Editor’s page

The European Heart Journal Cardiovascular Imaging has been in existence under this name since 2012. It evolved from the European Journal of Echocardiography, which had been founded in 1999 under the leadership of Jos Roelandt, who was its Editor-in-Chief until 2010.

I had the honour to be appointed Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Echocardiography starting 2011. Already at that time, discussions were taking place about whether to remain a pure echo journal or whether to evolve into a cardiovascular imaging journal that would also include the other imaging modalities. Heated debates took place, and there was a great diversity of opinions among the leaders of the field, many of whom enthusiastically embraced the idea of an imaging journal, while others strongly felt that it should remain a purely echocardiography-based publication. Similarly, the leaders and membership of the then Working Groups of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and nuclear/computed tomography (CT) had mixed feelings about the creation of such a journal.

In the end, the sentiment prevailed that the time was ripe for the transition to an imaging journal, especially in view of the growing importance of the other modalities and because of the need to develop appropriate and cost-effective approaches towards multi-modality imaging.

The switch to a cardiovascular imaging journal also triggered discussions about whether to merge the echo association with the working groups on CMR and nuclear/CT in order to create a European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging. The creation of an imaging journal probably served as a catalyst for this evolution, and after a great many discussions and a great deal of anxiety of all parties involved, the merger took place and the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging was created.

Thus, the European Heart Journal Cardiovascular Imaging is now completing its 13th year of its existence. It has become a leading subspeciality publication in the field of imaging, while also ranking highly in the larger journal categories Cardiac and Cardiovascular Systems, as well as in Radiology, Nuclear Medicine, and Medical Imaging. This success story would not have been possible without the dedication and the hard work of a great many people. I would like to thank our associate editors and members of the editorial board as well as all the reviewers without whom running a scientific journal is not possible. Importantly, I would also like to thank the submitting authors for deciding to have their work published in our journal. Last but not least, I would like to thank the staff of Oxford University Press and of the European Society of Cardiology for all the support and valuable advice they have provided throughout the years.

It is now time for the new Editor-in-Chief to take over, and I am very happy that Bernhard Gerber could be recruited for this position as my successor. Bernhard has served as an associate editor for our journal for a number of years, and the quality of his work has truly been outstanding. I would like to congratulate him on his appointment wholeheartedly and would like to wish him all the best for this new position. I hope that he will continue to have the trust and support that has been extended to me in the past. I am certain that under his capable leadership, the European Heart Journal Cardiovascular Imaging will have a bright future and rise to new heights!

Funding

No external funding.

Data availability

No original data for this editorial comment.

Author notes