Over the past several years, I have written annually to update the readership regarding changes in the Journal of Perinatology. This brief forum is also used to thank our outstanding external, independent reviewers for their anonymous yet significant contributions to ensuring the journal's continuing excellence. This year, as in the past, I will mention several important developments to the journal, such as new associate editors, changes to the Editorial Board, continuing growth of the Journal of Perinatology with regard to manuscript submissions and the recent Thomson Reuters Impact Factor assignments. The Journal of Perinatology website has been adding new and informative features that deserve mention. I have also appended a list of last year's fine reviewers in an effort to individually thank them for their otherwise unrecognized work to improve the Journal of Perinatology.

Last year we added two new associate editors to aid in the evaluation of manuscripts on neonatal medicine. This year, the continuing growth of our international submissions has mandated the appointment of an additional International Section Editor: Arun K Pramanik, Chief of Neonatology at Louisiana State University, Shreveport, LA, USA. He will share these responsibilities with Arthur Eidelman, who has for the last 5 years been the sole International Section Editor. Dr Gordon, Dr Bhatia and Dr Caughey continue in their roles as associate editors of the Neonatal, Supplements and Maternal-Fetal Medicine sections. All the editors review initial submissions, determine initial priority for publication and decide whether to continue evaluating a manuscript for eventual publication. The editors then assign reviewers and receive and evaluate the reviews and advise authors on decisions regarding necessary manuscript edits and the final decisions.

I thank our many members of the diverse Editorial Board who provide their expertise and leadership in support of the Journal of Perinatology and contribute to its development in many ways, including advice on new areas of interest. The members of the Editorial Board are frequently called upon to referee articles that may be outside the purview of their personal expertise. Two Board members, Malcome Levene and Hugo Lagercrantz have retired. We will miss their leadership on the Board, but I intend to continue using their services in a reduced manner as reviewers of select manuscripts that are directly relevant to their respective fields of research. Krishnamurthy C Sekar, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Medical Director of the neonatal intensive care unit at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, is our new Board member, who joined the Board in 2011.

The Journal has been indexed by major electronic abstracting services for many years. In addition, a select group of journals are assigned an Impact Factor by the Thomson Reuters Company on an annual basis. The Impact Factor is an index relating to the number of citations to the published articles in a specific journal over the preceding 2-year period. In 2009 and 2010, the Journal was assigned its first Impact Factors—1.621 from 2007 to 2008 and 1.593 for articles published in years from 2008 to 2009. Both rankings place the Journal in the upper half of all pediatric journals rated by Thomson Reuters. The Impact Factor is used by some individuals and organizations as a means to assess the importance of a journal, although it should only be used with the knowledge of the various factors that limit the score's meaningfulness. For us, the consistency of these two scores represents acceptance of the scientific reliability of the Journal by our broader audience of scholars and clinicians. Another indication of acceptance by the scientific community is the rising number of submitted manuscripts. In 2010, we received over 700 new manuscripts, representing a 22% increase over the number received in 2009.

Nature Publishing Group has provided excellent tools to assist the authors, editors, reviewers and readers. The Manuscript Tracking System allows electronic submission of completed manuscripts and tracks manuscripts through the review process, allowing authors and staff to follow the manuscripts through the various review stages. Also supporting the publication process is the Advanced Online Publication, where accepted manuscripts (Original Articles and State of Art Reviews) are published electronically within weeks of receipt of galley proofs, providing rapid, timely publication. These articles are considered published as of the electronic date and are indexed on the various electronic search engines through which interested readers may learn of their publication. The Journal of Perinatology website (http://www.nature.com/jp/index.html) shows the current issue and identifies featured articles that are available as free downloads. In addition, other components of the website include references to select other Nature Publishing Group-relevant articles, a calendar of meetings relevant to our field, archives of the Journal's issues and identification of relevant articles in the Journal Supplement issues.

Over the course of the coming year, the editors and referees will continue to select high-quality original articles, clinical case presentations and research reviews that embrace the multidisciplinary scope of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Neonatal-Perinatal specialties. We aim to provide an interesting, and occasionally provocative, reading experience that improves the clinical practice of our readers. As always, suggestions to enhance our worth to you will always be enthusiastically received.

2010 Reviewers list

Kjersti Marie AagaardDavid H AdamkinVincent AdolphHenry AkinbiHeidelise AlsHany Z AlyShin AmamiyaPaula AmatoNamasivayam AmbalavananSanjiv B AminHarry ApplebaumRonald Lee AriagnoShmuel ArnonTerri AshmeadeJoshua AttridgeHenrietta BadaJennifer BailitKeith J BarringtonBruce BarshopStephen BaumgartAlan BedrickGraeme BellCatherine M BendelKurt BenirschkeWilliam E BenitzDanny BenjaminItai BergerScott David BernsCarol Lynn BersethVineet BhandariJatinder BhatiaVinod K BhutaniAlona Bin NunHoward J BirenbaumDavid BirnkrantMary Thiery BlackwellBarry T BloomYair Josh BlumenfeldRenee BossDebra BrandonMary BrandtLuc P BrionRuben BromikerRobert BrouilletteMark Stuart BrownJoy BrowneBeverly BrozanskiElchanan BruckheimerTim A BrucknerAlison BryantDale BullDavid James BurchfieldDavid BurgnerAlison CahillDarlene Anne CalhounDeborah CampbellMichael CaplanWaldemar A CarloBrian Scott CarterJane CarverWilliam J CashoreAnita J CatlinStanley CharlesRalph William CharltonStephen ChasenIra J ChasnoffMickie ChengB ChertinRobert ChevalierChristian A ChisholmRobert Dennis ChristensenJudith ChungDavid A ClarkReese Hunter ClarkNelson ClaureRonald W CoenBernard CohenRachel CohenChristopher ColbyJames Collins, JrRichard Joseph CookeRobert CooperSherry Elaine CourtneyAndreea A CreangaRandal CronCarmen CuffariLuis B CuretDonna DailyRobert DarnallRichard J DavidEmily DefrancoMark Del BeccaroShani DelaneyEugene DempseySusan DensonShaul DolbergSteven M DonnPamela K DonohueMia W DoronAntonette T DulayManuel DurandEric EichenwaldYasser Yehia El-SayedSamir EldahrMichal ElovitzWilliam A EngleWilliam D EngleCyril EngmannJuan-Sanchez EstebanNick EvansJonathan FanaroffTanis FentonNeil N FinerDavid FlanneryMagali Jacqueline FontaineNorman FostLynda FrassettoAntonio FriasAlan M FujiiEd FunaiLydia FurmanMatthew J GarabedianMark GaylordIra GewolbWilliam M GilbertMartin GimovskyPenny GlassChristina GlickRonald N GoldbergJay GoldsmithRicki GoldsteinSergio G GolombekVictor H Gonzalez-QuinteroPhillip V GordonErnest GrahamAnne GreenoughJay S GreenspanIan GriffinSorina Grisaru-GranovskyWilliam GrobmanAlan GrovesEdith GurewitschStephen O GyimahMaureen HackDavid HackneyDonna R HalloranThor HansenThomas HegyiJonathan HellmannAnn HellstromVictor HersonRosemary Dowe HigginsPamela HillHarry HirschDavid J HoffmanDiane Holditch-DavisIan HolzmanC HowardUdo HoymeMark L HudakThomas HulseyMichael T HynanRebecca N IchordJessica IlluzziSaleem IslamOussama ItaniLucky JainSushil K JainVanitha JanakiramanDouglas JonesSandra E JuulAnjali J KaimalJeffrey R KaiserDeborah KamaliJulie KanterMichael KaplanZenichiro KatoDavid KaufmanAjay KaulWilliam KeenanCarole KennerJacqueline KentMartin KeszlerHoward W KilbrideJae KimKwang Sik KimLena KimT KiserudPanagiota KitsantasPeter KlatskyPamela Jean KlingMartin KluckowAlex KniselyRobert KoppelTakuji KouzumaChristopher KovacsAmir KugelmanJuan Pedro KusanovicMike KuzniewiczAlain LabriqueDavid LagrewMark LandonAbbot R LaptookJanet LarsonMatthew LaughonAdrian LaveryEdward E LawsonKathryn LeeMen-Jean LeeMaureen Lefton-GreifChristoph Ulrich LehmannJocelyn Amy LewisJohn Wells LoganScott Andrew LorchM Jeffrey MaiselsImad R MakhoulMichael Howard MalloyMark C MammelKyla Anna MarksDiane D MarshallGilbert I MartinOommen MathewKatherine R McCallieJane E McGowanSharon A McGrathWilliam MeadowOrly MegedT Allen MerrittAndrew MeyerMarlene MillerJ Ross MilleyKenneth MoiseJames MooreKaren H MorinFernando MoyaLuke Charles MullanyJonathan MuraskasKen MurdisonGary MyersSuhas NafdayKarin B NelsonJosef NeuRetha NewboldJames M NicholsonHeber C NielsenVictoria NiklasLaura NobleLawrence NogeeMary NortonErrol R NorwitzAlexandre NozakiMichael O’SheaAnthony O OdiboWilliam OhBryan L OhningAsher OrnoyDavid OsbornEnrique Ostrea JrVasantha PadmanabhanRichard ParadJT ParerJohn ParisAnjali ParishLeo PereiraJeffrey M PerlmanChristian M PettkerDale PhelpsM Kathleen PhilbinChristina PiehDe-Ann PillersHalit PinarMichael PosenchegArun PramanikJoAnn PrauseKaren PridhamPaula G RadmacherTonse NK RajuRangasamy RamanathanGladys RamosEb RandRaghavendra RaoMitch RectoJeffrey ReeseRivka H RegevVirender K RehanMichael RepkaBernhard ReschEric W ReynoldsWade RichSteve RingerMario Augusto RojasRoberto RomeroMark RosenMichael G RossShannon RossRita Marie RyanSanjeev SanjeevJudy SaslowAndreas SauerbreiOla Didrik SaugstadJanet ScheelBob SchelonkaRoberta SchererCharles SchleienMark Richard SchleissMichael D SchreiberJoseph SchulmanKris C C SekarMark SellwoodBrian ShafferPrakeshkumar S ShahAzza ShaltoutSeetha Aravind ShankaranJM ShaweeshJodi ShermanTed ShettlerEric Stuart ShinwellBillie Lou ShortRobert A SinkinShanthi SivanandamWilliam B SlaytonMichael E SpeerCharles StanleyRobin H SteinhornDennis StokesDenise SuttnerJonathan SwansonRobert Glenn TefftAylin TekesMishka TerplanMarianne ThoresenSuzanne ThoyreStephen ThungPatti J ThureenDavid TingayAlan T N TitaJorge TolosaPhilip ToltzisWilliam E TruogDan TurnerAtsushi UchiyamaMartin H UlshenAdam UratoRobert L UrsprungDharmapuri VidyasagarMarty VisscherBetty VohrCarol L WagnerMichele C WalshWilliam F WalshFrans J WaltherDavid WarburtonWilliam J WatsonStephen E WeltyBjorn WestrupSusan E WiedmeierNancy WightDominic James WilkinsonDavid D WirtschafterThomas E WiswellIan Michael WrightDanny WuSolange WyattToby Debra YanowitzTom YehBradley A YoderChristina Yoshinaga-ItanoThomas E YoungSantina Agnes ZanelliEkhard Ziegler