TY - JOUR T1 - The making of the <em>ERJ</em>: behind the scenes and Editors' cut JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 4 LP - 5 DO - 10.1183/09031936.00074210 VL - 36 IS - 1 AU - A.T. Dinh-Xuan AU - V. Brusasco Y1 - 2010/07/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/36/1/4.abstract N2 - We began our editorship of the European Respiratory Journal (ERJ) 18 months ago, with the hope of serving the ERJ using modern communication media in order to advance respiratory medicine and its related biological and therapeutic research fields 1. Due to this, over the last 12 months a series of changes have been introduced to reshape the ERJ and meet the expectations and demands of our readers and fellow investigators worldwide 2. Now, at almost the mid-point of our mandate, whilst briefly looking back at the last 18 months, we want to continue to share with you information relating to the daily work procedure of the ERJ Editorial Office. In doing so, we hope to provide you with greater transparency, thereby bringing the ERJ not only closer to the eyes, but also the hearts and minds of its readership. Quantitatively, the number of manuscripts submitted to the ERJ has risen steadily from around 1,500 per year in 2005 to more than 2,000 since 2008. We do not know whether this increase in submissions is the result, or the cause, of the increased impact factor of the ERJ 3, 4. However, what we do know is that the absolute number of manuscripts we have received from the day we began our editorship has already amounted to more than 3,000. Of these submitted manuscripts, 14% have received an immediate decision directly from the Chief Editors (without consulting the other members of the Editorial Board). Indeed, we have immediately accepted, mostly invited editorials and correspondences, or rejected manuscripts where the topics did not obviously fit with those of the … ER -