In February 2013, The American Thoracic Society relaunched Annals of the American Thoracic Society (formerly Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society) as a bi-monthly, online, clinician-oriented journal. John Hansen-Flaschen, MD, has been named the new Editor-in-Chief.
Dr. Hansen-Flaschen is the Paul F. Harron, Jr. Family Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Chief of the Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Division. He is also the Medical Director of the Penn Lung Center.
Dr. Hansen-Flaschen and colleagues have taken steps to realign the Society's third journal among the Society's other two journals, the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology.
Although this is an online journal, the first two issues will be printed and mailed with the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (AJRCCM).
"Our strategic intent is to transfer new information and ideas between scholars and practicing clinicians," Dr. Hansen-Flaschen says. "Mirroring the three pillars of the American Thoracic Society, the scope of the new journal is broad, encompassing pediatric and adult pulmonary and respiratory sleep medicine, and medical critical care. The range extends beyond the medical care of individual patients to include medical education, health care delivery, and the provision of public health. The reach is global with particular attention to Latin America and nations of the Asian Pacific."
Founded in 2004, PATS featured the proceedings of selected scientific conferences and official ATS Workshop reports, which the new AnnalsATS (or White Journal) will continue to publish. However, the relaunched journal will welcome methodologically rigorous original research and brief communications that address questions relevant to patient care and health care delivery intervention studies.
AnnalsATS will also include reviews and updates on the epidemiology, classification, management of clinical problems and the safe, efficacious application of procedures; contemporary or historical overviews of topics relating to health care delivery, dissemination of knowledge, public health, clinical ethics, professionalism, and health care policy; clinical vignettes that illuminate knowledge of current clinical practice; patient and family narratives of personal experience in health care; and much more.
AnnalsATS will be indexed under the new name by Medline and other bibliographic databases, and in a few years, Dr. Hansen-Flaschen expects the Web of Science will issue an impact factor.
"In pursuit of that goal, the editors are aggressively committed to rigorous, consistent, timely, fair peer review of all submitted content," Dr. Hansen-Flaschen says. "In evaluating original research manuscripts, we focus on the selection and application of appropriate methods, the validity of the conclusions, and the integrity of the work. Quality will prevail over quantity.
"We intend that the scientific and clinical community will soon regard acceptance for publication in the White Journal as a dependable indicator of meritorious research."
To learn more about the journal and to submit your article ideas, visit thoracic.org/journals/AnnalsATS/ats-relaunches-pats.php.
About the American Thoracic Society:
Founded in 1905, the American Thoracic Society is the world's leading medical association dedicated to advancing pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. The Society's 15,000 members prevent and fight respiratory disease around the globe through research, education, patient care and advocacy.