As much as 2020 will probably be associated for years or even decades to come as the year of COVID-19, this year will certainly also be remembered as a year of fundamental changes to our specialty and also more specifically to the journal. While writing this editorial, there is still 1 month left of 2020, but the current submission data already indicates a significant influx of manuscripts to DMFR. While in 2019, a total of 510 submissions were received, the prediction for 2020 is well over 600 articles. This would be an increase of almost 20% in comparison to 2019, which was already the year with the highest number of total submissions ever to our journal. Nevertheless, the DMFR handling times remain consistently low with a mean of below 25 days to the first decision and well below 50 days for the final one. This was certainly enabled by a very smooth and supportive handover from Prof Ralf Schulze to myself as new editor of DMFR. Let me take the opportunity here to express my gratitude to Prof Schulze, my associate editors, the entire editorial board, all reviewers supporting us to maintain a high quality of articles to be published, and also the team at the BIR who are always there to help to improve our journal further. Lastly, I would also like to thank all the researchers and colleagues around the globe that submit their work to DMFR; without their contributions, our journal would not exist at all. I think that we all have a common goal: to increase the visibility and recoginition of our specialty, and DMFR is certainly one very important piece in this puzzle!
When looking into the crystal ball for 2021, it seems that there is light at the end of the tunnel with regard to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccines are approved around the globe, and it seems to be mostly a logistical challenge now as to how we can all benefit from this impressive achievement of modern medicine. Never in the history of mankind has a vaccine been developed so rapidly, and with such a global effort. Thus, it seems not a too far fetched assumption that we may soon meet again in person at a conference – something that was and is definitely missed, and cannot be replaced by relying only on digital technologies. To finish on another cheerful note for our specialty and DMFR in particular, 50 years ago, in 1972, the first issue of our journal was published. When taking a look at the articles included half a century ago (https://www.birpublications.org/toc/dmfr/1/1), we can appreciate the enormous developments in our field over these last decades. Most of the papers in the first DMFR issue were focusing on intraoral radiography or panoramic imaging, CBCT or AI tools were present only as concepts of science fiction and a remote future. To reflect and commemorate on these changes and the constant progress of our specialty, we have invited a series of reviews by renowned experts in the field on different topics from the digitalisation of dental radiology, the shift from 2D to 3D imaging, and also the advent of AI and personalised dental medicine. The series will be kicked-off by two articles in the current DMFR issue. The first will be a historical reflection by past editors of our journal, the second an overview of relevant technological changes in oral and maxillofacial radiology of the past 50 years that have had a lasting impact. I'm confident that our field, and the journal will see many more changes in the upcoming five decades, all hopefully resulting in constant improvement of the capabilities and also relevance of our specialty within dentistry and also medicine in general.
Happy 50th birthday to DMFR, and my best wishes to you all for a successful 2021.
Michael M Bornstein
Editor-in-Chief DMFR