March 2011

In January this year I took over the Editorship of Community Dental Health from my friend and colleague, Professor Denis O’Mullane. As Secretary of BASCD in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and then as a young academic, I was closely involved in establishing the Journal. So now at the end of my career it is a privilege and a great pleasure to become closely involved once again. In the early days we were grateful to the four UK based toothpaste companies, for their financial support, channelled through the Cosmetics, Toiletries and Perfumeries Association and its Secretary John Barker. Without that financial support the Journal would not have got off the ground. Subsequently, BASCD was joined by EADPH whose members’ contributions have increased the vitality of the Journal as Denis O’Mullane noted in his farewell editorial. At the recent EADPH meeting, in Constanta, Romania, I was impressed by the quality of the posters and supporting oral presentations in the epidemiology section. Contributions from Northern Russia, Albania, Greece and elsewhere made for an excellent session. We should acknowledge the contributions of Dominique Declerck, Roos Leroy, Zdenek Broukal, Robert Eichler, Rebecca Harris, Ken Eaton and others for promoting these increasing scientific standards through EADPH workshops. We should also acknowledge the foresight of The Borrow Foundation which has provided EADPH with a substantial grant to cover the membership fees of one hundred members from Central and Eastern Europe. Receiving the Journal for the next five years is one of the important attractions and privileges for these colleagues. However, this expanding interest and particularly the increasing numbers of submissions to the Journal has brought its own problems. In the last issue of the Journal the time lag between acceptance of a paper and its publication in print was 18 months (range 12-21 months) and the Editorial Board will seek to address this as a priority. We will take three approaches. First we will increase our rejection rate of papers, avoiding local duplication of research, and avoiding divided and repetitive publications (Lennon, 1986). Second, when we accept papers, we will apply strictly our Instructions to Authors, including a 3000 word limit, a maximum of 4 figures or tables, and not more that 20 references except in special circumstances, such as systematic reviews. And third, as you may have noticed, this issue of the journal is twice its normal size. Again we are grateful to The Borrow Foundation for their financial support for this important initiative. In selecting and commissioning papers for future issues of the Journal it is important to appreciate that our readership is rather wider than the academic community who subscribe to, and read, similar journals. A majority of our readers will be specialist practitioners in dental public health or specialist practitioners in special needs dentistry. I trust that some of the incoming members of the Editorial Board, Gill Davies, Colwyn Jones, Eeva Widström and Debbie Lewis will represent and reflect that wider interest in the deliberations and decisions of the Editorial Board. I should acknowledge the contribution of Denis O’Mulane as outgoing editor and I look forward to our continuing collaboration. And finally I must thank John Beal, Martin Downer and Aubrey Sheiham, who now stand down from the Editorial Board. I’m sure that members of BASCD and EADPH will join me in acknowledging their outstanding contributions to the Journal over many years. Reference Lennon, M.A. (1986): Divided and repetitive publications. Community Dental Health 3, 191-192. Correspondence to: Professor M.A. Lennon, Dental Public Health, School of Clinical Dentistry, Claremont Crescent, Sheffield, UK S10 2TA E-mail: [email protected]