Foreword

Dear colleagues, endoscopic researchers, and friends of the journal,

I would like to wish Endoscopy readers a Happy New Year!

One of the goals Endoscopy set itself in 2007 was the improvement of lead times and it is my pleasure to announce a further measure that has been introduced to speed up processing and publication.

As of January 1 2008, a new feature has been introduced to provide quicker processing of papers considered to be of high priority. When submitting manuscripts to Endoscopy, authors may now select a ”fast-track” option which is meant for exceptional original articles. Papers tagged as ”fast-track” by their authors will be screened quickly. If judged to be of greater urgency they will remain in the fast lane with shorter lead-times for assessment and processing; if not, they will be reallocated to the normal workflow.

Additionally eFirst online publication is now well established. This allows a more rapid publication of articles, in the online version of Endoscopy before publication in the printed issue.

In 2007 the ties between Endoscopy and the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) were further strengthened through the introduction of ESGE Individual Membership. Among other benefits, ESGE Individual Members receive a subscription to the journal, and the ESGE Executive Committee and Georg Thieme Verlag representatives met several times to discuss other fields of cooperation.

There has also been a change in the Co-Editorship of the journal. Paul Fockens has resigned in order to dedicate more time to his duties as ESGE Secretary General and to other, national, responsibilities. We will very much miss Paul's co-operation in this capacity; however, he has agreed to remain on the Endoscopy Editorial Board. We are glad to welcome his colleague, Jacques Bergman, to the Co-Editor team.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported Endoscopy over the past year, especially the reviewers listed on page 91 and all the authors who submitted their manuscripts to our journal.

Thomas Rösch

Editor-in-Chief