Entering 2025 means that I have now completed my first year as Editor in Chief of Avian Diseases. It has been an eventful first year, but it would not have been possible without the incredible support of my three Associate Editors (Drs. Silke Rautenschlein, David Swayne and Haroldo Toro) and the Advisory Board. Our ability to maintain a high scientific standard would not be possible without our reviewers who volunteer their time to help the journal.
Avian Diseases published four issues in 2024, and the Special Issue for 2024 has just been fully released. The four regular issues included 24 Original Articles, 6 Research Notes, 10 Case Reports and 1 Review. The Special Issue included 7 Invited Reviews, 9 Original Articles, 1 Research Note and 2 Case Reports. The entire issue was published Open Access, which should enhance the visibility of the articles we publish in Avian Diseases.
The Special Issue for 2025 will focus on avian metapneumovirus. If you have a research study or a case report related to this topic, please consider submitting it for the Special Issue. Like the 2024 Special Issue, the entire issue will be published Open Access.
We are still improving our speed of review and publication. We will not compromise the scientific rigor of our peer-reviewed journal, which means that obtaining quality reviews from experts in the field can take time. We will never compete with journals that turn around papers in less than a week. However, we continue to monitor our review times and strive to reduce them.
Finally, we are still revising the scope of Avian Diseases. This expanded scope will be posted sometime in 2025 when it has been finalized. Hopefully the new scope will attract quality papers of interest to our readers that might have been sent to other journals in the past.
It is truly an honor to be Editor-in-Chief of Avian Diseases, now entering volume 69. I am surrounded by an incredible Editorial Board and Advisory Board. My hope is that Avian Diseases will continue to provide a desirable and impactful avenue in which to explore a broader scope of health and disease in diverse avian species.