Michael McGuigan has stepped down as Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Toxicology after 7 years of dedicated service. His enthusiasm for the journal is well illustrated by the leader he authored in the January 2009 issue, which outlined the challenges he saw for the future, and some of the steps being taken to interest and stimulate readers and authors contributing to the journal. Michael McGuigan resigned shortly after writing that leader, having upon reflection found the fun of editing the journal was beginning to wane. The effort he put into the journal is illustrated by the fact that he is now being replaced by two of us, an editor-in-chief and an associate editor, who will carry out the functions that Michael McGuigan has hitherto performed.
All Editors leave their stamp upon a journal, and Michael McGuigan is no exception. Michael McGuigan came with a great pedigree, he had been President of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology, not once, but twice, and had a strong clinical background in both pediatrics and clinical toxicology before becoming Editor-in-Chief. As the Director of a poison center, he was familiar with the educational and research interests of the staff in this environment. As a clinician, he was aware of the difficulties that many have in getting support for basic research, in collecting large case series and obtaining detailed laboratory analyses, and undertaking detailed and extensive clinical trials in patients with poisoning.
As a Canadian living in New York, with dual citizenship, he also had the cross-cultural experience that facilitates an editor in coming to sensible conclusions about difficult issues. This was needed during his early days as Editor, since the journal changed publisher, and then rapidly moved from a paper to an electronic system. Michael McGuigan managed these changes with his familiar easy style, and most of the readership of the journal was probably unaware of the many issues that needed to be tackled by him during this period. Further challenges came when the publishers decided to change the name of the journal, and although the readership again may have noticed little difference, this had an unexpected adverse effect on the impact factor, something that many academic authors consider when submitting their work for publication. Michael McGuigan led the Editorial Board's response to this and moved to develop the changes he outlined in the January 2009 editorial.
Michael was always aware of the need to improve participation and collaboration from poison center colleagues, and it is a credit to his diplomacy that the journal now publishes the National Poison Data System (NPDS) annual report, the assembled experience of the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), on a regular basis. This collaboration is also reflected by the welcomed addition of the AAPCC as a cosponsoring organization of the journal.
It has been said that journal Editors who keep their friends are not doing their job properly, since one of the toughest jobs of an Editor is to decline to publish some articles that authors often hold dear to themselves. It is a testament to Michael's tact and diplomacy that he remains well liked by his colleagues, despite many having been disappointed when a paper was not published in the journal.
The new editorial team will strive to improve the journal's impact factor, but an impact factor is certainly not all that matters in a journal. It has to appeal to its readers and regularly present articles that inform, educate, challenge, and entertain. Some of these articles may not lend themselves to extensive citation in the scientific literature, but we hope they will not only continue to attract our present readership, but also expand it.
An Editor's job is easy if colleagues submit interesting, high-quality science reviews. Our objective is to continue to publish such material and to solicit submissions from colleagues internationally. We anticipate that many of the changes that have occurred under Michael McGuigan's stewardship over the past 2 years will facilitate this, namely e-first publication, and a shortening of the time between submission and in-print publication. We will strive to obtain insightful manuscript reviews in a timely fashion, which will assist authors in getting their articles into print. We know that we will disappoint some by being unable to publish their manuscripts, but we hope to help authors by illustrating areas for improvement and assisting in producing better quality material wherever it is published.
We will shortly be offering the possibility of publishing supplementary material online, thus allowing authors to present more information to the readership than can be presented in a short print article. We think this will be particularly useful for large data sets, which may not be appropriate for publishing in full on the printed page. It may also be helpful for meta-analyses and other review-type publications where background information on searches and papers can be presented for the interested reader to examine.
We plan to cooperate with international societies in clinical toxicology, both those that are officially associated with the journal and those not, to improve the profile of our speciality, and its impact. In this way, the journal can influence the planning and allocation of not only health-care resource but also research funding for clinical toxicology. The overarching objective for the journal is to ultimately improve the care of our patients. This is crucial to the Editorial Team working on the journal, all of whom are clinically active in caring for poisoned patients. Our plan is to build on the progress and developments instituted by Michael McGuigan and the editors before him. We look forward to working with all of our editors, peer reviewers, and readers in accomplishing this goal.
We wish Michael well and thank him for the onerous task he performed on all our behalves over the past 7 years.