LAUSR

When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton published ‘America’s Pacific Century’ in Foreign Policy magazine in November 2011, it was an acknowledgement that the world was starting to recognize a pivot towards the Asia-Pacific. Five years later interest in the Asia-Pacific region has burgeoned and it is recognized as a key commercial, trading and political zone. This shift has also been experienced in the scientific and medical fields reflected by the award of the 2012 and 2016 Nobel Prizes for Medicine to Asian scientists. Asia-Pacific has ‘come of age’ and this has broad implications, also for Respirology and its parent society, the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR). Respiratory medicine has enormous research and allied opportunities that arise from being located in this dynamic region. As Peter Eastwood steps down after a distinguished 6-year term as Editor-in-Chief (EIC), it should be recognized that under his leadership Respirology has also ‘come of age’. The Journal is now internationally recognized and respected. Current indices show that it serves as a vehicle for publication of novel research and as an important source of both clinical and scientific information for the respiratory community. Importantly, respiratory researchers are now prompted to consider submission of their best work to Respirology and they are not simply targeting the traditional ‘big 5’ journals automatically. Peter has had much to do with this dramatic surge in the Journal’s impact and he has achieved several noteworthy benchmarks. To name a few: the impact factor has almost doubled during his tenure (to >3), Respirology has moved into the top third of its group, new manuscript submissions continue to increase, Respirology Case Reports (RCR) was successfully launched, Respirology was transferred to an online format and social media activities have been launched. Peter has also negotiated a new publishing contract on behalf of APSR that enhances the benefits to the Society and has advocated and achieved success in obtaining free access for selected content upon publication and after 12 months for all journal articles. This access is crucial in our region and helps researchers in areas where institutional support is lacking or where the Journal is not available. It should be appreciated that the EIC is not remunerated and Peter has done much of this work in his own private time. The Journal and APSR salute him for his exemplary public service and wish him well for the future. The volume of work required to edit Respirology continues to grow requiring a move to a two-person EIC team, Phil Bardin in Melbourne and Paul Reynolds in Adelaide, Australia. Both have been involved in Respirology for many years and Paul has also contributed to the APSR in various other roles. The Editorial Office will remain in Perth ably staffed by Lieve Bultynck, Anke van Eekelen, Christel Norman and Naomi Alexander. They deal with the day-to-day practical aspects of running the Journal and provide support for authors and reviewers as well as the EIC, Associate/Deputy/ Senior Editors and Editorial Board. RCR is in the capable hands of EIC Chris Lai from Hong Kong and we thank him for his outstanding contribution in the past and willingness to serve in future. As incoming Editors, we hope that the Journal will be able to capitalize on opportunities present in AsiaPacific in a number of ways. First, the increasing mix locally of developed-world medicine with developingworld diseases provides an opportunity to apply highlevel scientific methodology to real-world medical problems. Clinical translation of new innovations in respiratory care, diagnostic procedures, pharmacology and other respiratory therapies occurs in the region. For example, many clinical trials of new medications recruit the majority of their patients from our region but then publish their findings elsewhere, chiefly in Europe or North America. We shall seek to convince researchers, pharmaceutical and medical device companies and other players in this space to consider publication in the Journal if most of the subjects were recruited here. Second, we hope to maintain and enhance our interactions with authors, particularly once a paper has been accepted for publication. The aim will be to ensure tight editing, leading to concise and highly readable papers. This strategy will also serve to educate and instruct authors (and their co-authors) in the mechanics and benchmarks of high-level scientific publication. We hope that a positive experience of publishing will prompt many of these authors in future to become part of the editorial teams at Respirology and encourage them to serve as reviewers or editors. This initiative will have important resource implications that will require APSR support and will need to be gradually implemented. Third, we hope that the Journal can further increase its educational impact by the inclusion of selected material that educates readers about important health issues in our region. Medical education is a key priority of the APSR and the Journal can contribute in various ways to foster and implement this aim. Fourth, the Journal is widely read and therefore a useful vehicle to increase awareness of regional events by clinicians, researchers and other health