Article Text
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Reflecting on the experience of editing Thorax, now more than 20 years ago, what stands out in the memory is not any individual ground breaking paper but rather an impression of the huge variety of topics which clamoured for attention under the thoracic banner, and of the general mood of enthusiasm and cooperation which prevailed at the time.
By the early 1980s respiratory medicine had broadened out from its earlier essential focus on tuberculosis and industrial lung disease and seemed at last to have an established position within general medicine. Bright young academic minds were increasingly attracted to the specialty and the quantity and quality of research were advancing in proportion. The British Thoracic Society was newly formed and had confirmed Thorax as its official organ. The general enthusiasm for the subject clearly evident in the Society’s meetings was transmitted to the journal. Specialists from a rapidly widening variety of clinical disciplines and basic sciences contributed to the submitted papers, and there was a steady increase in submissions from overseas. Thoracic surgery with its more direct links to cardiology was also changing in character but maintained a strong presence and, up …