Remembering our past

Benedict Rogers, Editor-in-Chief, Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England

Benedict Rogers, Louise Alder and Parveen Kumar

Last month was momentous in remembering the past following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the Visitor of The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England). The whole country reflected in the changes that have occurred throughout the reign of our late monarch. As a coincidence, we also celebrated the 75^th anniversary of the Annals, which gave us pause for thought to reflect on the changes that have occurred in the academic journal of RCS England over this period. We were honoured to have Dame Parveen Kumar speak about the challenges of modern medicine and the role of academic publishing.

As I have mentioned in previous editorials, the Annals owes an ongoing debt of gratitude to the body of reviewers and associate editors, who give their time for free in the honourable pursuit of academic publishing. It has been said that ‘editors do not discover nor produce great authors; great authors create and produce great publishers’. To that end, I applaud and congratulate all previous and current authors who have submitted work to our journal, and I praise equally those who have not been successful, wishing them all every success in pursuing academic publications. Furthermore, I am indebted to all the previous editors of the Annals, and it was inspiring to welcome Sir Barry Jackson, Professor John Lumley, Professor Irving Taylor and Tim Lane to the college to mark the occasion of the 75^th anniversary.

The journal was founded and edited for many years by Sir Cecil Wakeley, and it was introduced to advance surgical practice with sound evidence for the benefit of fellows and members of RCS England. I aim to continue with this ethos. Furthermore, it was my pleasure to award the 2022 Sir Cecil Wakeley prize, for the best original research paper published in the Annals by a UK trainee as lead author, to Louise Alder for her study entitled ‘Clinical frailty and its effect on the septuagenarian population after emergency laparotomy’.¹

While looking at the Annals archives, it is pleasing to see how this publication has evolved over time. One such evolution, started 20 years ago by Professor Bruce Campbell, is the technical section, which is a unique and much enjoyed feature of the Annals. I would estimate that at least one technical note or tip published in this section is used daily in surgical practice throughout the UK and indeed worldwide. We aim to fully support and evolve the technical section in the future.

In addition, the Bulletin, produced initially as a supplement of the Annals, continues to provoke thoughtful comment in the wider practice of surgery. It now stands as a full publication in his own right and complements the research-based content that the Annals maintains.

I would like to conclude by highlighting the outstanding work of the publishing team, currently led by Kim Lewry. The standard and quantity of the work they do, often unseen, is truly remarkable considering the small team. Editors, authors and reviewers (past, present and future) are blessed to have such support.