Evolution of a journal: environmental health perspectives. (Editorial).

This month EHP celebrates its 30th anniversary. Over these three decades, EHP's goal has been to provide a forum for the discussion and presentation of environmental health issues at the local, national, and international levels. This sharing of information is a critical step in improving the global environment and human health. This coverage has to be credible, thorough, and rapid, and must provide an outlet for the latest research applying the newest tools of molecular biology to environmental health issues. Vulnerable populations need to be identified and their concerns addressed. With the April issue, we are introducing several new ways in which EHP is addressing these areas of concern.

EHP has now expanded its international presence by establishing a quarterly schedule for its Chinese edition, which was introduced last year with an overwhelmingly favorable response. This year, the edition will be enhanced by the inclusion of editorials and commentaries written by scientists directly involved in research where Chinese is the primary language. The Chinese edition is now available online in Chinese and Simplified Chinese. We are also considering publishing a Spanish edition.

Our plans to provide even faster publication should greatly benefit the research community. This summer we will accelerate the schedule for Internet publication of accepted articles. Within one month of acceptance, articles will be published on the EHP Web site as "Articles Online First" (http://ehponline.org/). As in the past, the online publications will be completely citable with volume and page numbers, thus enabling the establishment of priority. As before, articles that initially appeared on the EHP Web site will be published in order of acceptance in a subsequent printed journal issue. In addition, because of the increase in the number of quality manuscripts received, EHP is moving toward more frequent publication.

Rapidity of publication is one feature that researchers desire, but another is ease of manuscript preparation. We have taken steps to address this issue. In 1999, the electronic submission of manuscripts became an option. Now electronic submission is the preferred method. In December 2001, we revised the Instructions to Authors, with details on the EHP Web site. We have changed the referencing format to the name/date system to simplify manuscript preparation and revisions for authors.

Because of the high impact of articles published in EHP, last year we formalized our policy on publication ethics. That policy will be strengthened in the next revision of our Instructions to Authors, to be adopted in June. The policy will require authors to disclose financial relationships that could be viewed as a potential conflict of interest, as well as funding sources for the work presented. Peer reviewers will also be required to disclose to the editors any conflict of interest that could bias their opinions. We are striving to provide a fully transparent publication system to maintain researchers' confidence and the public's trust in the information published in EHP.

The development of powerful molecular tools for genomic research has provided an area of unprecedented research for investigators in toxicology and environmental health. Researchers in the field of toxicogenomics conduct studies to elucidate biologic responses in the genome after exposure to environmental toxicants and stressors. We are planning to introduce a new quarterly edition of EHP that focuses on toxicogenomics. EHP Toxicogenomics will publish the latest research findings in this emerging field. The EHP Web site will complement the print version by providing a link to the National Center for Toxicogenomics Web site (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/nct/concept.htm), updates of ongoing research, profiles of newly established NIEHS toxicogenomic research centers, and a bulletin board for discussion.

A vulnerable group that has not received adequate attention is the pediatric population. To help EHP enhance our coverage of children's environmental health, we have appointed co-editors for an expanded children's health section of the journal. Brenda Eskenazi of the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley and Philip Landrigan of the Department of Community & Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York have agreed to serve in this role. Eskenazi and Landrigan, who are leaders in the field of children's environmental health, will help formulate the future directions for EHP's coverage of this critical area of research.

The venerable supplement series will end this year. First published in 1972, the series has served the environmental health research community well. In their place, EHP will publish special mini-monographs throughout the year as special sections in the journal. These mini-monographs will consist of four to six multiauthor manuscripts that address a specific topic and may include original research, perspective reviews, or a combination of original research and review. This series will go beyond the limits of the traditional reviews by providing insights and depth of coverage that a traditional review article cannot. The first of the mini-monographs will be published in the June issue of EHP and will cover the topic of chemical contaminants in breast milk and their impacts on children's health. The inaugural issue will be edited by Philip Landrigan.

For the past five years, the NIEHS has offered its Environmental Health Information Service (EHIS) by subscription. The information service has been a resounding success, receiving about 250,000 hits (pages served) each month. To more clearly identify the source of the information on our site, on April 1 the Web site will change from EHIS to ehpOnline. Over the coming months, we will redesign the Web site, which will include expanding our children's environmental health section, increasing our coverage of environmental medicine, and augmenting the Chinese edition. We are striving to make the EHP Web site a readily available source for information and communication among researchers, clinicians, educators, policy makers, and government officials.

As we begin our fourth decade of service, we continue to strive to provide the best coverage of environmental health issues. We invite your partnership in the evolution of EHP by providing suggestions and comments and by submitting your highest quality research. We value your readership.

Kenneth Olden
Director, NIEHS and NTP

Thomas J. Goehl
Acting Editor-in-Chief, EHP
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
E-mail: [e-mail]