As we begin 2014, we bid farewell to Professor Josep Planell who has been an Editor for more than 10 years. Josep has been a superb colleague, and he has made major contributions to the success of the Journal. We congratulate him on his new position as Rector of Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and wish him every success in his new role.

2013 proved to be another successful year for the Journal. We have maintained our position in the field and have retained an impact factor above 2. Moving forward, for 2014 we will execute on a number of initiatives focused on two major directions intended to revitalize the reviewer database, and stimulate further interest in our Journal. To highlight this, a mentoring program will be established to attract and educate young investigators in the art of scientific review. We hope that readers will find great value in distinguished review contributions, the first in 2014 being authored by Professor James Anderson, MD, PhD. We also wish to highlight a new clinical contributions section specifically focused on reporting clinical trials and case studies to bring to the readership the outcomes of the use of new materials in medicine.

As has been the case now for several consecutive years, the number of submissions continues to increase. In spite of this, our handling times remain steady and the Editorial team are keen to provide a considered response as rapidly as possible. However, the increase in submissions has meant a further decrease in the percentage of papers that we are able to accept. We continue to operate a “triage” process so that, wherever possible, unsuitable papers are rejected rapidly, with comments aimed to improve or redirect submissions as appropriate. We highlight, again, the need for authors to ensure that their work is based on a good, and clearly expressed, underlying scientific hypothesis, with results that are supported and underpinned by a strong discussion, based on a solid theoretical principles.

We start 2014 with the launch of a new type of paper: the rapid communication. These papers are designed to be short and focused, bringing to the field important new techniques and findings. The papers will be handled by the editors to ensure a highly efficient turn-round and short time to publication. Ideally these papers will be supported by a graphical abstract which distils the experimental work and key results in an annotated cartoon-style image.

We would like to thank all of the authors and reviewers who have worked with the Journal over the past year and in particular we would like to recognise the work of the Editorial Board. The Journal is reliant on the support and contribution of all members of our community. We look to working with you, going forward, and to further success in the future.

Serena Best

Editor in Chief

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine