Recent changes in the British Journal of Pharmacology: widening scope and improving author and editor experience

As it enters its 78th year of publication, the British Journal of Pharmacology (BJP) remains a leading worldwide general pharmacology journal. The Journal moves into 2023 with a refreshed Senior Editorial team, starting with the Editor-in-Chief (EiC). Amrita Ahluwalia's successful 7-year term as EiC has ended, leaving the BJP with a reputation as the home of rigorous, reproducible, basic and translational pharmacology. She was replaced by Péter Ferdinandy. Many of the BJP's Senior Editors (SEs) also had completed their terms at the end of 2022, meaning that the Journal now has a refreshed Senior Editorial team, with new expert SEs appointed to cover existing and developing areas of pharmacology. We thank Amrita and the outgoing SEs for their service to our community and to the BJP. The new Senior Editorial Board looks forward to building upon their excellent work! The new SEs (namely, Miriam Cortese-Krott, Kirill Martemyanov, Claudio Mauro, Rainer Schulz, and Xin Wang) and the Reviews & Themed Issues Senior Editor Andreas Papapetropoulos, as part of the updated SE Board, are planning further changes to the full Editorial Board, based on subject coverage and Editors' contribution, along with the appointment of new expert Consulting Editors to further develop the BJP's impact in basic and translational pharmacology, drug development and beyond. As one of the oldest pharmacology journals, keeping our vision firmly centred on publishing and promoting the highest quality of science is important. However, we must also continually adapt to the rapidly developing new fields of pharmacology. Therefore, the BJP is reviewing its scope and has introduced new article types. In an age of strong international competition in science, the time of the authors submitting papers to the BJP, as well as our editorial board is important to us. We have, therefore, acted to speed up the submission, review and production processes. Key turnaround times will be monitored. As the quality of the Journal largely depends on the editorial board, we have decided to train our future editors and extend the Editor Intern team. Through these changes, we aim to increase the submission of worldwide high-quality papers and facilitate their publication by helpful high-quality peer-review. Despite its title, the BJP remains a truly international journal. The geographically diverse affiliations of the SEs are good examples of the international stature of the journal. Hence, all are encouraged to consider BJP as their first choice for submitting high quality science or reviews on hot topics in pharmacology. BJP provides a leading coverage of all aspects of experimental and translational pharmacology. While covering traditional pharmacological papers, we encourage authors to submit papers in novel, rapidly growing fields of pharmacology and drug development, including research on gene, cell and tissue therapy, RNA and DNA therapeutics, metabolism and bioinformatics tools, including databases and softwares available on webservers enabling pharmacology and drug development (Box 1). • All areas of basic and translational pharmacology (validations in human tissues, first-in-human, phase 0, early proof-of-concept studies, repositioning, etc.) • Discovery and development of drugs, including small molecules, biologic and advanced therapy medicinal products (gene, cell and tissue therapy) • Bioinformatic tools enabling all aspects of pharmacology and drug development (databases and other bioinformatic tools freely accessible on webservers) • Mechanism of action, including comparative studies • Mechanism of toxicity, including comparative studies • Replication studies in pharmacology: neutral or negative results as compared to mainstream results • Evaluation of existing data—systematic review followed by meta-analyses of non-clinical and translational data in hot topics of pharmacology Several new article types have been recently introduced, such as systematic reviews, meta-analyses focusing on preclinical and translational pharmacology, rapid communication and implementation of bioinformatics tools (databases and softwares available on webservers) (Box 2). To support the first of these, BJP has recently co-published new guidance on systematic reviews, which we hope will raise the quality of these submissions across the discipline (Kolaski et al., 2023). We have ceased the fast-track option for selected submissions and instead incorporated what we have learned from that initiative, including the introduction of rapid communications alongside increased speed on decisions for all manuscript types. • research articles (original research) • new: bioinformatic tools (databases and other bioinformatic tools) by invitations only—proposals welcome • reviews (new: including two reviews on controversies in pharmacology—by invitation only—proposals welcome) • new: systematic reviews • new: meta-analyses • new: rapid communication • commentary • editorial (by invitation only) • themed issues (reviews and original research papers, by invitation only—proposals welcome) To broaden the BJP's appeal to potential authors, we have recently reviewed and revised our author guidelines to simplify the submission process and improve the ease with which authors can submit to BJP (https://bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/14765381/author-guidelines.html). These changes have included: - a broad revision of the text to simplify the language usage and structure of the guidelines; eased restrictions for word counts and figure limits; clarification of our free-format submission policy; and importantly, a simplification of acceptance criteria on issues such as experimental group sizes and natural products. Overall, we aim to make a successful submission to BJP as easy as possible and to provide a high-quality, helpful review process that enables the authors to improve quality and clarity, and a rapid publication of their high-quality papers. This work is ongoing and we expect further changes following consultations among our Editorial Board. Furthermore, we hope that the journal will be supported by the experts in the field acting as reviewers for BJP to reach our goals. The truly international editorial team of BJP has been extended to include experts in the new topic areas and article types mentioned above, as well as consolidating our coverage of existing areas. To further improve quality and reliability, Consulting Editors for Research Integrity and Natural Products have been also appointed. Editorial performance will be monitored based on quality and efficiency of the review process, as well as number of submission and publications in BJP. Moreover, BJP builds up a new generation of Editors by extending the Editorial Intern team. Editorial Interns will be Early Career Pharmacologists, helping the EiC and the SE team, while being trained as Editors of the future. We hope to learn from their input and experience to ensure BJP remains relevant to scientists in the generations to come. BJP is a leading international journal covering all traditional and novel rapidly developing basic and translational pharmacology areas. The refreshed editorial board focuses on increasing author and editor experience by providing a rapid and helpful review process to achieve increasing submission and publication of high-quality papers. You are all encouraged to consider BJP as first choice for submitting your high-quality original research and your reviews as well as proposals for Themed Issues including controversies. All authors contributed to writing the manuscript. We want to acknowledge the contribution of Charles Whalley and Chris Ackroyd, at the British Pharmacological Society, for editing a draft of this editorial and providing continuous support for the editorial team. Péter Ferdinandy is the founder and CEO of Pharmahungary Group, a group of R&D companies. Other authors reported no conflict of interest. NA.