THIS ISSUE I hope is the beginning of a new era for the Scottish Medical Journal. It is a real challenge to try and make changes in a journal that has such an illustrious history and to take over from previous editors who guided it through difficult times. I firmly believe the Scottish Medical Journal is now on a firm footing and I have inherited a journal  that  has a great reputation. My challenge is in this day and age to compete with others in the market and make it even more successful increasing its circulation, the quality of the articles and increasing its impact factor. Taking a journal into the 21st century is not an easy task and I am realistic in my expectations. My mission however is to make the journal more attractive and increase the number of pages to publish more articles. We have already achieved this in this month’s issue through the efforts of Dr. Briggs, Chairman of the Board of Management and June Hopkinson. I hope to encourage more manuscripts by reducing the turn over time for peer reviewing. I am already indebted to all peer reviewers and hope they continue to support my efforts by critically reviewing submissions and thus ensuring publication of high quality manuscripts. I am very dependent on you for your expertise in all the fields of Medicine, Surgery and Public Health. I am grateful to the Board for funding my course on being a Medical Editor. I see this as a tremendous opportunity to learn a new skill and hopefully excel in it over the years. I am indebted to my secretary, Kay Byrne, who is assisting me in this new enterprise. 

Robert Carachi

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