The European Stroke Journal (ESJ) is the official journal of the ESO. A digital copy of the ESJ in NXTBOOK form is distributed as a benefit of ESO membership and ESOC registration, reaching over 5,000+ stroke specialists across 100+ countries.*

The ESJ has had a good start and we have set ambitious goals to continue developing the journal. In order to reach these goals, we need your support, please continue to submit your best science to the ESJ. We welcome original research articles, reviews, guidelines, and clinical trial protocols. After seeing all of the impressive work presented at the ESOC, we know there is great research waiting to be published. By submitting your research and actively supporting the ESJ, you support the development of stroke science in Europe.

The European Stroke Journal covers clinical stroke research from all fields, including clinical trials, epidemiology, primary and secondary prevention, diagnosis, acute and post-acute management, guidelines, translation of experimental findings into clinical practice, rehabilitation, organisation of stroke care, and societal impact. It is open to authors from all relevant medical and health professions and also features articles from the ESJ Young Reviewer Programme. Article types include review articles, original research, protocols, guidelines, editorials and letters to the Editor.

We need your active support for the journal in multiple ways: by submitting your best science in the stroke field to the European Stroke Journal, by providing rapid and careful reviews when asked for, by citing the European Stroke Journal publications in your own manuscripts, by spreading the information of the journal to your colleagues, and by promoting the journal in social media. We count on your full support from the very start.

* December 2022.

History of the ESJ

In October 2015, ESO President Kennedy Lees announced the launch of its own journal, the European Stroke Journal (ESJ). It is fully peer-reviewed and a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Issues will be published 4 times a year (March, June, September and December) with 96 pages in each issue. Articles will be published online first prior to issue publication. Subscription of the European Stroke Journal is included in the ESO membership fee.

The journal is owned by the ESO and published by the highly reputable publishing company SAGE. SAGE publishes a series of medical and scientific journals, is known for its ethical approach. The first Editor-in-Chief was Prof. Bo Norrving and the Vice Editor was Prof. Didier Leys.

The current Editor-in-Chief is Kennedy Lees, from Glasgow, Scotland. Professor Kennedy Lees began his tenure as the Journal`s second Editor-in-Chief in 2022. Ken Lees is widely known in the stroke field from his life-long scientific achievements. He is probably best known from his involvement in a large number of clinical trials that have been instrumental in changing stroke services and treatments. In the publishing field, he has served as an Associate Editor for Stroke.  He also played a key role in starting up the ESO European Stroke Conferences (ESOC) and organised the first one in Glasgow. Since 2023, the Vice Editor is Else Charlotte Sandset from Oslo University Hospital, Norway. She was the Secretary General of ESO, served on the ESO Conference Planning Group, she lead ESO’s social media strategy and ran the ESO blog from 2015-19. Dr. Sandset thoroughly understands ESO and European stroke. She is in a very active phase of her own research career and has considerable editorial experience, including time as section editor for Stroke journal.