The Dawning of a Brighter Future: Celebrating 10 Years of Journal of Parkinson’s Disease

By and large, 2020 was a very unfortunate year for the world. However, as it drew to a close, there were several big changes that provided hope for 2021. In stark contrast to the global picture, 2020 was a year in which Journal of Parkinson’s Disease thrived. The journal’s impact factor continued its upward trajectory and passed the 5.0 milestone. We published a great special issue on the future of clinical care in Parkinson’s disease (https://content.iospress.com/journals/journal-of-parkinsons-disease/10/s1). Also, we forged a partnership with the World Parkinson Coalition and were chosen by the Michael J. Fox Foundation to be their publishing partner for a new initiative to fund studies aiming to replicate of important research advances in Parkinson’s disease (https://www.michaeljfox.org/grant/accelerating-publication-parkinsons-disease-replication-data). As the 2020 pandemic unfolded, our journal was responsive in quickly publishing multiple papers on how COVID19 can, and may in the future, impact the lives of people living with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The focus lay on the –now essential and rapidly developing –role of telemedicine, as well as highlighting how the underlying molecular changes in the brain during COVID19 might increase the risk for PD later in life.

Now the journal celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year since its launch in 2011, spearheaded then by Patrik Brundin and J. William Langston. In its 10-year career it has seen a number of great achievements. Starting with a splash, the journal published the Top 100 ranked PD Investigators in the field. Immediately receiving a good number of manuscripts, proving that it is a valued addition to the field, the journal quickly went on to be indexed in PubMed and attained an Impact Factor. Shortly after arriving on the scene, Journal of Parkinson’s Disease published a number of influential papers and special editions, such as the well-received 2017 special edition on the “Milestones in 200 Years of Parkinson’s Disease Research”. The journal hosts popular sections on “Clinical Trial Highlights” (edited by Kevin McFarthing and Tanya Simuni) and on ongoing series of reports on “How I Examine My Patient” (headed by then Associate Editor Bas Bloem). By including people with Parkinson’s disease on its editorial board, and by running blogs and interviews on its website, the journal has become an important player for Parkinson’s advocates. Together with the Parkinson’s Movement and the Cure Parkinson’s Trust, the journal has also hosted a total of 11 webinars that are broadcast quarterly to large audiences, and that are then made available on YouTube. In 2020, the journal launched the Parkinson Prize for best published research and review paper within the journal’s contents, as well as a special section with Pro- and Against debates on current research topics. 2020 also saw Bas Bloem take over the helm as co-Editor-in-Chief from Bill Langston. The journal owes a big thank you to Bill for his inspiring leadership for nearly 10 years.

We are optimistic that the fortunes of the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease will continue to rise. Along with the usual cutting-edge research and reviews, we will this year be publishing two further excellent special issues. The first will focus on the revolution in Digital Health Care in Parkinson’s disease, which we are co-editing with leading lights of that field, Ray Dorsey and Anat Mirelman. The second special issue will address the fascinating topic of Brain Repair in Parkinson’s disease, focusing on cell and gene therapy. For this upcoming issue we were fortunate to enlist the expert help of Anders Björklund and Howard Federoff, who are both world leaders in the field. We hope that you will enjoy these features. Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our readers, Associate Editors and Editorial Board for your continued support of the journal. We could not do it without you.