Annual report

Our first months as Co-Editors in Chief of Parkinsonism and Related Disorders have flown by as we have negotiated a sometimes dauntingly steep learning curve, bolstered by the unfailing assistance of our incredibly talented Associate Editors, our dedicated Editorial Board, and the superbly skilled staff at Elsevier, including Peter Bakker, the in-house editor for the Journal, and Virginia Prada Lopez in Amsterdam, Jacky Turner in Exeter and Jarvis Curry in San Diego, who provide continued rapid response to our cries for help.

We have established close collaboration with our five Associate Editors, four of whom are positioned around the world and tasked with specific geographic responsibilities: Robert Rodnitzky for North and South America, Vincenzo Bonifati for Europe, EK Tan for Asia and Oceana, Jonathan Carr for Africa and the Middle East; and Susan Calne, who handles Allied Health submissions and also serves as our Technical Editor. The added number and geographical distribution of the Associate Editors have not only increased the number of submissions to the Journal, but also have ensured that no editor becomes overburdened. Just as importantly, editors have the ability to request reassignment if a conflict, real or perceived, arises with a manuscript.

The number of reviewers being asked and agreeing to contribute their expertise to the Journal has also expanded enormously. In this issue we are pleased to publicly thank and acknowledge the reviewers for their time, experience and support of the Journal, so generously and freely given during the period from September 2007 to September 2008.

The promised increase in emphasis on neurogenetics in the Journal will become more clearly evident as accepted manuscripts now in the pipeline reach publication status and in the coming months even more changes will become evident within the Journal. A new print format will improve readability, while an increase in the number of issues to ten per year will permit both an increase in the number of manuscripts published and a reduction in the time lag between acceptance and print publication. We recognize that the lag time between acceptance of an article and its publication in print is currently slow, although articles are readily available on line once corrected proofs are returned. In an effort to further streamline and speed up the review process, the time allowed for a review has been shortened for all submissions and more sustained follow-up by the editorial office initiated. Further changes in the Journal's appearance are also in the planning stages.

Review articles can serve as a tremendous source of information for readers of the Journal and we are actively encouraging submission of such manuscripts. We have also begun to solicit editorials and will continue to do so. We have received our first Point of View articles and would like to encourage additional submissions. The journal now has the capacity to accept video presentations, but for on-line viewing only.

Finally, we wish to sincerely thank our readers for their support of the Journal. With the dramatic increase in subscriptions to the Journal within the past year, made possible by the Research Group on Parkinsonism and Related Disorders of the World Federation of Neurology, each issue of Parkinsonism and Related Disorders is currently received by over 2000 individuals in addition to institutional subscriptions. This imparts a special responsibility to us as Editors to do our utmost to provide our readers with the most informative and authoritative material possible in the most timely fashion achievable – a challenge we are striving hard to meet.