Forty Year Anniversary of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology

Introduction

Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology (ATVB) celebrates its origins on its fortieth year since inception. From the first edition published in January of 1981, ATVB has become a preeminent journal that has been closely linked with many foundational studies that have provided profound insights into the mechanisms and treatments of a range of vascular and thrombotic pathologies. The initial intent of the journal was to highlight advances in arteriosclerosis, which was an emerging field in this era, with a particular emphasis on the role of lipoprotein metabolism in the disease process. In 1993, the journal name was expanded to Arteriosclerosis and Thrombosis, with the growing realization of the link between thrombosis and the clinical manifestations of arteriosclerosis and other vascular diseases. Two years later there was another change to the name with the emergence of vascular biology and its close link to the scientific focus of the journal. Hence the current name of ATVB. To accompanying these changes in name there was also a progressive evolution of the content management and cover designs (Figure 1)

Figure 1.

The progression of the journal name and covers since inception in 1981.

History of Editors and Editorial teams

The origin of ATVB is its publication as a bimonthly journal with the original name of Arteriosclerosis. The inaugural editor of Arteriosclerosis in 1981 was Dr. Edward Bierman who was Chief of the Division of Endocrinology at the University of Washington and a prominent lipoprotein researcher (Figure 2). The inaugural editorial team consisted of Dr. Bierman’s University of Washington colleagues, Dr. Paul Bornstein, Dr. Laurence Harker, Dr. Arno Motulsky, and Dr. Russell Ross. Dr. Bierman and his team orchestrated a highly successful launch of the journal in which many prominent researchers published in the early editions of the journal. These include Nobel prize recipients, Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Joseph Goldstein who published in the third issue. With the evolving success and diversity of the journal, a European editor was included in the leadership team with the appointment of Dr. Goran Bondjers (University of Gothenburg) in 1988.

Figure 2.

The Editors-in-Chief of the ATVB journal

In 1991, the leadership reins were handed to Dr. Alan Fogelman who was Chief of Cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Jack Hawiger (Vanderbilt University) was appointed as the Co-editor and the European office was maintained under the leadership of Dr. Goran Bondjers. Early in their tenure, this team responded to increased submission rate that needed a transition to a monthly publication that started in January of 1992.

In 1999, the editor-in-chief appointment was Dr. Donald Heistad who was the Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at the University of Iowa. In addition to maintaining a European office that was led by Dr. Goran Hansson (Karolinska Institute), an Asian office was also added that was led by Dr. Akira Takeshita (Kyushu University). This was an era of changes in the review process with a progression to a web-based platform. Dr. Heistad initiated the ATVB Early Career Investigator awards. These awards represented the three major focus research areas and were named for prominent members of the ATVB community as the Daniel Steinberg award in Atherosclerosis/Lipoproteins, the Karl Link award for Thrombosis, and the Werner Risau award in Vascular Biology (https://www.ahajournals.org/atvb/early-career-awards). The awards continue and are now a prominent feature of the annual conference organized by the ATVB Council.

In 2007, Dr. Mark Taubman was appointed to the editor’s role while he was the Chief of Cardiology and Director of the Aab Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of Rochester. Dr. Taubman maintained the European and Asian offices, led by Dr. Alain Tedgui (Paris Center for Cardiovascular Research) and Dr. Ryozo Nagai (University of Tokyo) respectively. With the rapid escalation of Dr. Taubman’s responsibilities at the University of Rochester, he stepped down in 2011. Dr. Edward Fisher, already an Associate Editor and also then the Director of the Center for Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at New York University, graciously stepped into the role of editor-in-chief in 2011 to complete the team’s term.

Dr. Alan Daugherty (Director of the Saha Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Kentucky) was appointed as editor-in-chief in 2012. With the benefit of the evolution of communications, this incoming team was able to be a highly functional global team and enabled authors from all the major countries publishing in the journal to be represented. With the completion of Dr. Daugherty’s term in 2022, there will be a transition.

Contributions to Science

ATVB has been the venue for the publication of highly acclaimed manuscripts that have predominantly focused on articles of original research, but has also included many impactful reviews. The most cited publications in the journal are listed in Table 1. In addition to demonstrating the influence that ATVB publications have had in the journal’s sphere of research, these publications also demonstrate the spectrum of research in the journal extends from basic discovery, through translational, to clinical and population based. Hence, a continuum of scientific scope has found a home in the ATVB journal that has been acknowledged by our peers.

Table 1.

The most cited publications in ATVB. Data on citations were derived from the Web of Science based on a search in July 2021.

Authors	Title	Publication	Number of Citations
Virmani R, Kolodgie FD, Burke AP, Farb A, Schwartz SM1	Lessons from sudden coronary death - A comprehensive morphological classification scheme for atherosclerotic lesions	2000:20;1262	2579
Hotta K, Funahashi T, Arita Y, Takahashi M, Matsuda M, Okamoto Y, Iwahashi H, Kuriyama H, Ouchi N, Maeda K, Nishida M, Kihara S, Sakai N, Nakajima T, Hasegawa K, Muraguchi M, Ohmoto Y, Nakamura T, Yamashita S, Hanafusa T, Matsuzawa Y 2	Plasma concentrations of a novel, adipose-specific protein, adiponectin, in type 2 diabetic patients	2000:20;1595	2416
Ku DN, Giddens DP, Zarins CK, Glagov S 3	Pulsatile flow and atherosclerosis in the human carotid bifurcation - positive correlation between plaque location and low and oscillating shear-stress	1985:5;293	2044
Yudkin JS, Stehouwer CDA, Emeis JJ, Coppack SW 4	C-reactive protein in healthy subjects: Associations with obesity, insulin resistance, and endothelial dysfunction - A potential role for cytokines originating from adipose tissue?	1999:19;972	1880
Davignon J, Gregg RE, Sing CF 5	Apolipoprotein-E polymorphism and atherosclerosis	1988:8;1	1799
Ricciotti E, FitzGerald GA 6	Prostaglandins and inflammation	2011:31;986	1694
Bonetti PO, Lerman LO, Lerman A 7	Endothelial dysfunction - A marker of atherosclerotic risk	2003:23;168	1527
Nakashima Y, Plump AS, Raines EW, Breslow JL, Ross R 8	ApoE-deficient mice develop lesions of all phases of atherosclerosis throughout the arterial tree	1994:14;133	1276
Libby P 9	Inflammation in atherosclerosis	2012:32;2045	1238
Cardin AD, Weintraub HJR 10	Molecular modeling of protein-glycosaminoglycan interactions	1989:9;21	1166
Kumada M, Kihara S, Sumitsuji S, Kawamoto T, Matsumoto S, Ouchi N, Arita Y, Okamoto Y, Shimomura I, Hiraoka H, Nakamura T, Funahashi T, Matsuzawa Y11	Association of hypoadiponectinemia with coronary artery disease in men	2003:23;85	1138
Jonasson L, Holm J, Skalli O, Bondjers G, Hansson GK 12	Regional accumulations of T-cells, macrophages, and smooth-muscle cells in the human atherosclerotic plaque	1986:6;131	1064
Takemoto M, Liao JK 13	Pleiotropic effects of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors	2001:21;1712	1040
Zieman SJ, Melenovsky V, Kass DA 14	Mechanisms, pathophysiology, and therapy of arterial stiffness	2005:25;932	1038
Despres JP, Moorjani S, Lupien PJ, Tremblay A, Nadeau A, Bouchard C 15	Regional distribution of body-fat, plasma-lipoproteins, and cardiovascular-disease	1990:10;497	1038
Mensink RP, Katan MB 16	Effect of dietary fatty-acids on serum-lipids and lipoproteins - a meta analysis of 27 trials	1992:12;911	1120
Patsch JR, Miesenbock G, Hopferwieser T, Muhlberger V, Knapp E, Dunn JK, Gotto AM, Patsch W 17	Relation of triglyceride-metabolism and coronary-artery disease - studies in the postprandial state	1992:12;1336	1017
Williams KJ, Tabas I 18	The response-to-retention hypothesis of early atherogenesis	1995:15;551	1010
Madamanchi NR, Moon SK, Hakim ZS, Clark S, Mehrizi A, Patterson C, Runge MS 19	Differential activation of mitogenic signaling pathways in aortic smooth muscle cells deficient in superoxide dismutase isoforms	2005:25;950	1002

Since its inception, there has been an evolution of the mode in which journal performance is evaluated. The most used metric is the Web of Science Journal Impact Factor which represents the median of the number of citations divided by the citable items for all forms of publications. For 2020, the ATVB Journal Impact Factor was 8.311. ATVB has particularly prided itself on its high quality of publications of original research. In this regard, the Web of Science now publishes Impact Factors for Articles of original research. This is represented as a median to obviate the spurious effort of a small number of highly cited articles. ATVB performs very well by this metric and is indicative of the focus of the journal to provide the community with cutting-edge research.

Perspectives

The ATVB journal has a proud history of adapting to the changing world of research and publications. This have led to profound changes in the current version of the journal compared to its origins. Highlights of some of the most significant changes include:

• Conversion to a web-based journal with open access options.

• A web-based review system that removes any constraints on engaging international participation in the review process.

• An enhanced diversity of editors and editorial board. While there needs to be a continued focus on this issue, the journal is proud of its international participation in these activities and the improving metrics of all diversity issues.

• A focus on enhancing the rigor and reproducibility of published articles with manuscripts now being required to have sufficient details for other researchers to replicate the study. This has included the appointment of a Technical Editor to provide consistency in data analysis and representation.

• An emphasis on close collaboration with the ATVB Council that includes assisting with the content and participation of the Council’s annual conference that is now called Vascular Discovery.

• Promoting the careers of early investigators though their participation in editorial process, awards, and participation in authoring reviews and highlight articles.

The past and present editors-in-chief of ATVB were honored to participate in the evolution of this prominent journal and look forward to its future development.