So you want to be an Editor-in-Chief...

Editorials / Commentaries

CJEM 2007;9(4):246

There are so many with better research track records in Canada, so many with far more research training, that I find myself asking: "how did I ever get this job?" I am honored by the selection yet humbled by the task ahead. Soon I will start taking the first of many baby steps in my new role, but thankfully I find myself surrounded by excellent Senior Editors and a wonderful Managing Editor who can point out my errors and keep me on the right path. Perhaps the hardest step I take will be the one that allows me to feel comfortable taking over from the giant who created and developed CJEM into the journal that we all know and love. I respect and hold Grant Innes in awe for his accomplishments, and I am very grateful that as he steps down he does so leaving CJEM in its best shape ever.

Although I am to be the leader of CJEM, and will be expected to provide its vision and direction, CJEM can only truly be directed by the needs and desires of its readers and contributors, for it is they who will always define the journal. I must therefore learn to be very attentive to those needs and desires. Emergency medicine research in Canada is as good as, if not better than, it is anywhere in the world. Our expertise in medical education is without equal. CJEM should and will reflect this excellence in research and education. Our research will always be judged in the context of international knowledge; this will be accomplished in CJEM by commentary from international experts as well as by the publication of international research. As editors, our mandate is to mold research excellence into clear and succinct articles that ensure understanding for academic physicians and clinicians alike. We must always be able to answer the question: "how does this change my practice?" regardless of whether that practice is clinical, or in education or research.

As I embark on this heady journey into the future, I hope that many in our emergency medicine community will want to join me. Now that CJEM is indexed on MEDLINE and PubMed, we will see its quality improve even more rapidly than what we have witnessed to date. I am very excited about our future, and can hardly wait to see what unfolds — are you coming along for the ride?

PS: Grant Innes is also renowned for his ability to add humour to our journal. So let's see: there were these 3 undifferentiated gender humans entering a drinking establishment of ill repute... (sigh). I guess that's something else I will have to learn.