I cannot believe that a year has passed since I was entrusted with the role of “Managing Editor of Pediatric Radiology”. It has been a steep learning curve, depending heavily on my predecessor, Dr. Øystein Olsen, and on the current Managing Editor for the Americas, Dr. Peter Strouse, to maintain my balance – which has at times been nothing short of precarious! I am extremely grateful to them both, for their kindness, patience, help and support. I must also express gratitude to the Springer editorial and production team for Pediatric Radiology, especially to Ms. Stefanie Mangold – my regular early morning virtual meetings with Stefanie, which took place in the first half of my tenure, were incredibly useful.

At this point, a small diversion to re-emphasise my job title – incorrectly stated, on occasion, as, “Managing Editor for Europe and the rest of the world”, rather than, “Managing Editor for Outside Americas”. Unlikely to be intentional, the title “Europe and the rest of the world” nevertheless seems somewhat derogatory to Africa, Antarctica, Asia and Australia, especially given that my counterpart’s title is, “the Americas”. “Outside Americas” is used by Springer, conveys the meaning of those regions I represent, is aligned to Peter’s title and does not distinguish one non-American continent from any of the others.

I wear this title as a badge of honour and I am proud to have been the first female and first non-Caucasian (I am Black African) appointed to the role of managing editor in the history of our journal – and indeed at interview for the role, made it clear that increasing diversity of publications, reviewers and editors while maintaining (or improving) the quality of the journal, was my priority.

So, what advances have I made in the past 12 months, besides leaning hard on Øystein, Peter and Stefanie, whilst improving my understanding and skills of being a managing editor of a major journal?

Firstly, the task in December 2021, of replacing the excellent outgoing Assistant Editor, Dr. Sylviane Hanquinet-Ginter. In keeping with my goal of improving diversity, I sought to select someone from a lower income country and was delighted with Springer’s appointment of my suggested candidate, Dr. Omolola Atalabi, a paediatric radiologist based in Nigeria. Many of you are likely to know Omolola, through her previous work with the World Federation of Paediatric Radiology. Omolola is the first editor of the journal (assistant or managing) to be based outside Europe and America and must be recognised and congratulated for this achievement. The final member of the “outside Americas” editorial team is Assistant Editor, Dr. Thekla von Kalle. With several years of experience as an assistant editor, Thekla, like Øystein and Peter, has been an immense support to me.

With the appointment of Omolola (and to continue with the theme of “firsts”), the editorial team outside Americas has, for the past 9 months or so, been made up of only females. I take this opportunity to thank Thekla and Omolola – it is a real privilege to work with two such diligent and reliable assistant editors. However, as formidable a team of ladies as we are (!), in the interests of diversity, when the time comes (which it sadly must), I shall be looking for a male assistant editor. Any takers?

This is also a good time to thank you, our authors, for your submissions – without them, there would be no journal, and thank you to our pool of reviewers for a job voluntarily and well done.

Pediatric Radiology is the only international journal dedicated to our speciality. Therefore, my most challenging and most meaningful task is to increase the diversity of publications appearing in our journal – and to do so without a fall in quality. I recognise that to be successful, this goal must be tackled from various angles and that it will take a while to be realised. In the first instance, each year I shall commission a special issue of the journal to cover topics from clinicians and researchers based in and/or on subjects related to lower income countries, including Eastern Europe, South America, Asia and Africa. Look out for the first such issue, coming soon – of which I shall currently say no more!

With guest editorship by Professor Philippe Petit, President of the highly successful European Society of Paediatric Radiology (ESPR) 2022 conference in Marseille, we will be publishing a special issue of the journal, consisting of review articles based on many of the Postgraduate Course and Task force session lectures. I hope this will provide a useful resource, particularly to our readers from lower income countries unable to attend ESPR conferences in person. This initiative is one I would like to continue, annually. I have also approved a mini symposium on tuberculosis, to recognise World Tuberculosis Day in March 2023. If readers have any other suggestions, then please email me, pedradeditor@sheffield.ac.uk. I promise to read, carefully consider and respond to all emails received.

Finally, with the help of Dr. Joanna Kaznia-Brown (President of the World Federation of Paediatric Imaging and Chair of the Outreach Committee of the ESPR), Professor Nasreen Mahomed (representing South Africa), Dr. Hansel Otero (representing South America) and others, I aim to organise a series of virtual webinars to take place in 2023 and 2024. I hope these will encourage and support paediatric radiologists in lower income countries to contribute increasingly to journal activities, including manuscript reviewing and conducting high quality original research leading to high quality publications. More details will follow in due course.

Given the above ambitious goals, I sense that the coming 12 months will be no less rugged than the last. However, I am confident that respectable strides will be made, because I am surrounded by a fabulous team, and because I am holding on tight!