 33601 $2.00 Bone Joint J 2014;96-B:1–2.

As we start a new year, I can reflect back on my first few months as Editor-in-Chief of The Bone & Joint Journal with some pride and with trepidation in relation to some of the challenges that lie in wait. I have learnt a great deal and am both deeply grateful and in awe of the inspirational staff that have made the Journal what it is. The hard work that goes on in the background, both at council level, and in publishing services, led by Emma Vodden, is truly remarkable. The excellence that we take for granted requires commitment, resilience, tireless enthusiasm and great vision. I am immensely grateful for all their work and support in 2013, and am privileged to be part of the team moving forward in 2014. We recently lost two great champions of the journal, Sir Rodney Sweetnam and Mark Paterson, both of whom served the journal tirelessly. We will redouble our efforts to maintain the standards they worked so hard to establish. There are many issues that we must now tackle. The agenda for 2014 is complex. We will finalise the appointment of the specialty editors, and the refinement of the review process. This is going well, but still requires a great deal of work. We will also start to put in place structures to deal with some of the problems that affect all big journals, including dual publication, salami slicing and authorship. We will also consider issues such as the impact factor, peer review, the presentation of statistical data, conflicts of interest, and data transparency. As we enter a new era, there clearly are massive challenges ahead for the BJJ but also great opportunities. Since becoming Editor-in-Chief I have had the privilege of travelling extensively and meeting BJJ readers all over the UK, in many parts of the United States and Canada, in Germany, France, Italy, Russia, China, Hong Kong and Denmark. The international nature of our readership is important to the journal and we will continue to engage in research that is pertinent nationally and internationally. Plans are afoot for further travel and meetings in the UK, the United States,

VOL. 96-B, No. 1, JANUARY 2014

Switzerland, Italy, Germany, France, the United Arab Emirates, Korea, China, Belgium, Argentina and Brazil in order to encourage submission of the best research, annotations and reviews and to help disseminate the material that we publish. We share the concerns of surgeons faced with a plethora of subspecialist journals but try to maintain equity between the generality of orthopaedics and the information required for each subspecialty. Our team of specialty editors will enhance our output in their respective areas. We will strive to maintain the unique high quality rewriting and speed of publication that are the hallmarks of BJJ. We face the challenge of finding and publishing with great clarity the important Level I data that will change practice in orthopaedics over the next few years, but also ensuring that there is an appropriate platform for the rapid publication of important but less robust work that will influence the direction of research and of practice in the near future. We share the desire of our readership for more accessible web based material and will continue to increase the wealth and depth of the content of the BJJ website, which should become your key continuing professional development and revalidation resource. We have in the past few months seen efforts at dual publication and salami slicing that the editorial board has had to address. I am very grateful to our superb reviewers who spotted these issues, advised numerous authors and have helped to shape our content. I have been approached by many, particularly juniors but also senior colleagues, who are keen to understand the review process and to learn more about research methodology, the assessment of research outputs, and how to publish their papers. Our reviewer days are increasingly popular, and are a must for all trainees and those new to the evaluation or writing of research manuscripts. In 2014, these will be held on 5th February, 16th April, 2nd July, and 29th October. For more information about them 1

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F. S. HADDAD

please contact [email protected]. In view of the popularity of these sessions we will also be running an afternoon/evening meeting at the Royal Society of Medicine on 6th May 2014 that will cover the pathway from research idea, through the generation of grants, methodology, evaluation and publication, all the way through to dissemination and clinical use. We would encourage you to attend. In this first edition of 2014, it is a great privilege to have an editorial from Robert Barrack,1 who has been one of the thought leaders in orthopaedics for more than two decades. He has been at the forefront of innovation, but has also been ready to challenge dogma, and interventions that put our patients at risk. His work on thromboprophylaxis has helped change thinking in orthopaedics in the United States and will soon extend worldwide. Some of the problems faced by Bloch, Patel and Best2 and others could potentially have been avoided had we seen the light earlier.3-6 I suspect that many of you will take his message back to your department meetings for future discussion and in order to revisit your local guidelines. You will also find a unique instructional on the evolution and concept of joint preserving surgery of the hip from Michael Leunig and Reinhold Gantz who have changed the face of hip surgery.7 There are an increasing number of publications and increasing interest in this area. It is thanks to their great vision and clarity of thought that hip surgery has expanded well beyond arthroplasty and continues to flourish. Their Instructional Review

is longer than average but as you will see well worth it in view of its historical significance. On a final, very important note, all those involved with BJJ over the past few years recognise the unique and remarkable contribution that Neil Thomas has made as Chairman of the Council of Management. This has been, and continues to be, one of the most difficult periods in our history, and Neil’s leadership has been clear, focused, inclusive and error free. He will fortunately continue to guide us on council for another year, but deserves far more praise than I can possibly give in such a brief tribute. I hope that you enjoyed the end of year festivities and wish you a happy, successful and educational New Year with the BJJ.

References 1. Barrack RL. Thromboprophylaxis for patients undergoing joint replacement. Bone Joint J 2014;96-B:3–4. 2. Bloch BV, Patel V, Best AJ. Thromboprophylaxis with dabigatran leads to an increased incidence of wound leakage and an increased length of stay after total joint replacement. Bone Joint J 2014;96-B:122–126. 3. Dattani R, Smith CD, Patel VR. The venous thromboembolic complications of shoulder and elbow surgery: a systematic review. Bone Joint J 2014;95-B:70–74. 4. Fisher WD, Agnelli G, George DJ, et al. Extended venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in patients undergoing hip fracture surgery – the SAVE-HIP3 study. Bone Joint J 2014;95-B:459–466. 5. Menakaya CU, Pennington N, Muthukumar N, et al. The cost of outpatient venous thromboembolism prophylaxis following lower limb injuries. Bone Joint J 2014;95-B:673–677. 6. Yamaguchi T, Matsumine A, Niimi R, et al. Deep-vein thrombosis after resection of musculoskeletal tumours of the lower limb. Bone Joint J 2014;95-B:1280–1284. 7. Leunig M, Gantz R. The evolution and concepts of joint-preserving surgery of the hip. Bone Joint J 2014;96-B:5–18.

THE BONE & JOINT JOURNAL

2014: Challenges and opportunities.

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