This blog is part of a new series where we will be hearing from the Editors-in-Chief of our three journals, Physiology Reports, Experimental Physiology and The Journal of Physiology each month. Their blogs will be featured in our Research Roundup, a monthly newsletter, summarising the recent research published in our family of journals.
Professor Josephine C. Adams
Editor-in-Chief, Physiological Reports
2024 is an exciting year for Physiological Reports, as we are in process of celebrating 10 years of publication! We started the year by inaugurating a Paper of the Year competition to recognise the important research contributions of early career first authors. The first winner is Aurel B. Leuchtmann, University of Basel, Switzerland, first author of “Effects of high-resistance wheel running on hallmarks of endurance and resistance training adaptations in mice”. His interview will be in the upcoming issue of Physiology News magazine, so be sure to look out for that. This award will be continued in future years.
We are also marking the anniversary year by publication of perspective articles and editorials. These articles are grouped in a growing Collection that already includes editorials from Founding Editor, Sue Wray, previous Editor-in-Chief, Tom Kleyman, and current Editors-in-Chief of some of the major supporter Journals. These provide exceptional viewpoints on the mission of Physiological Reports within the physiological research community.
With regard to research content, we have embarked on an expanded programme of Calls for Papers, that promote current areas of submissions and also feature new directions for the Journal. Current open Calls for Papers include “Physiological Effects of Atmospheric Pollution”, “Exercise and Diet”, and “Interoception: Hidden Senses”. Information on each of these can be found at here and additional Call topics will be added as the year progresses. We welcome submissions to these Calls either directly or by transfer from supporter journals. Authors of papers published under a Call can benefit from the additional visibility generated by a collection of related papers, which often results in elevated downloads and / or citations.
The current executive Editors have given their perspective and vision for Physiological Reports in a recent 10th anniversary editorial. Emerging from our discussions, in-person and online, was a collective decision to run a special award scheme in this anniversary year, with the joint goals of providing a developmental opportunity for early career researchers and gaining their forward-looking views on what the next decade may bring for physiological research. I am pleased to announce here the Physiological Reports’ “Early Career Researcher Short Review competition”. Early career researchers are invited to submit short perspective review-type articles, on the theme of “The Future of Physiological Research”. Articles should discuss a new or expanding direction of physiological research that the applicant considers will be prominent in 10 years’ time, and why, including referencing. Articles must be written solely in the applicant’s own original words without use of generative AI. The deadline for submission is 19 July 2024, by 23:59 BST. Winners will receive a prize and have their article published in Physiological Reports. Full details on eligibility, article format information, how to apply, judging process and the application form can be found here. The Editors look forward with interest to reading the articles and hope readers will encourage early-career lab. members to engage with this competition.