The Clinical Autonomic Research journal 2021 and onward.

The year 2021 was a challenging year for many of us due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has undoubtedly disrupted the scientific enterprise. In particular, women and junior scientists have suffered the unequal effects of the pandemic [7]. The American Autonomic Society annual meeting, the major academic gathering of clinicians, scientists, and trainees interested in the autonomic nervous system, was again converted to a virtual meeting in November 2021. The success of the autonomic community is a testimony of our resilience and our ability to come together to create collaborations and push the field of autonomic medicine.

In spite of the difficulties, 2021 was a great year for our journal. Importantly, the year 2021 marked the 30th anniversary of Clinical Autonomic Research, quite an accomplishment for an academic biomedical journal. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we published a special including a thought-provoking collection of invited manuscripts. The reception of this unique issue was outstanding among readers [1]. The journal also published highly relevant research papers, reviews, and case reports including studies on the effects of the SARS-CoV-2 infection on the autonomic nervous system [9]. Moreover, the metrics for Clinical Autonomic Research in 2021 were outstanding. The average time from submission to initial decision was 15 days, and to final decision was 68 days. The average time from acceptance to online publication was only 14 days. These fast turnaround times, now an established hallmark of Clinical Autonomic Research, make it the perfect journal for ultra-fast publication of high-impact research manuscripts. The number of article views has an impressive monthly average of 18,000 downloads, the highest in the history of the journal. Our impact factor is the highest in the history of the journal at 4.435. We are confident that all these metrics will continue to be stellar as we all thrive to continue improving the journal during 2022.

As always, we would like to underline the immense value and devotion of our associate editors who provide work of excellence to the assessment of every submission they manage. In 2021, Dr. Ronald Schondorf decided to step down as an associate editor. We wholeheartedly acknowledge Dr. Ronald Schondorf for his outstanding work, time, dedication, and insight as an associate editor for the journal for many years. Dr. Ronald Schondorf made invaluable contributions to the field of autonomic medicine and his work led to major discoveries and a better understanding of many autonomic disorders such as syncope or postural tachycardia syndrome, a term that he “co-invented” with Phillip Low back in 1993 [8]. We are lucky that he will remain actively involved with the journal as editorial board member and reviewer. Conversely, Dr. Cyndya Shibao was appointed as a new associate editor for the journal. Dr. Shibao is an associate professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, TN. Dr. Shibao has extensive experience in the design and conduct of pharmacological studies and clinical trials in neurogenic orthostatic hypotension, and hypertension, with a particular interest in in the Afro-American population. We are lucky to have her join the team and we look forward to working with her.

We also want to thank Dr. Mitch Miglis, Dr. Sri Muppidi, and Dr. Nick Larsen for their timely summaries on recent autonomic news [2-6]; we are glad that their series will continue in 2022. We are continuing our commitment to scientific discussion. In 2022, the editors would like to give more emphasis to basic research with clinical implications. We would like to underline that Clinical Autonomic Research welcomes submissions of manuscripts describing basic research methods (e.g., animal and cellular models) that can potentially have clinical implications. We continue to welcome case reports and images, in the form of Letters to the Editors. We believe this is a particularly attractive format for students and residents interested in autonomic medicine.

It is a tradition that this issue includes the list of reviewers during 2021. We are grateful for their exceptional support in increasing the quality of the journal.

Finally, we want to acknowledge Dr. Jose-Alberto Palma for his outstanding work as the managing editor of Clinical Autonomic Research since 2016. During his tenure as managing editor, the journal has become the top autonomic medicine journal, and one of the top subspecialty neurology journals. It was a delight and a privilege to work with him and we wish him the best for his future endeavors. Dr. Guillaume Lamotte, an assistant professor of Neurology at the University of Utah, is our new managing editor as of January 1st, 2022. Guillaume, who has subspecialty training in autonomic and movement disorders and a rising number of autonomic publications, has big shoes to fill and a legacy to live up to, but we are confident that he will succeed and help to continue improving the journal.

On behalf of the editors of Clinical Autonomic Research, we would like to wish the American Autonomic Society members, the European Federation of Autonomic Society members, our readers, authors, and reviewers a happy 2022.

Horacio Kaufmann MD.

Jens Jordan MD PhD.