Editorial COPE (Committee on Publishing Ethics) Geoffrey A. Donnan

The philosophy of the International Journal of Stroke is one of innovation and continual improvement. We have been leaders in the use of multimedia content, such as podcasts, social media, video interviews and discussion panel recordings, blogging, and engaging in a holistic way. We believe that this has made our journal even more readable in its role of the flagship publication of the World Stroke Organization (WSO) with global reach. From the improvement perspective, we must always reflect the global changes that are occurring in standards of publishing; many of our readers will know that the Committee of Publishing Ethics (COPE) was established a decade ago, and this has led to enormous improvements in the standard of journal publishing worldwide. We are signatories to COPE, and this comes with the responsibility of meeting and maintaining world’s best practice in journal publishing. For example, we have an online publication, and a transparent review policy is available in our guidelines and management systems, which clearly outlines the review process for all manuscripts that are submitted to the journal, either invited or unsolicited. Transparency equates to best practice in publishing; this creates an environment of trust so that researchers can be assured that the process of review is clear, fair, unbiased, and best practice. Another example is the insistence upon author role disclosure, a process that enables researchers to have clearly stated roles in a DOI: 10.1111/ijs.12361

© 2014 World Stroke Organization

given project so that credit can be duly apportioned. As we all know, many investigators struggle with this, and clear guidelines are often welcomed. Our global role is emphasized by our publishing of author guidelines, in more than one language, so they are accessible by the major language speakers of the world. This aligns with the COPE guidelines on accessibility. Our continuing membership of COPE is just one of the many steps guaranteeing readers that we are at the forefront of publishing on the global stage. Stroke research deserves nothing less. We believe that our commitment to best practice publishing is one of the reasons for our latest impact factor (IF) success. We are pleased to announce a 2013 IF of 4.026. This edition also includes a most important article European Stroke Organisation (ESO) guidelines for the management of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage set, an important benchmark of practice based on levels of evidence by a group of experts in an area of stroke management that is receiving increasing attention. Guidelines have become an important part of clinical practice over the past 20 years, and provide a unique summary of evidence and practice recommendations so that clinicians can make informed management decisions for their individual patients; these are no exception. The next formal gathering of the global stroke community is at the World Stroke Congress in Istanbul; this is the World Stroke Organization society meeting, and as their flagship journal we look forward to seeing you there!

Vol 9, October 2014, 837

837

COPE (Committee on Publishing Ethics).

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