FROM THE EDITOR

Finding Our Niche

By the time you read this editorial, nine is-sues of the journal have been published undermy watch. Certainly this has been a learningexperience for me and has caused me to re-flect on the good and the bad. In the nextmonth, we will be announcing some majorchanges to the cover of the journal as well asthe format. I will make more specific an-nouncements regarding this in the next issue.We will also be adding new Advisory Boardmembers and making changes to the EditorialBoard. Much of my summer has been spentgoing to several meetings, not only to listen tothe science but also to talk to potential au-thors. I think it is important to gain feedbackfrom potential authors as to the pros and consof publishing in JEVS. Obviously I am biased,but still think there are more pros than cons.

JEVS articles are peer reviewed by twoand sometimes three reviewers. We have had70 articles submitted to the journal since tak-ing over in January 2006. The rejection rate isapproximately 40%, which indicates thatthere is fairly rigorous review process.Another pro of publishing in JEVS is the rel-atively short interval from submission to pub-lication of about 6 months. Currently ourgoals are to publish original research articlesthat are of clinical interest, as well as case re-ports and review articles. We certainly wouldinvite any contributions to these sections, par-ticularly reviews on timely subjects.

At one meeting a prominent scientist sug-gested that every journal should find a niche.I plan to use the Advisory Board more in thefuture to help shape the direction of the jour-nal. I certainly agree with the scientists andhave been thinking about what niche thejournal should fill in the future. If you haveany suggestions or comments, please do nothesitate to email them to me.

Some have been concerned that JEVS isnot listed on PubMed. I share that concernand am working toward getting the journalincluded in that online service. It is almost aCatch 22 situation where it takes time to es-tablish a reputation of publishing high qualitymanuscripts that are peer reviewed. I have nodoubt that, in the future, JEVS will reach apoint of being listed on PubMed. Others haveasked about the accessibility of JEVS online.Individuals affiliated with academic institu-tions should have full access to JEVS throughScienceDirect.

It seems as though everyone I talk to indi-cates that they have one or two manuscriptsthat they will be submitting to JEVS. I look for-ward to receiving these and future submissions.

Ed Squires, Editor

386 Journal of Equine Veterinary Science September 2006