Special Message From the Editor-in-Chief

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Through the life of a scientific journal, reaching distinct growth benchmarks confers evolutionary viability, if not frank sustainability. In January 2009, PM&R's first benchmark was successfully reached; namely, publication of our first issue. And now, after only 6 months of publication, I am extremely pleased to report that PM&R has cleared its second benchmark; we have been officially accepted into MEDLINE/Pubmed by vote of the National Library of Medicine (NLM). This was a huge hurdle to master and with it comes the reward to authors published in PM&R who will now have their work (retroactive to issue one) readily searchable and citable within the world's major database for scientific journals.

While securing early indexing may not be precedent-setting, reaching this goal in 6 months is a testament to the incredible hard work and dedication of a team of many people. Please join me in thanking and congratulating some of them: Managing Editor, Cathy Mendelsohn and Editorial Assistant, Nicole Egan; the North American Senior Editorial Board members, Drs. Akuthota, Chen, Fredericson, Prather, Sandel, and Zafonte, and the two international Senior Editorial Board members, Professors Stucki and Li; the entire Associate Editorial Board who have served as authors, reviewers and ambassadors; the 300 peer reviewers who are in the trenches and provide an invaluable service (some of them again and again!); the Elsevier publishing, production, marketing and sales teams; and the many authors who have supported PM&R's early growth and development by submitting manuscripts to a fledgling journal with no guarantee of acceptance by NLM within the first year.

We are certainly very happy with this vote of confidence, but we are already setting our sights on the next big hurdle-obtaining an impact factor. This will come in due time, usually at least 3 years after first publication, although PM&R is already on the radar screen of Thomson Institute for Scientific Information. So for now, I continue to encourage potential authors to submit to PM&R, understanding that acceptance will now not only expose their work to a vast AAPM&R membership, but to the seemingly infinite electronic universe. And I invite those interested or intrigued about reviewing scientific manuscripts to also participate and sign up. There can almost be as much reward in constructively helping authors improve their manuscripts as in performing the research itself.

Finally, I continue to encourage your feedback regarding published material through Letters to the Editor or by sending your suggestions and comments directly to me.

Thank you for willingness to give PM&R a chance. Now please join the celebration!