Impact factors for journals for the year 2003 have recently been published and we are delighted that the impact factor for Thorax has risen to 4.188. It is now the second highest ranked conventional respiratory journal in terms of impact factor, behind the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, and has overtaken the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. The impact factors for the main respiratory journals are listed in table 1.

The journal impact factor for 2003 reflects the number of citations in 2003 to papers published in Thorax in 2001 and 2002. Thorax is very fortunate in having received excellent papers for publication and this is reflected in the rise in the impact factor over the last few years.¹ However, in addition to original papers in 2001 and 2002, Thorax published a number of high quality review articles such as the Year in Review supplement,² critical care series,³ we started a series on COPD⁴ and one on lung cancer.⁵ In 2001 and 2002 we also published a number of guidelines which have important implications for clinical practice—such as guidelines for the management of community acquired pneumonia in adults and children,^6,7 the use of non-invasive ventilation in acute respiratory failure,⁸ selection of patients with lung cancer for surgery,⁹ guidelines for flexible bronchoscopy,¹⁰ and on air travel.¹¹ We would like to thank the previous Thorax editors, John Britton and Alan Knox, for their hard work¹² and for their immense contribution to the current success of the journal.

The rise in impact factor reflects the continuing success of Thorax. Over the past year we have seen a marked rise in submissions, especially of high quality papers,¹³ and we very much urge you to continue to send us your best papers. The online submission Bench>Press system means that the peer review process in the journal is now faster and our publication lag time is short. Thus, over the next few years we are confident that the impact factor for Thorax will rise further, with the journal enjoying an increasing international profile while at the same time maintaining its important educational role.