The European Respiratory Review: meeting expectations of respiratory physicians through diversity and quality

The European Respiratory Review (ERR) is the review journal of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) and sister journal of the European Respiratory Journal [1, 2], which is the flagship journal the ERS [1]. A year ago, in an editorial as incoming ERR Chief Editor, I stated that the ERR was mature, expanding and meeting new challenges [3]. Indeed, readers may have already witnessed that the ERR is building on its success and growing, and including more and more high-quality content.

With the outstanding combined effort of authors, the ERS Publications Office, the ERS Publication Committee and the dedicated international editorial board, the ERR is successfully aiming at publishing the best review content in respiratory medicine. Because submission to the ERR is free and because all ERR articles are free to access, the ERR contributes to the rapid dissemination of knowledge in respiratory medicine. This is illustrated by the ever increasing number of visits to the ERR website (http://err.ersjournals.com) and of the number of downloaded ERR articles worldwide [4], with 231 636 visits and 510 741 downloads in 2013. Importantly, the growing role of the ERR in the respiratory field is also exemplified by the increasing number of ERR articles that are being cited in articles in several international journals.

During 2013, the ERR has welcomed an increased diversity in both the format and the topics of content. In addition to publishing state-of-the-art reviews (updates), focused review articles, reports of high-quality scientific meetings, supporting documents of ERS task forces, sponsored review articles, editorials, letters to the editor and correspondence, the ERR now publishes thematic review series and Clinical year in review articles. The publication of cutting edge mini-reviews [5–9], case-based reviews [10] and images in respiratory medicine [11] has also been initiated, and spontaneous submissions are particularly welcome.

In 2013, two new series were introduced in the ERR covering “Topics in thoracic oncology” [12] and “Pulmonary rehabilitation” [13], and a new series on “Acute respiratory distress syndrome” will be launched in the June 2014 issue. Although not explicitly identified as part of a series, three outstanding short articles have further reviewed the common features between cancer and conditions generally considered as non-neoplastic (pulmonary arterial hypertension, lymphangioleiomyomatosis and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, [8, 9, 14], with many learning points for both clinicians and scientists.

Clinical year in review articles are written, upon invitation, by respected speakers at the eponymous symposium of the ERS Congress, and focus on the most recent advances in clinical medicine. Four Clinical year in review articles were published in the March 2013 issue of the ERR [15–18] following the 2012 ERS Congress. In this issue of the ERR, four Clinical year in review articles [19–22] are published based on presentations from the 2013 ERS Congress in Barcelona, Spain, summarising the most important studies published in the 12 months prior to the ERS Congress.

I strongly believe that the current and future issues of the ERR will significantly contribute to the dissemination of up-to-date knowledge in various areas of respiratory medicine. If, as I am sure you do, you enjoy reading the ERR as much as the editorial board and I do, then tell your colleagues and students about the ERR!

• Received January 20, 2014.
• Accepted January 20, 2014.

• ©ERS 2014