Dear distinguished colleagues, readers, authors, reviewers, associate editors, deputy editors and advisory board of the Internal and Emergency Medicine (IAEM).

It is my great pleasure to serve our prestigious Journal as the new Editor-in-Chief, starting January 2022.

Firstly, I wish to acknowledge my predecessor, Prof. Domenico Prisco, for his dedication during the past sixteen years, particularly his longstanding enthusiasm, rigorous methodology, and novel ideas. Under Prof. Prisco, IAEM has considerably grown, by doubling the number of submissions, gaining worldwide exposure, and enhancing its visibility through social media. As a prior Associate Editor and now EIC, I am grateful for this legacy and for the helpful advice I have received. In addition, I am very grateful to the editorial board members whose expertise and hard work have contributed to the success of our Journal.

I am also indebted to the Italian Society of Internal Medicine (SIMI), the former President (Prof. Antonello Pietrangelo) and the President (Prof. Giorgio Sesti) who, in harmony with the National Board of SIMI, made the final decision about my appointment. I feel a great responsibility and I am especially proud to embody the vision and mission of our Society, founded in 1887 with its unique motto “In Uno Omnia”. Internal Medicine focuses on the person, at the center of many –often simultaneous- disturbances. For this, the discipline must be patient- (rather than organ- or apparatus-) centered, and multi-disciplinary in its true nature.

Let me shortly introduce myself

I am Professor of Internal Medicine and Head of the Clinica Medica “Augusto Murri” of the Policlinico Regional Hospital at the University “Aldo Moro” in Bari, Italy. As a clinician and scientist, I share several interests in the fields of metabolic, cardiovascular, hepatobiliary, digestive, motility and rare autoinflammatory disorders. I enjoy bridging the gap between basic and clinical research, and I am committed to internationalizing and creating better opportunities for global mobility of undergraduate, graduate students and researchers. I have served as the past-president of the European Society for Clinical Investigation and as Councillor and Secretary of SIMI. I strongly believe that internal and emergency medicine represent the umbrella of several decisions at multiple levels of health, politics, society, economy, and culture.

The essence of the Journal

The reputation of IAEM starts with the solidity of the Advisory Board members, who are distinguished internists with solid experience in clinical medicine, teaching and scientific communication. Then, I am honoured to interact with the four newly appointed Section Deputy Editors who are critical in starting to screen the submitted papers and select those that fit the scope of IAEM. I thank for Internal Medicine Prof. Cecilia Becattini (Division of Internal Medicine, Ospedale S. Maria della Misericordia, Perugia), for Emergency Medicine Prof. Leon Sanchez (Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA), for Clinical Evidence and Health Technology Assessment Prof. Giorgio Costantino (Division of Internal Medicine, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda—Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milano), and for Case Record, Prof. Chiara Cogliati (Division of Internal Medicine, Ospedale Luigi Sacco, Milano). I am also looking forward to the contribution of several Associate Editors in critically assessing the value of the papers and for choosing the appropriate reviewers. Reviewers are “the soul of the Journal” and function as critical experts and scientists to improve the quality and impact of our publication.

What Is Our Mission

Our overarching goal is to publish high-quality papers that can reduce the burden of diseases and help prolong life and the quality of health. We have the unique opportunity to make IAEM even stronger, engaging with a large international audience through advances in internal medicine and clinical science. We hope to engage a younger generation of researchers and clinicians to pave the way for modern evidence-based and critical approaches for treating diseases.

A major challenge we face is the fierce competition between Journals to attract the best papers. We want to attract the best papers from elite researchers worldwide, providing authors with helpful, rigorous, and constructive comments, and bringing readers and their patients the latest advances in clinical science. We know that authors will then be motivated to submit their next articles. By doing this, we will likely gain a higher impact and increased visibility with our readers.

We will strive to provide more online and open access options, while ensuring that with the help of the graphical abstracts, we will offer a modern, fast, attractive, and concise communication.

At the same time, it is imperative to keep objectivity and transparency of the published work and to maintain aspects of clinical research trustful and far from conflicts. No policy is perfect in this respect, but the EIC and the Board will monitor these aspects and are willing to improve over time.

The close interaction between IAEM and SIMI will continue at all levels and the Journal will always provide reports and ad-hoc training courses at annual meetings and even at a regional level to promote its features among researchers and clinicians. We will also promote IAEM at any other level by attracting the attention of researchers, internists, specialists who join the policy of our Journal as potential authors, reviewers, and editors.

In conclusion please, submit your best work to our Journal, with the goal of contributing to the advancement of clinical science in internal and emergency medicine!