Our journal is 65 years-old (I): A look back at the past

Dear readers, dear friends: We have turned 65 years old. The most important endocrinology, diabetes and nutrition journal in Spanish has reached that milestone age that, far from signifying retirement, marks its initiation into the select club of maturity. Having reached this point, it is worth taking a look back at where we came from in order to better face the challenges that the future has in store for us. Undoubtedly there were "heroic" times in our history when, after carrying out numerous initiatives, editors were delighted by each small annual increase in the number of manuscripts that they received. The current editorial board finds the journal's 65th birthday celebration to be a perfect excuse for thanking all the professionals who have come before us. We would like to express our appreciation to all previous editors, who made our work so much easier, with special remembrance of those who are no longer with us. The current editorial board and everybody to follow will endeavour to make the most of that legacy and, if possible, improve upon it. We want to thank every single author for suffusing thousands of pages with not only science, but also reflections on their concerns, and for dedicating countless hours to impassioned labour. We would also like to show our gratitude for each and every one of the reviewers, who, in an act of absolute altruism, have devoted their precious time to the growth of the journal. We thank all the boards of directors of the Sociedad Española de Endocrinología y Nutrición [Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition] (SEEN) and the Sociedad Española de Diabetes [Spanish Diabetes Society] (SED) for the eagerness and sensitivity that they always demonstrate in matters related to our publication. We wish to extend our thanks to all partners of both societies who take pride in this journal which officially represents us. We would also like to thank all the advertisers who for decades have chosen us as a vehicle for the promotion of their products. Finally, we wish to express our appreciation for all the publishing professionals, currently with Elsevier España, who have worked with us, in particular to facilitate a process that falls outside our usual professional environment.

As scientists, we do not believe if we do not palpate, verify and confirm. In this spirit, we believe that the words of leading individuals will help us examine more closely our journal's heroic past and the splendid future awaiting it. For this reason, we asked various professionals who in one way or another have been associated with the journal to offer us their own thoughts — in some cases, a memory; in others, a wish. Members of past editorial boards and notable figures from both societies offered us expert views on their experiences and visions for the journal, the specialisation and future societies. Our final words of gratitude are for them, as they gave us their perspectives. This contribution is divided into two articles. The first is a retrospective article compiling the experiences of four doctors who have been members of the editorial board at some point. Their memories are a valuable representation of the dozens of people who have held this position.

Rosa Corcoy

The first words that come to mind when I recall my time on the editorial board of "the Journal" (among endocrinologists, no more needs to be said) are "enthusiasm", "commitment", "hard work", "camaraderie" and "inadequacy". The first three come with the territory. Camaraderie cannot be taken for granted; where it is present, it is a blessing. I had the good fortune of being a contemporary of Roser Casamitjana, Anna Lucas, Neus Potau, José Gómez and Marisa Granada (sadly, Neus and José are now deceased). Editorial matters were handled calmly, and at times, work permitting, we would cap off our Monday meetings with coffee and snacks at the corner coffee shop. So, why "inadequacy"? Because those years were marked by a dry spell as far as manuscripts were concerned, and we moved heaven and earth to get issues out on time (or not so on time) with original articles. The acceptance rate was unduly high, and our undertakings included inviting potential authors at the society's conferences; practically rewriting articles with marked defects in form; and sending letters to authors of manuscripts pending modifications following evaluation by reviewers stating that "we would be delighted to receive the revised version". If making the numbers work was hard, then meeting the requirements for inclusion in MEDLINE and Science Citation Index was a virtually impossible feat. We endocrinologists know what a feedback loop is, and we were not dealing with a positive one: an unindexed journal was not enticing to authors, and the limited number of manuscripts was not favourable to indexing. We could not help but sigh when we remembered that years ago the Revista Iberoamericana de Endocrinología had been added to MEDLINE and that the change in name to Endocrinología y Nutrición without following proper procedure (it must not have been easy to be well-informed in the pre-Internet era) had resulted in it getting dropped from that database. We — and those who came after us — persisted until, to our enormous satisfaction, the journal was finally indexed in both databases.

Anna Lucas

Our journal is turning 65 years old. For those of us who just missed its birth and have watched it grow up, celebration of this milestone represents a source of pride and satisfaction.

The journal has a curious history. Its name as well as the colour and design of its cover have evolved over the course of its life. With roots in Spanish and Portuguese endocrinologists and gynaecologists, it came into being in 1954 under the name of Revista Ibérica de Endocrinología. As the official journal of the SEEN, its name was changed to Endocrinología in 1977, Revista de Endocrinología in 1988 and Endocrinología y Nutrición in 1999.¹

For me it was an honour and a source of satisfaction to belong to its editorial board from January 1999 to December 2003. I will never forget the good times I shared with Dr Susan Web, Dr Laura Audí, Dr Roser Casamitjana, Dr Rosa Corcoy and Dr Neus Potau at Doyma, the publishing house for the journal at the time. To Neus, who is now gone too soon, I dedicate fond memories. In that cramped space that we called an office, we reviewed manuscripts (obviously, paper ones), sent them to reviewers and, quite often, racked our brains for original ways to encourage members to submit papers for publication. Now, thanks to the efforts of the SEEN's successive editorial boards and boards of directors, things are totally different. As Dr Mauricio et al. stated in their editorial,² in 2016, 300 manuscripts were received and the rejection rate was 70%. These figures reflected the gains made by the journal in terms of quality and visibility with the passage of time.

After a long journey, in 2009, the journal was added to MEDLINE; at that time, the director of the editorial board was Dr José Manuel Gómez, who recently died, also too soon. José, the SEEN misses you. Thank you for your dedication to society, to the journal, to all of us and to patients.

Subsequently, the history of the journal proved much more satisfactory; it even managed to be added to Science Citation Index (both the English and Spanish versions) and given an impact factor of 1.314 in 2015.

Finally — and this was, in my opinion, its greatest achievement, thanks to the efforts of and camaraderie among the members of several boards of directors of the SEEN and the SED as well as the different editorial boards — it became the official journal of two societies. Thus a new publication entitled Endocrinología, Diabetes y Nutrición, with a new cover, was born in 2016. This fusion brought about an increase in the quality of the manuscripts and in public interest in them. SEEN and SED members, as well as professionals in other areas, can benefit from a publication of recognised quality and prestige that covers all areas of the specialisation.

I can only wish our journal a long life, hope that it continues to make gains in visibility and quality, and encourage the members of the two societies to seek to publish their clinical and research studies therein.

Ramón Gomis

When the society made Dr Enrique Vilardell the director of Endocrinología y Nutrición, the journal was on the verge of bankruptcy. The originals that it was receiving were generally few in number and very low in quality. Dr Vilardell invited me to get involved as editorial secretary. He could recount the vicissitudes of his period as director, but may this introduction serve to highlight the challenges he faced before I took up this position. When I joined, we were more optimistic and we conveyed this to the SEEN board of directors. We were no longer a couple of years behind; we published on the corresponding date, not two years late. Hence our editorial team followed a much easier path.

At that time, we were facing three major challenges. The first of them was obtaining high-quality original articles and reviews, as well as publishing at least one well-received monograph (other than the one dedicated to conference abstracts), space permitting, to please Doyma, the publishing house. I would say that we succeeded in part, but we never really had a surfeit of manuscripts, and on occasion we were forced to make requests among those in our immediate environment (friends at our own or other hospitals or close associates) to solve the manuscript shortage problem. The second was increasing the frequency of publication: to transition from four quarterly issues to six bimonthly issues per year. This boosted our visibility, but further strained the editorial board's ability to acquire original articles. Thus we carried out efforts aimed at Latin America, with relative success (consisting of sending copies to other societies, bringing issues to society conferences and undertaking personal efforts on the part of the SEEN presidency itself). The third challenge was getting the journal indexed and cited. To this end, together with the board of directors of the SEEN, we took various steps and raised the issue in the members' meeting. The debate was repetitive, covering publication in English and Spanish, our commitment to publishing original articles, more reviews, etc. The only concrete measures we pursued consisted of promoting letters to the editor, accepting manuscripts in English and commissioning articles from international researchers (in English) that we believed could self-cite and be cited. Little by little, we made progress.

I would like to simply offer my congratulations on the current journey. The achievements of the other teams have led the journal to achieve what our team could only attempt, or perhaps could only dream of. Dreams can come true. Fortunately, our best days are not always behind us.

Dídac Mauricio

In late 2006, I had the privilege of being offered a position on the board of our journal, then called Endocrinología y Nutrición, as an associated editor. In early 2007, José Manuel Gómez Sáez started on his journey as the journal's new editor-in-chief, replacing Rosa Corcoy. I have had the honour of being at the forefront of what I would dare to describe as a historic period for our journal. At that time, I was a true novice in this new task of my professional career. I must not fail to express my deepest gratitude to my colleagues on the board, especially José Manuel, for the depths of their contributions to my professional training and growth in the world of scientific publishing. I must also express my appreciation for the professionalism shown by everybody on the Elsevier publishing team.

José Manuel Gómez held the position of editor-in-chief at critical junctures in the journal's growth. When I joined the board in 2007, a request had just been made to add us to MEDLINE; a few months later, we were disappointed to learn that this request had been denied. That motivated us to work in earnest on designing and executing an authentic strategy that would enable us to achieve that objective in the coming years. During that period, we worked with a plan very clearly laid out by José Manuel. To his hard work were added the enthusiastic efforts of Marisa Granada and myself. We strove to acquire sufficient numbers of high-quality original articles and reviews, with help from many SEEN members. Finally, we did it. In 2009, the journal Endocrinología y Nutrición was accepted in MEDLINE.³ This was, without question, a milestone in the journal's history, and helped drive the editorial board forward in its efforts. Furthermore, from that moment on, interest in the journal proliferated among SEEN members as well as other scientists inside and outside Spain. We were able to stop worrying about the quantity of material submitted to the journal, and start taking a more balanced approach with quality at the core of our editorial work. José Manuel was our editor-in-chief until late 2012. His achievements include rendering our journal a bilingual publication and helping to lay the foundation for another milestone: getting our journal accepted as a scientific journal in Journal Citation Reports and ranked according to impact factor. I had the privilege of leading the editorial board as of early 2013 under exceptional circumstances from a historical point of view. The return on the work we did was incredible, and we feel fortunate to have been able to experience that period first-hand. At last, so many editorial team members' strategic efforts and hard work for so many years were rewarded with the above-mentioned distinction from Journal Citation Reports and impact factor ranking since 2015. At the same time, as early as 2013, a joint effort had been initiated by the SED and the SEEN to bring about the convergence of their respective scientific journals. Here, attention must be drawn to the strategic efforts made both in terms of scientific publishing, by Ignacio Conget and myself, and in terms of organisational leadership, by Manel Puig and Edelmiro Menéndez. Under our shared vision, the journal became the official journal of both societies in 2015 and the Avances en Diabetología editorial board's capital was added to that of the board of Endocrinología y Nutrición. As reflected in the approval of this action by a very strong majority in the respective meetings, many of us undoubtedly felt this was a wise decision. In 2017, the journal shed its old name and entered into a new era under a new name: Endocrinología, Diabetes y Nutrición.² For my part, I shed my identity as editor-in-chief at the end of an era and took on a new identity as the first person to occupy the position in a journal with a brand-new name yet a long-standing tradition. What a privilege!

I am ending as I began: expressing immense gratitude to my fellow board members for so many years, to the professionals at Elsevier, to the authors, to the reviewers, and to the members and heads of the different boards of directors for everything you have given me. My experiences during my many years on the editorial board were truly a great gift from all of you.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.