Looking Back and Moving Forward

Peter D. Siersema

Dear readers, authors and friends of Endoscopy,

I imagine that all of us are really looking forward to having the fateful year 2020 behind us and that we all wish that 2021 will show us the light at the end of the “viral” tunnel.

First of all, I would like to thank you all for your immense contribution to the journal Endoscopy this year. Despite all challenges, we were excited to see that the quality of publications and the number of submissions increased significantly. Of course, one of the biggest highlights of 2020 was the best ever achieved Impact Factor of 7.341, mirroring the quality of the publications submitted, the selection, review and hard work by the editorial team and the interest of the readers and authors.

In 2021, Endoscopy will continue to publish high quality endoscopic research, reports of interesting new techniques and novel devices, guidelines and position statements from the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE). ESGE and the journal Endoscopy kept abreast with the dramatic needs for guidance during the pandemic, publishing prompt and well researched position statements on how to adapt our endoscopy units to the changes caused by the pandemic. A new category, COVID-19 communications, was created to encourage endoscopists to write about their adaptations to the new reality of COVID-19 being constantly on the watch. I hope you all enjoyed the new covers this year featuring the “Art in Endoscopy” images and I would like to encourage you to continue submitting interesting and artistic images encountered during routine endoscopic procedures.

Finally, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all those involved in Endoscopy, whether as authors, reviewers, or readers of our journal. Unfortunately, I missed this year the pleasure of presenting personally the awards to the best reviewers of the year to Amol Bapaye (India), Alvaro Martínez Alcalá (Spain), Saowanee Ngamruengphong (USA) and Roos Pouw (The Netherlands). As you know, ESGE Days 2021 will again be virtual in 2021 and we will be looking into making a special award ceremony and catch up some year soon!

A special thanks also to my colleagues of Endoscopy’s Editorial team, from 2019 complemented by Nicolas Burgess, Takao Itoi and Mathieu Pioche, and further supported by our unsurpassed Editorial Office and publisher, Thieme, who make the appearance of each month’s Endoscopy possible. Last but not least, the collaboration with the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) remains highly appreciated.

For now, on behalf of the Editorial Team, I wish you a healthy, carefree and happy 2021!

Peter D. Siersema, Editor-in-Chief, Endoscopy