JARO was first published in 2000, under the editorship of Dr. Eric Young (Johns Hopkins University), as a way for the Association for Research in Otolaryngology to have a scientific journal that represented the interests of the Association. The purpose of a society-based journal such as JARO is to provide a platform for work that is done in the field and to try to ensure that work is of appropriate quality. Since its inception, JARO has gone from 4 issues per year to 6, and has published over 1000 papers. Dr. Ruth Anne Eatock (now at the University of Chicago) took over the editorship in 2006, and Dr. Paul Manis (the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) has been the Editor since 2011. It is now time to introduce the next Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Christopher R. Cederroth (Karolinska Institutet), who took the helm on May 15, 2022.

Over the years, JARO has continued to provide the community with an outlet for high-quality research whose scope is defined by investigations of biological and perceptual mechanisms related principally to hearing and balance. The journal has broad coverage, from middle ear mechanics to the auditory cortex, cochlear implants, and studies of the vestibular periphery and pathways, in disciplines including fundamental molecular biology, immunology, physiology, and anatomy to psychoacoustics, with occasional forays into epidemiology and other areas. With a notable shift in the field toward studies in humans, the journal has seen an increase in the number of papers reporting on studies in human subjects. The journal has also expanded by including review articles, and more recently, “Symposia” and “Technical Advances,” to broaden the scope and reach.

JARO has and will continue to have, a highly ethical review process, with high standards for the papers that are ultimately published and an ear towards the needs of authors. The guidelines for the format of submitted papers that we updated in 2011 were established to help ensure consistent quality and accessibility in the presentation of data and to implement more detailed information about statistical analyses. We have also tried to foster a constructive review process aimed at helping new investigators and trainees get their work published. We have always worked with authors to adjust deadlines, fix proofs, and improve the presentation and rigor of their work.

Science, and by extension, scientific publishing, is a human enterprise and is commendable for the progress in understanding the world, and for disseminating that knowledge widely. However, there are also challenges from the increasing number of journals that provide alternative publishing opportunities, the changes in publishers' expectations, and with new ideas and views that will redefine the role of traditional peer-reviewed journals.

The search for a better understanding of how things such as hearing and balance work and what happens when they don’t work well or completely malfunction will ultimately lead to better treatments for mild hearing loss and deafness, tinnitus, dizziness and presbycusis. We are confident that JARO will continue to succeed in expanding our knowledge in these areas.

Christopher R. Cederroth

It is a great honor of having been selected as a new Editor-in-Chief and I am looking forward to collaborating with authors and reviewers as well as editors and staff of the Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology for the next five years. As a former Associate Editor in Frontiers in Neuroscience, I will ensure that the peer review is maintained constructive and fair but also rapid and effective.

Taking the lead after Dr. Paul Manis is exciting but also challenging, as I come with a fresh look onto the journal’s activities. Some areas I would like to change may result in a drift from some past practices but this also opens up new opportunities. For instance, a yearly special issue on hot topics selected at the ARO mid-winter meeting, and a possible revision of the supplementary material format would allow figures to be included and more information to be communicated to the readers.

From a communications point of view, I would like to start afresh with a new website where we can navigate smoothly through the different issues, and access some statistics on the journal and the articles. I also plan in launching a JARO podcast on selected articles in order to discuss some findings that could be relevant to the community. I would also like to more closely collaborate with spARO (students and postdocs from ARO), who are already providing some comments on some articles published in JARO, but instead transform this into a published version of a journal club that would have emerged from discussions in a “spARO forum” that I plan to elaborate on this new website. I am convinced that enhanced communication and dissemination will make JARO a place where we want to submit and share our work.

However, before engaging in some of these initiatives with the Editorial Board and ARO Council, I would be happy to receive from you any critical and constructive feedback on what is JARO doing right and what can be done better (to be sent to JARO.editor@aro.org or tweet them to @JARO or @CederrothCR).