Turning the page on 2021: an eventful year for the British Journal of Anaesthesia

Abstract

The British Journal of Anaesthesia (BJA) had an eventful 2021, following what was a cataclysmic 2020 for the whole world. Despite the tragic challenges of multiple waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and the unparalleled burdens this created for everyone working in anaesthesia and critical care, the BJA underwent a major transformation during 2021. The BJA strongly supported research and education relevant to the pandemic, and to the broader missions of anaesthesia, critical, and pain medicine. Innovations to the BJA in 2021 included a special section on COVID-19 and the Anaesthetist; a new open access journal in the BJA stable; creation of a new social media editor position; new webinar and author interview series; transition to a new manuscript management system; and a move away from paper to electronic publication.

Response to COVID-19 pandemic

In early 2020 we began hearing disturbing reports of a novel and highly infectious respiratory virus causing major outbreaks associated with acute respiratory failure and high morbidity and mortality. Within a few months many more patients, and the healthcare systems that care for them, were struggling to survive. The fight to tame the COVID-19 pandemic continues into 2022, with anaesthetists and intensivists leading the way. This response has been featured in a new section of the British Journal of Anaesthesia (BJA), ‘COVID-19 and the Anaesthetist: a special series’, and a special COVID-19 Correspondence section since May 2020. As of this issue, we will cautiously retire these features. Our first publication on this novel viral disease, appearing electronically in February 2020 and one of the first in any anaesthesia journal, was commissioned from the Toronto group that had lived through severe acute respiratory syndrome 1 (SARS-1); this article has been cited more than 200 times.¹ Impactful early publications include an early description of approaches to tracheal intubation of patients with acute respiratory failure from COVID-19,² infection control in COVID-19,³ use of spinal anaesthesia in COVID-19 patients,⁴ and the UK experience with tracheostomy.⁵ A number of expedited publications appeared as COVID-19 Correspondence including highly cited papers on extubation of patients with COVID-19,⁶ Caesarean delivery in a patient with COVID-19,⁷ and anaphylaxis to the SARS-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine.⁸

Submissions of manuscripts more than doubled in May 2020, and I would like to thank our editorial team, reviewers, and publisher who stepped up to maintain an efficient review and publication process with expedited online publication of COVID-19-related papers despite personal and professional challenges for many. All COVID-19 related papers were made freely available upon advance publication. Manuscript submissions have slowly returned toward pre-pandemic levels while quality remains very high.

Going paperless

From the first issue of January 2022, the BJA will move to online access for members of the Royal College of Anaesthetists; BJA Education will make the transition 6 months later (questions regarding college subscriptions can be directed to membership@rcoa.ac.uk). General subscribers retain the choice of opting out of the paper version of the journal to receive the journal electronically (questions regarding general subscriptions can be directed to BJAJournals@Elsevier.com). This transition away from print copies reflects the ongoing commitment of the BJA, Elsevier, and the Royal College to environmental sustainability. Removing the provision of print copies for Royal College members will save approximately 110 tonnes of paper annually, which will have a positive environmental impact on the journal's carbon footprint by eliminating shipping and plastic wrap.

The move away from print reflects the user habits of the journal's readers, who increasingly access the BJA in its digital format. Downloads to the journal have increased by 32% in the past 2 yr, reflecting the journal's growing online use. Qualitative feedback from reader surveys also suggests that users are accessing the journal predominantly in its online form. From 2022, members can access all articles in the BJA through the journal's website: www.bjanaesthesia.org. The full issue will be available to access in ‘flipbook’ form, which will enable subscribers to read the complete issue from start to finish digitally, as they currently would a print journal issue. The enhanced elctronic version of the journal will be optimised for multiple devices including tablets and mobile telephones. We have also endorsed the use of electronic publishing of draft manuscripts on independent, free, public, not-for-profit preprint servers to facilitate early open dissemination of research and encourage dialogue and comments before publication.⁹ Our publisher (BJAJournals@Elsevier.com) has committed additional resources to support readers and subscribers during these electronic transitions, which invariably involve a break-in period, for which we beg your understanding!

Electronic enhancements

As of October 11, 2021, the BJA transitioned from Manuscript Central to Editorial Manager as its default manuscript submission system. Editorial Manager is a leading, established manuscript submission and processing system, providing improved performance. It is the primary manuscript submission system for most Elsevier journals, including their Lancet and Cell Press titles, and is the submission system of choice for more than 7000 journals across various publishers worldwide. As Editorial Manager is owned by an Elsevier company, we will be able to deliver enhancements and innovative solutions to the BJA, its authors, and its reviewers in a timely manner including integrated reviewer recognition services.

BJA Open, a new open access journal

The BJA is launching BJA Open, a new gold open access journal, this month, to complement and expand our current BJA and BJA Education titles. Gold open access journals make the final published version of articles immediately and permanently available online for everyone to read and use. BJA Open will publish high-impact original work relating to all branches of anaesthesia, critical care medicine, pain medicine, and perioperative medicine including fundamental, translational, and clinical sciences, clinical practice, technology, education, and training. After a competitive search, former BJA editor and board member Philip Hopkins (@profhop) was appointed as the inaugural editor-in-chief of BJA Open (www.bjaopen.org) to lead this exciting new venture.

Social media strategy

We are pleased to announce the creation of a new editorial role to support our increasing engagement in social media. After a competitive review process, Tom Abbott (@_tomabbott) of Queen Mary University of London accepted our offer as inaugural social media editor of the BJA. He will work closely with board member Christa Boer (@B_XTA) in overseeing the communication strategy for the journal. Our social media presence continues to grow, and @BJAJournals now has more than 22 000 followers on Twitter.

We have also expanded our electronic education offerings to our readers by organising webinars on current topics of interest (www.bjanaesthesia.org/webinars), many in collaboration with the Royal College of Anaesthetists. Recent topics have included Acute and Chronic Post-surgical Pain, Postoperative Delirium, and Anaesthesia and Cancer. Another recent innovation is a monthly interview with the authors of a current BJA paper hosted by BJA Open editor-in-chief Philip Hopkins available on our YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/channel/UCBzqA4AS9bLKI_JHJgtzgzQ). Recent ‘BJA Broadcasts’ have featured papers on COVID-19 and surgical activity in the UK,¹⁰ communications failures and anaesthesia-related patient harm,¹¹ goal-directed fluid therapy in emergency abdominal surgery,¹² and anaesthetic depth and delirium after major surgery.¹³

Team development

We are, of course, disappointed to see Christa Boer step down from her position as editor of the BJA after her first term as she assumes increasing responsibilities as vice dean at Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, although we are thrilled that she will be remaining as a board member. She created our social media accounts and oversaw the rapid growth in our social media presence while handling a full load of manuscripts as an editor. We have recently completed a search to fill the vacancy left by her departure at the end of 2021, which has led to the appointment of Professor Bernd Saugel of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. We also recently appointed 10 new associate editorial board members (many active on social media) and six new editorial fellows (from a field of many applicants); interest in working with the BJA remains extremely high.

In summary, 2021 was a page-turner from pandemic to innovations in publication practice. Building on these developments and innovations in 2021, the future is bright indeed for the BJA in 2022 as the leading international journal in anaesthesia, critical care, and pain medicine. We have already confirmed our participation in Anaesthesia 2022, Euroanaesthesia 2022, and the 11th International Symposium on Memory, Awareness and Anaesthesia (MAA11); we look forward to meeting you in person at one of these exciting events.

Declarations of interest

HCH is editor-in-chief of the British Journal of Anaesthesia.