By Karen Kaul, MD, PhD Editor-in-Chief, The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics e-mail: k-kaul@northwestern.edu

The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics (JMD) celebrated its Tenth Anniversary in 2008!  Difficult to believe, but the first issue of the eleventh volume has been published.  The Journal has enjoyed significant growth and success this past decade, and we should all be proud.  We have moved from a paper-based to electronic submission and review system, have an active and interactive Journal website, have instituted an electronic publish-ahead-of-print feature to ensure that accepted work is available to the field ASAP, and begun a subscription-based CME program for our readers (thanks to Mark Sobel!).  We have also moved from a quarterly publication to six issues annually, while maintaining the scientific content of the Journal.  Submissions have increased many-fold from those early years, and remain high.  Articles include high-quality original investigations, technical advances, case reports, and an increasing number of timely and interesting review articles and commentaries. Our authors represent a truly international group of molecular laboratorians, with about half of its submissions coming from non-U.S. authors.  The Journal’s impact factor continues to rise significantly, to 3.478 in 2007, reflective of the high quality of our published manuscripts.

From left to right:
Mark E. Sobel, MD, PhD, AMP Executive Officer
Karen L. Kaul, MD, PhD, JMD Editor-in-Chief
Audra E Cox, PhD, ELS, JMD Managing Editor

JMD owes its success to a great many people, beginning with the visionary AMP members who worked to turn this dream into reality (for an entertaining account of these efforts, see the November 2008 issue) and eventually teamed up with American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP) to make this happen.  The various Associate Editors over the years have worked very hard to oversee the review of manuscripts, and the editorial board members and reviewers have given us their time and energy to ensure high quality scientific review.  The authors have entrusted us with their work.  And very significantly, the talented and dedicated staff in the Journal office whose experience, wisdom and way with words have been much appreciated over the years.

Ten years has flown by, and it is time for change.  The search is underway for a new Editor-in-Chief of JMD; advertisements were located in the Journal, as well as the AMP website.  Applications were due February 1, 2009.  This will be a great opportunity to lead a talented and supportive team.  I wish the Search Committee all the best.