Neurology® Clinical Practice

What a year! Saying that my first 12 months as the Editor of Neurology® Clinical Practice (NCP) have been very exciting would be an understatement. In October 2021, at the height of the pandemic, we embarked on a major editorial transition, starting with the establishment of a new team of unique leaders to represent NCP and guide us in our new vision. After having worked together for a year, I can say that the energy, innovation, and drive that this team brings to the journal is awe-inspiring. Shaping a new vision for a scientific journal is truly a journey, and one that must be tackled with out-of-the-box thinkers:

Kathryn Kvam, MD, was appointed Deputy Editor. She handles the neuroinflammation/multiple sclerosis portfolio. Katie is an Associate Professor of Neurology and the founding director and Division Chief of the Stanford Neurohospitalist Division. She is a leader in quality-oriented practice and research. She has been instrumental in the early stages of our collaboration with the AAN Quality Committee, together with Calli Cook, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, FAANP, who is acting as liaison between our teams. We have already seen tangible outcome from this partnership, with new editorial board members joining our team from the Quality Committee and several members expressing support of our vision and an interest in reviewing. We've also established an ongoing discussion regarding the creation of a quality improvement methods paper, webinars, and other educational resources for practicing neurologists and researchers with an interest in quality. One of the major goals of this collaboration is for NCP to become home of several AAN practice guidelines over the next few years.

We doubled the number of associate editors from 2 to 4 and appointed a diverse group of leaders:

Amanda Jagolino-Cole, MD, FAAN, is an Associate Professor of Neurology, Co-Director of the Vascular Neurology Fellowship Program, and Director of the University of Texas Teleneurology Program. She is responsible for vascular neurology and neurocritical care manuscripts. Mandy is an innovator and an internationally recognized expert in the implementation of telehealth models.

John P. Ney, MD, MPH, is a neurologist and clinical neurophysiologist at Boston University with research interests in comparative effectiveness, outcomes research, and health economics. His portfolio also includes general neurology, neuroinfectious diseases, movement disorders, and biostatistical review. Before being promoted to Associate Editor, John had served on the NCP ed board for several years, with a stellar track record in peer review.

Belinda A. Savage-Edwards, MD, FAAN, is a neurologist and headache medicine specialist in private practice. She handles all general practice-related topics as well as the neuromuscular and headache portfolios. Belinda sits on several AAN committees and was entrusted with the complex but very rewarding task of fostering the connection between our journal and the community of practicing neurologists. This includes emphasis on topics such as wellness, how to successfully establish and lead a private practice, and providing equitable health care and inclusion in clinical trials for underserved populations.

Jack W. Tsao, MD, DPhil, FAAN, is a professor of neurology at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine. Jack's portfolio includes general neurology and cognitive, geriatric, and behavioral neurology. Before promotion to Associate Editor, he has served on our editorial board with distinction for many years.

Online sections Practice Current and Practice Buzz have transitioned under the leadership of newly appointed Section Editor, Aravind Ganesh, MD, DPhil, FRCPC. Aravind is a vascular and cognitive neurologist at the University of Calgary and previously served as Deputy Section Editor when we first launched the sections together in 2015. Serving as Deputy Section Editor is Alonso Gonzalo Zea Vera, MD, a child neurologist and movement disorders specialist at Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC.

We have also begun the launch of the online section, The NCP Accelerator: Transforming Health Care Delivery in Neurology (formerly known as Innovations in Care Delivery). The goals for this transformed section include building community, optimizing the way neurologic care is provided, and highlighting research and resources for practicing neurologists with an interest in health services research and quality improvement. The newly appointed Section Editor is Neha S. Dangayach, MD, MSCR, FNCS, DCE, a neurocritical care neurologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC and an expert in health services, implementation science, and outcomes research.

The strength and diversity of our leadership team is matched by an equally outstanding editorial board. In the short span of a few months, we appointed 29 new board members, bringing our board to a total of 40. We achieved not only gender diversity, with 55% of ed board members identifying with pronouns other than he/him, but also international representation, including 9 countries outside of the United States. Our ed board is a diverse group of inspiring clinicians, leaders, and researchers with a commitment to advancing evidence-based practice. I believe strongly in teamwork and accountability, and with this spirit, we have established a new midyear virtual editorial board meeting, where we collegially discussed goals and metrics and opened the stage to suggestions and feedback.

The year 2023 is going to be equally rich with innovation and positive change for NCP. Over the past 12 months, we have seen a steady increase in submissions focusing on quality-oriented research and impactful practice-related topics with emphasis on original research and systematic reviews/meta-analyses. In alignment with our new vision for the journal, we have significantly decreased the number of case reports, commentaries, and narrative reviews.

I was also very excited to see that the volume of pediatric neurology submissions has been climbing, allowing NCP to establish itself as a new home for child neurologists internationally.

In 2022, we worked with a goal of consistently putting out as much content as quickly as possible. Due to a strong commitment to innovation and forward thinking from our team and the publisher, we are excited to announce that NCP will fully transition to a continuous publication model in January 2023. Authors will greatly benefit from this model: Final composed articles will post online as they are ready and will be deposited to PubMed Central at the time of publication, thus becoming searchable soon after; authors will receive a final citable pdf of their article much faster than the current workflow; and the average time from the publisher receiving the article to final publication is reduced to 22–25 days.

Another major change that we will see in the summer, as announced by Clarivate, is that we will receive an impact factor based on the citation index for the combined years 2021 and 2022. One of our ambitious goals for NCP is to reach the first quartile for clinical neurology in the Journal Citation Report. Thanks to the outstanding quality of the manuscripts we receive and the trust of our readers and the broader community of practicing neurologists; I have no doubt that we will accomplish this goal sooner than expected.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our Managing Editor, Lee Ann Kleffman, along with all the members of the Editorial Office and publishing staff.

Together, we have created a new vision for NCP, and together, we are leading the change.

Don't hesitate to share your comments and ideas with us through email: NCPJournal{at}neurology.org or Twitter: @NeurologyCP.

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Figure The Editors of Neurology: Clinical Practice

Top, left to right: Luca Bartolini, MD (Editor); Kathryn Kvam, MD (Deputy Editor); Amanda Jagolino-Cole, MD, FAAN (Associate Editor); John P. Ney, MD, MPH (Associate Editor); and Belinda A. Savage-Edwards, MD, FAAN (Associate Editor). Bottom, left to right: Jack W. Tsao, MD, DPhil, FAAN (Associate Editor); Aravind Ganesh, MD, DPhil, FRCPC (Section Editor, Practice Current/Practice Buzz); Alonso Gonzalo Zea Vera, MD (Deputy Section Editor, Practice Current/Practice Buzz); Neha S. Dangayach MD, MSCR, FNCS, DCE (Section Editor, NCP Accelerator); and Lee Ann Kleffman (Managing Editor).

• © 2022 American Academy of Neurology