Editorial 2014

The year 2013 has been another very successful one for the journal. The topics covered in the 24 Theme Issues span the full spectrum of the biological sciences, many embracing the opportunities for interdisciplinary discussion that the journal promotes. The Guest Editors this year have been excellent in creating balanced, high-quality issues that provide a novel, timely resource for their field and for interested readers from other communities, and I want to thank them for their time, hard work and expertise.

A continuing objective for the journal is to balance the published topics across research areas, and this year has seen highlights in all four of our clusters. Organismal biology has been particularly strong in ecosystem biology in 2013, with issues on the Amazon [1], the Arctic tundra [2] and African rainforests [3]. We have also published issues on key topics in evolution, animal behaviour and ecology.

Issues focusing on topics related to biochemistry and molecular, cell and developmental biology are showing a steady increase. The year 2013 saw the publication of an issue on epigenetics, which included a review by Nobel Prize winner Prof. Shinya Yamanaka [4]. Much of the strength of the journal comes from its publication of the Royal Society Discussion Meetings, and the recent publication of the meeting on cellular polarity [5] will help to increase awareness of the journal in this field.

During 2014, we will be focusing on increasing coverage in our health and disease cluster. While 2013 saw some exciting publications in this field, such as the issue on infectious disease eradication [6], we would particularly like to encourage submissions of proposals in this area. We have some exciting projects underway for 2014 and beyond, so keep an eye out for these.

This landmark issue on long-term potentiation [7] marks the start of a special neuroscience and cognition season. The next six months will see some very exciting publications on subjects such as spatial representation within the hippocampus, timing in neurobiological processes, vision and animal behaviour, perceptual awareness and mirror neurons.

One change that you may have noticed when reading the journal this year is that Royal Society journals now adopt a ‘continuous publication’ model. Instead of using page numbers to cite an article within a volume, a unique identifier is used instead. This allows papers in our research journals to be cited immediately on publication, rather than having to wait to be allocated to an issue. Journals such as PLoS ONE already use this citation format, and we hope that our readers will adopt this new notation without difficulty. We have also introduced a policy encouraging authors to make available the data and research materials supporting the results articles. The Royal Society strongly believes in openness and visibility in research, and Philosophical Transactions B has introduced this policy following the guidelines in the Royal Society report Science as an open enterprise [8].

The Royal Society has recently signed the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). This declaration challenges the role played by the Impact Factor as the main means for evaluating science, and promotes the assessment of research on its own merits rather than on the basis of the journal in which the research is published. For this reason, the Royal Society will, in future, present its journal Impact Factors within the context of a variety of journal-based metrics.

Another change for 2014 is a slight increase to 26 issues a year to allow us to publish a few more of the exceptional proposals that we receive. Our quarterly submission round enables us to choose the best proposals for publication and ensures that we balance the subject areas. The number of proposals that we receive is increasing, and our acceptance rate currently stands at around 40%. The journal is continuing to expand its international reach, with Guest Editors in 2013 coming from the UK, USA, Japan, Australia, France, Canada, Brazil, Denmark, Ghana, Germany and Argentina.

The coming year is going to be a busy and exciting one for the Editorial team; 2015 marks the 350th anniversary of the first publication of Philosophical Transactions (1665), and we are working on an exciting programme of events and publications to mark this event. We welcome proposals for issues on subjects of current topical interest, but perhaps with a historical tie to Phil. Trans., for publication during 2015 as part of the celebrations. If you have an idea to suggest please get in touch with us. In addition, the Editorial Office will be kept busy by publishing an extra two issues, working on some new author guidelines across the journals and attending a range of international conferences to increase the awareness among scientists worldwide of the journal's existence, unique nature and relevance. Look out for them on your travels!

Finally, it is a great pleasure to highlight the generous and expert support that the journal receives from inside and outside the Royal Society. The members of the Editorial Board are a constant source of expertise, energy and ideas, and their input is vital in the process of commissioning and reviewing each issue. I would particularly like to thank the Board members that retired at the end of 2013, and to welcome those joining us this year. I also warmly thank our Commissioning Editor, Helen Eaton, whose insights, energy and organization contribute so much to making Phil. Trans. B both a success and a pleasure for those involved with it.

I look forward to another successful year for the journal.