Dear Reader

As we approach the end of 2015, and publish our final issue of The Patient for the year, the editors and production staff at Adis wish to reflect on another successful year’s achievements and pay thanks to all those who have contributed their time and effort to guarantee the exceptional quality of our content.

We are delighted to have seen the conclusion of formalities surrounding the joint venture of Springer Science + Business Media with Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, Macmillan Education in early May. Substantial ground has already been made in the integration of business within the resulting Springer Nature company and we at Adis look eagerly toward the future, as the benefits of the collective expertise and capabilities of this company carry us forward.

The majority of our journals saw a rise in ISI impact factor against the previous year. Most notably, BioDrugs increased by 41 % to 2.989; the European Journal of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics increased 19 % to 1.563; CNS Drugs increased by 17 % to 5.113; Targeted Oncology increased 16 % to 4.0; Pediatric Drugs increased 15 % to 1.975; Drugs and Aging increased 13 % to 2.838; and Molecular Diagnosis and Therapy increased a further 12 % to 2.891, having already jumped 53 % in the preceding year. We hope to build upon these gains, once more, in 2016.

The Adis Book programme has grown substantially and 20 new titles will have been published over the course of the year. Over 50 further titles are currently in development with leading academics, internationally, and we continue to add more to the list. Our thanks, again, to all who have submitted these valuable proposals to date.

We offer our sincere thanks to all authors who have contributed articles to The Patient over the course of 2015. Their skill and dedication are critical to the continued publication of the journal. The world-class quality of published articles is, similarly, testament to the significant efforts of the peer reviewers, whose commitment ensures that our content is held to the highest possible standard. In addition to the members of our Honorary Editorial Board, we would like to thank the following individuals who acted as reviewers for articles published in The Patient in 2015:

Alyce S. Adams, USA

Koula Asimakopoulou, UK

Rebecca A. Aslakson, USA

Michelle Banfield, Australia

David G. Binion, USA

Christine Blome, Germany

Steven Blum, USA

Ana Bobinac, The Netherlands

Billie Bonevski, Australia

Nicola Bonner, UK

Charles Brackett, USA

Jessica L. Browne, Australia

John Chambers, UK

Olivier Chassany, France

Gang Chen, Australia

Edmond P. Choi, Hong Kong

Kate Claydon-Platt, Australia

Debbie Cooke, UK

S. Joel Coons, USA

David Coultas, USA

Heidi Crayton, USA

Marion Danner, Germany

Linda S. Deal, USA

Mylene Dipankui, Canada

Martin Duracinsky, France

Emily Evans, USA

Massimiliano Fabbiani, Italy

Eric Finkelstein, Singapore

Jane Fischer, Australia

Emuella Flood, USA

Christina Foss, Norway

Joe Gerald, USA

Ari Gnanasakthy, USA

Sarah L. Goff, USA

Juan Marcos Gonzalez, USA

Rosemary J. Gowran, Ireland

Karin Groothuis-Oudshoorn, The Netherlands

Isabelle Guillemin, France

Ron D. Hays, USA

Jeffrey S. Hoch, Canada

Seyed Hamzeh Hosseini, Islamic Republic of Iran

Jason K. Hou, USA

Stacie Hudgens, USA

Hayley Hutchings, UK

Pasquale Innominato, France

Asuka Kato, Japan

Sarah Kirby, UK

Nicolas Krucien, UK

Tracey-Lea Laba, Australia

Christoph Lalanne, France

Lucy Land, UK

Ha Le, Australia

France Legare, Canada

Alessandra Lugaresi, Italy

Amandine Luquiens, France

Monica Lypson, USA

Stefan A. Müller-Lissner, Germany

Kathy McGilton, Canada

Robert Brett, McQueen, USA

Julio E. Mendoza, Canada

Tito Mendoza, USA

Ollie Minton, UK

Ateesha F. Mohamed, USA

Bart Morlion, Belgium

Greg Murray, Australia

Paul Myles, Australia

Mehdi Najafzadeh, Canada

Luigi Naldi, Italy

Lauren M. Nelson, USA

Jørgen Nexøe, Denmark

Annabel Nixon, UK

Frede Olesen, Denmark

A. Simon Pickard, USA

Petra Pohl, Sweden

Lisa A. Prosser, USA

Regina Rendas-Baum, USA

Jeff R. Richardson, Australia

Jessica Robinson-Papp, USA

Rosalba Rosato, Italy

John Rose, Australia

Paul Rutter, UK

Maria Santana, Canada

Luciana Scalone, Italy

Andreas Schmitt, Germany

Eva R. Serber, USA

Laura Aubree Shay, USA

Cees Smit, The Netherlands

Mary L. Smith, USA

Tania Stafinski, Canada

Dawn Swancutt, UK

Peter M. ten Klooster, The Netherlands

Cecile M. A. Utens, The Netherlands

Marjan van der Pol, UK

Lill-Brith von Arx, Denmark

Kate White, Australia

Jennifer A. Whitty, Australia

Christopher S. Wie, USA

Celia Wills, USA

Micheal Wonder, Australia

Geoff Wong, UK

Yaling Yang, UK

Hannah Young, UK

We hope that you have found the articles published throughout 2015 to be both interesting and informative. The editors have appreciated the high quality of content contributed to the journal this year and look forward to keeping you up to date with topical issues in the field in 2016.

With best wishes from the staff of The Patient, the Department of Health Policy and Management at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and all at Adis Publications.