Abstract
Following the initial five-year tenure (2009–2014) of the founding Chief Editor, Dr. Jean Garnier, Prof. Cristobal dos Remedios (University of Sydney) assumed responsibility for Biophysical Reviews as the second Chief Editor (2014–2019). Under his stewardship, Biophysical Reviews has become a six issue per year journal, publishing approximately 100 reviews per year. At the conclusion of his five-year tenure as Chief Editor (and at the age of 78), Cris is stepping down, leaving the journal well placed to apply for (and receive) an impact factor in 2020. On behalf of the journal, I would like to take the occasion of his retirement as Chief Editor to thank Cris for his dedicated service to Biophysical Reviews, and also welcome him to his new position as Emeritus Chief Editor.
I first met Cris at a conference in Japan in 2008. At that time, Prof. Cristobal dos Remedios of the University of Sydney, was one of the powers within both, the Executive of the International Union of Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB), and the Editorial Board of Biophysical Reviews, the IUPAB’s newly developed journal. When Cris took over as Chief Editor in 2014, he set to task in expanding and invigorating the journal in order to make the necessary changes required for a successful bid for an impact factor application, five to six years henceforth. Under Cris’s stewardship, Biophysical Reviews has risen from its initial format as a low-volume quarterly journal (around four articles per issue), to a six issue per year publication, with each printing regularly containing 15–20 articles per issue. In pursuing this endeavour, Cris has lead from the front, displaying confidence in the firmity of Biophysical Reviews, by publishing a number of articles within it (Wolfe et al. 2011; Estigoy et al. 2009; Wriggers et al. 2012; Lal et al. 2015; McNamara et al. 2015; Pluess et al. 2015; Kanellis and dos Remedios 2018; dos Remedios 2018a, b). He has also facilitated a series of special issue topics (Morales and dos Remedios 2011; dos Remedios and Nakamura 2012; Hall and dos Remedios 2013; Li and dos Remedios 2015; Hall and dos Remedios 2017; Li and dos Remedios 2017) and written a bevy of interesting general editorials (e.g. dos Remedios 2016; dos Remedios 2018a, b). Over this time, we have seen Biophysical Reviews climb the SCIMAGO rankings within the biophysics category, such that it currently ranks 40th out of a total of 160 journals listed within the division (lying within the bracket of such journals such as Biophysical Chemistry, Physical Biology, Biopolymers and BBA). This situation is all the more remarkable for the fact that Biophysical Reviews is still yet to obtain an impact factor! While increasing the amount of published content, Cris has been cognizant of the IUPAB mission of promoting Biophysical Reviews as a platform accessible to scientists from as diverse and international a background as possible. In pursuit of this task, Cris (together with other Editorial staff), has played a very proactive role, by encouraging the publication of the contents of IUPAB workshops as special issues and, perhaps most practically, by improving the readability of submitted manuscripts through gratis editing and polishing. Along the way, Cris has been an excellent scientific role model, demonstrating a refreshingly frank honesty, along with the necessary balance of rigour and pragmatism required to meet publishing deadlines and consistently produce a high-quality academic product.
My professional association with Biophysical Reviews started in 2010 when, on the strength of a well-received review (Hall and Hoshino 2010), I was invited to join the Editorial Board by the founding Chief Editor, Dr. Jean Garnier. In 2015, I was made Deputy Editor of the journal, and at the time of writing, I have just been appointed by the IUPAB Executive, as the new Chief Editor of Biophysical Reviews. Acting in this capacity, I would like to finish this Editorial commentary by congratulating Cris dos Remedios on a truly excellent performance during his tenure leading the journal and state that it has been a genuine pleasure to serve alongside him, in the supporting role of Deputy Editor. With the coming application and obtainment of an impact factor for the journal in 2020, the future looks extremely positive for the IUPAB Biophysical Reviews as the principal platform for disseminating topical reviews on the subject—a situation whose origins will be rooted in the hard work put in by Cristobal dos Remedios over the last five years.
References
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dos Remedios CG (2018a) Reviews arising from the 2017 conference of the Australian Society for Biophysics and the Japanese Society for Biophysics. Biophys Rev 10(5):1215–1220
dos Remedios CG (2018b) An historical perspective of the discovery of titin filaments -part 2. Biophys Rev 10(4):1201–1203
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Hall D, Hoshino M (2010) Effects of macromolecular crowding on intracellular diffusion from a single particle perspective. Biophys Rev 2(1):39–53
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Hall, D. A note of appreciation for Prof. Cristobal dos Remedios on behalf of Biophysical Reviews. Biophys Rev 11, 129–130 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12551-019-00505-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12551-019-00505-6