Dear readers,
By the end of 2021 my second and final term as Editor-in-Chief for the European Stroke Journal comes to an end. It has been a long journey since the first idea to start an European journal for stroke came up, and it has been an exciting process to start with the set-up from scratch with more steps than I had anticipated – writing templates for all the editorial documents, selecting an editorial board, setting up a reviewer database, applying for inclusion in Scopus and Web of Science and much more. As you know, the European Stroke Journal has had a favorable development to date and has now been well established. It is also the hub for the ESO guidelines which will have much influence on clinical practice in Europe and beyond. The first impact factor will appear in 2022 and we are looking forward to this with expectations of a fine result reflecting the status of the journal within the stroke field.
I take this opportunity to give special thanks to ESO who trusted me for the EiC task, to all publishing experts at SAGE, to Didier Leys who was my vice editor from the start of the journal and for the first important years, and to Karin Klijn, my current vice-editor and constant companion in leading the journal. My thanks also to all authors for submitting manuscripts to the journal, and to all reviewers without whom the highly set quality standards of the journal would not have been possible to meet.
I warmly welcome Professor Kennedy Lees as the new Editor-in-Chief. Ken Lees is widely known in the stroke field from his life-long scientific achievements which have a breadth matched by few. Ken is probably best known from his involvement in a large number of clinical trials that have been instrumental in changing stroke services and treatments. Ken played a key role in starting up the ESO European Stroke Conferences and organized the first one in Glasgow. His term as President of the ESO was a period of rapid expansion of the society thanks to his leadership. In the publishing field Ken is highly qualified from serving as an Associate Editor for Stroke during a long period. I am extremely pleased with the appointment of Ken as my successor, and I wish him all the best for the years to come with the journal. The ESJ will be in very good hands.
Bo Norrving
