Anaerobe 31 (2015) 1

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Anaerobe journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/anaerobe

Editorial

Message from the Editor-in-Chief Since the first publication of the journal ANAEROBE in 1995, it has been the official journal of the Anaerobe Society of the Americas and the Japanese Association for Anaerobic Infection Research. Beside this, however, it caters for researchers interested in this field from all over the world. The aim of the journal from the very beginning has been providing a forum for all kinds of high-level research papers, dealing with the very diverse aspects of anaerobes in health and disease, and additionally their role in the environment and biotechnology. The journal has undergone a huge development in recent years, with an appreciably increasing impact factor, and has become a multidisciplinary journal dedicated exclusively to various aspects of anaerobic bacteria, fungi and protozoans. It was a great honor for me to be invited as Editor-in-Chief of ANAEROBE for the next two years. The attitude to the role of anaerobic bacteria in human infections has changed in parallel with the developments in the technique aimed at culturing anaerobic bacteria more successfully by providing a proper anaerobic environment. Their molecular detection and the possibility of their identification by 16S rRNA gene sequencing have led to the acceptance of new anaerobic species as real pathogens behind severe infections. A huge change has taken place in the taxonomy of anaerobic bacteria too. The rapid and more efficient identification of strict anaerobes at a species level through the application of matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry method compared to the phenotypic identification systems, will facilitate the activities of routine microbiology laboratories in carrying out an increasing amount of diagnostic and research work on these often neglected pathogens. Anaerobic bacteria are not only a reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes which can be transmitted to other species in the gut. In the event of appropriate surveillances, the development antibiotic resistance can also be shown to occur among the anaerobic bacteria, which may lead to treatment failure during empirical therapy. The new generation sequencing is providing ever more insight into the composition of the “normal” flora which predominantly consists of anaerobes. New data from microbiome studies, including investigations of anaerobic phyla or genera, will be

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anaerobe.2014.11.010 1075-9964/© 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

welcome in the journal. We believe that the focus on anaerobes will increase dramatically in the coming years, especially in view of the current interest in the human microbiome. The journal will be happy to receive manuscripts on all aspects of anaerobes, fitting in the different sections of the journal, focusing on their roles in health and disease. As in previous years, topics not covered in the regular issues (such as the biotechnology applications of anaerobes or anaerobes in probiotics) will be included in Special Issues. Rare clinical situations caused by anaerobes, and also rare anaerobic bacteria giving rise to infections will be published as Case Reports and could form the subject of a discussion forum. Review articles on any aspects of research on organisms that grow in the absence of air will likewise be welcome. We believe that it is essential that the time between submission and publication should be as short as possible. A relatively high rate of initial rejection of papers which do not fit into the scope of the journal or which are of insufficient quality is to be expected. This will follow the earlier situation when only around half of the submitted papers were published. The decision to decline submissions prior to external review will be made by the Editor-in-Chief in collaboration with the team of Associate Editors of the different sections. However, the journal is open to appeals from authors who feel that their submission has been unfairly judged; such requests for reconsideration should be addressed to the Editor-inChief. It is our hope that ANAEROBE will further stimulate interest throughout the scientific world in organisms with such wideranging abilities, from commensals to the cause of serious infections. Elisabeth Nagy, Editor-in-Chief University of Szeged, Institute of Clinical Microbiology, Hungarian Anaerobe Reference Laboratory, Semmelweis u 6, 6725 Szeged, Hungary E-mail address: [email protected]. Available online 20 November 2014

Message from the Editor-in-Chief.

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