The demand and growth for published research in the field of multiple sclerosis (MS) has increased exponentially over the last few years. The primary aim of the Multiple Sclerosis Journal (MSJ) has always been to reflect the excellent work of the ever-expanding and diverse clinical and research field of MS, and this role will now be shared by MSJ’s companion journal MSJ – Experimental, Translational, and Clinical, an open access journal.
The launch of our open access journal MSJ – Experimental, Translational, and Clinical – or MSJ–ETC in shorthand – allows us to publish across a wider range of topics of interest to the broader MS community. The new journal is rigorously peer reviewed, publishing across the spectrum of experimental, translational, and clinical topics as indicated by the title. It also enables rapid turnaround for submissions, resulting in those accepted becoming available in record time, and allows more flexibility in the length of papers and supporting tables.
MSJ has enjoyed a steady upward trajectory over the last 5 years as it approaches its 20th birthday. Moving to 14 issues per year and managing over 1000 submissions, it has incorporated a range of innovative and popular additions including Controversies, Topical Reviews, Clinical Commentaries, Personal Viewpoints, and Future Perspectives. Managing this increasing activity in a responsive manner is a major challenge, and as the rejection rate increases, articles of high quality which are perhaps not at the very core of the journal’s interest are being turned away. This has been for a variety of reasons; chiefly that manuscripts were considered too specialised, too focussed on a particular geographical region, provide follow-up or additional measures on existent therapy reports, or too preliminary to translate into standard clinical use or be incorporated into clinical trials.
MSJ–ETC also addresses another area of need for the MS community. Many funders of research now insist that the results from the studies they support are widely accessible and therefore need to be published in an open access journal. This demand is increasing and is becoming a requirement in national research assessment exercises carried out across the higher education sector in many countries. As a consequence, many universities have made funds available to cover the costs of open access publishing.
We are very fortunate to have three new editors leading MSJ–ETC, each of them well-established leaders in the MS world: Mar Tintore from CEM-CAT in Barcelona, Spain, Jeffrey Cohen from the Cleveland Clinic, USA, and Ho Jin Kim from the Research Institute and Hospital of National Cancer Centre Korea. Inevitably, it will take a little time for the journal to establish itself as the go-to open access MS journal. However, the signs are good – there is a steady flow of papers both from MSJ and directly to the journal itself. We have papers well into the review process and some which have already been accepted for publication. Both journals have the support of the same well-respected and international Editorial Board.
As the number of papers increases, we will be entering the 3-year period necessary before we submit for an impact factor. Over that time, we anticipate further increases in MSJ’s impact factor, which will inevitably help to ensure that MSJ–ETC starts at a reasonable level.
We hope you will enjoy and embrace this new journal and, most importantly, submit your papers to it.