As science and technology advance, new challenges emerge to be faced and solved. Annals of Hepatology was born 16 years ago as a necessity for Mexican and Latin American academic doctors and scientists interested in the field of Hepatology.
Many of us, as M.D. and Ph.D. students, remember the gratifying annual meeting held by Dr. Hans Popper and a group of devotees of liver pathologies in Chicago. These meetings were later enhanced by Madam Sheila Sherlock in the clinical area, transforming them into integrative basic and clinical study sessions of liver diseases. Basic and clinical research (also known as translational) as well as teaching and tutor counseling, have been the basilar points in resolving the leading etiologies of liver diseases.
At that time, the study and the understanding of liver diseases were focused on alcoholism. They started with topics that included mechanisms of liver fibrosis, biliary disease, clinical complications of cirrhosis such as encephalopathy, esophageal varices, and ascites, ending with hepatorenal syndrome. Subsecuently, new topics were incorporated, such as viral hepatitis (B and C), which attracted the attention of hepatologists throughout the globe. In a relatively short period, research highlighted the role of viral genotypes in chronic liver disease and the cell cycle of the virus, paving the way to novel and more effective antiviral drugs. At the same time, the obesity epidemic has risen to a significant health problem in westernized countries mainly due to changes in lifestyle (diet, physical activity, and mental health) generating a disease now known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH.
As clinical and basic sciences advance, it has become more evident that discrepancies exist in the leading causes of liver disease between the developed and less developed countries worldwide. In this scenario, Annals of Hepatology raised interest not only of the Mexican and Latin American hepatologists but also of other colleagues around the world. This global interest, together with the sponsorship of Medica Sur Clinical Foundation and the hard work of Doctors Misael Uribe and Editor-in-Chief Nahum Méndez-Sánchez gained Annals of Hepatology the impact factor of 2.2 in 2014. Annals of Hepatology is also the official journal of the Mexican Association of Liver Disease, the Latin American Association for Hepatology and the Canadian Association of the Study of Liver Disease. Therefore, the challenge and commitment of Annals of Hepatology are to respond to the academic and clinical community interested in the study of the liver, to improve its quality and become one of the best publishing options.
In the past 16 years, major changes have occurred in hepatology, transforming the paradigm of common and deadly liver diseases such as hepatitis C, or developing new concepts such as acute-on-chronic liver failure. In addition, new technologies have contributed to the sharing of knowledge (e.g. BioRxiv); new metrics to assess the impact of research in the scientific community (e.g. Altimetric), and new channels to discuss and debate about science (e.g. PUBPEER). Finally, complex statistical analysis and basic research techniques are common nowadays.
Considering this new outlook, Annals of Hepatology will launch a new strategy by re-constructing the editorial team and organization of the journal with the Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editors to efficiently select and review the medical and scientific quality of the submitted manuscripts. Special attention will be given to expedite the review process of the manuscripts. April 1, 2018, is the inaugural date of this new organizational structure, and the upcoming strategy will be defined in the following numbers. Our goal is that Annals of Hepatology will rank amoung the best publishing options - not only in Latin America, but also worldwide - for the academic communities involved in the study of the liver with the shared purpose of resolving liver disease.
