It has been an honor and a great pleasure for me to serve the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) as editor in chief of the Annals of Behavioral Medicine over the past 5 years. SBM is an organization comprised of researchers, practitioners, and educators from diverse disciplines who share a common goal of promoting better health through behavior change and who hold the shared vision that the best way to accomplish this goal is by conducting and disseminating the best science that our collective fields, theories, and methodologies can offer. For the past 20 years, the Annals has served as a primary vehicle for implementing this vision.

As I described in my introductory editorial for Annals nearly 5 years ago [1], while the Annals has a relatively short history, it has experienced a very steep trajectory in its impact on the field. From humble beginnings as the newsletter-like, Behavioral Medicine Update, to its current place as one of the most widely circulated and most visible scientific publications in the world in the broad area of behavioral medicine, Annals has helped to set the pace and shape the vision for SBM and for the field as a whole. As I started my term as editor, we set out, first and foremost, to publish the best science in the field. We have done that. Moreover, over the past 5 years alone, submissions have increased from 175 in 2004 to over 250 in 2009. Journal impact/citation rates have been consistently high with a 5-year (2004–2008) ISI impact factor of 4.4, and journal circulation has grown ever stronger thanks in large part to the new publishing partnership between SBM/Annals and Springer Science that started in 2008.

Among the most common questions I have been asked as a journal editor are; “What areas are hot?” or “What direction is the field moving?”. Capturing a clear snapshot of where a field is or is moving by looking at journal traffic is difficult. Publication patterns seem to ebb and flow like a bike race with one constellation of riders leading the way, then a breakout rider surging forward and taking the pack in a new direction for a time, but always with the shared goal of forward progress. With this caveat in mind, I found it informative to look over the citation histories of the ten most widely cited papers published in Annals since 2005. These articles and their citation counts as of September 2009 are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Most highly cited articles from Annals of Behavioral Medicine 2005–2009
Full size table

In perusing the “Top 10”, several things stand out. Prevention-oriented research has clearly set the pace. Six of these high-impact articles involved the study of primary prevention behaviors in community or school samples, with a predominant focus on physical activity research [2–7]. The two most highly cited papers both examine the role of computer-tailored intervention in promoting activity and nutrition [2, 3]. Computer- and internet-based interventions reflect a crucial springboard for increasing the effectiveness and broadening the reach of behaviorally informed intervention, and the importance of this platform will only increase in the coming years. As I write this, we are about to go to press with a special series on “The science of internet interventions” edited by Lee Ritterband and Deborah Tate, and the interested reader is referred to this excellent and forward-looking collection of articles [8].

The Annals has long served as an outlet for the dissemination of cutting-edge methodology, and this focus has clearly resonated with our readership with two of the Top 10 involving articles devoted to the conduct, interpretation, and reporting of behavioral intervention trials [9, 10] and a third high-impact article articulating a compelling shift in the way we think about behavioral theory conceptually and how we ultimately test theoretical tenets empirically [11]. Annals has played, and I expect will continue to play, a unique role in highlighting the cutting-edge methodology that behavioral scientists bring to bear on empirical questions of health and illness.

The sixth most highly cited article examines the appraisals of long-term breast cancer survivors and their effect on psychological adjustment [12]. Work on cancer survivorship has become increasingly prominent over the past decade due, in part, to the enhanced survival outcomes patients are experiencing and a much-needed shift in attention to life quality as a critical outcome. The National Cancer Institute's Office of Cancer Survivorship, founded in 1996, has been responsible for funding and the Annals, responsible for reporting many of the theoretical developments and methodological advances that behavioral medicine researchers have brought to bear on cancer (as well as other chronic illness) survivorship issues, and I anticipate this focus will continue into the next decade.

Finally, the Annals has emerged as a truly international journal both in terms of the work that is submitted and ultimately published and in terms of the audience the journal reaches. Four of our ten most highly cited papers were authored by scholars from outside the United States, two from The Netherlands, one from the United Kingdom, and one from Belgium [2–5]. Working to achieve an even greater international presence for the Annals of Behavioral Medicine is crucial and is something I know that the incoming editorial team led by Chris France is poised to do.

Serving as a journal editor can be an intimidating task, and it is certainly not something one tackles alone. It is a team effort in every sense. I have been fortunate to serve alongside a team of experienced and highly capable associate editors, each of whom is a leader in the field of behavioral medicine in their own right. Sincere thanks to my colleagues Dana Bovbjerg, Eddie McAuley, Chris France, Lisa Klesges, Renny Martin, Louise Masse, Kevin McCaul, Steve Palmer, and Mark Vander Weg and to our statistical consulting editor, Susan Sereika. Special recognition is due to Chris, Eddie, and Kevin, who were with me from the beginning. Thanks are also due to our august group of editorial board members and scores of reviewers who all contributed time and talent simply for the good of the journal, the Society, and the science. A big thanks and recognition is due to our outstanding managing editor, Angela Gorden, who has served with me from day 1. To Janice Stern, our senior editor at Springer, I will miss your seemingly tireless energy and dedication to the success of the journal. Special thanks is due to Bob Kaplan, who I have long considered my editorial mentor and who I had the very good fortune of working under as an Annals associate editor for 4 years and then succeeding as Annals editor in chief. Sincere thanks to each of you; I will always be indebted to you for helping me to pull this off.

I leave the journal in the extremely capable hands of Dr. Chris France and his editorial team. I know that there are even greater things ahead for the journal, for SBM, and for our field. Recognition that behavior is central to health and to health outcomes and is the linchpin of effective healthcare delivery is rapidly increasing. The broader scientific community, as well as the lay community our work ultimately serves, seems poised to listen to SBM's message of “better health through behavior change”, behavioral medicine must continue to speak loudly and clearly to deliver it.

I am excited to see what happens next, and I look forward to other opportunities to serve the journal, the field, and the Society.