First I would like to wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year.
We have had another busy year in 2012 in which everyone involved with the Journal of Human Genetics (JHG) has been contributing to the further growth of the journal.
Since 2009, when the journal relaunched in its current format and on the nature.com platform, the number of submissions to JHG has been increasing and the editorial team is working hard to maintain our speed in processing papers to avoid delay. Currently, we are screening all manuscripts received, and send papers that pass this initial screening to the Associate Editors to handle through the peer-review process. I am feeling that the number of rejections we have to make at this stage has been increasing over last year, so that only those papers judged most likely to meet our editorial criteria are sent out for formal review. This also helps us to deliver decisions to authors promptly and saves the referees time. At the same time, I expect that this will also improve the quality of the journal.
I would like to introduce some new things happening in JHG in 2013 and beyond. As we announced in the November and December 2012 issues, the Japan Society of Human Genetics has relaunched an award; the JSHG—Journal of Human Genetics Young Scientist Award will identify articles that have made a significant contribution to JHG and have been contributed by young authors from around the world. Inaugural winners of the award will be selected from the articles that were published in JHG in 2011 and 2012, and will be announced at the 59th JSHG annual meeting in November 2013.
I should also mention that JHG introduced an open access option from November 2012, in which authors are offered the choice to publishing their papers open access under a creative commons license, to make it freely available online immediately upon publication. Many journals now provide authors the option to publish their papers open access, and many new ‘fully open access’ journals are being launched. This is a recent model of publishing that has been well received and even demanded by the members of the scholarly community including researchers in genetics studies. Eventhough this model is currently less common in Japan and other regions of Asia compared with US or European countries, I think it is good time for JHG to introduce this option now.
Finally, I am very pleased to announce that JHG will start publishing special issues of solicited high-quality papers that fall under a specific topic of recent interest in the human genetics field. We will aim to publish one or two special issues every year, with guest editors appointed for each issue. Some of the articles from the special issues will be made free online and will be widely promoted to draw readers’ attention. I am sure that special issues will contribute a lot to an increased readership base. Since 2009, the monthly average number of visits to the JHG website has grown by 50%. I am keen to publish high-quality articles in these special issues, as well as in regular issues, to keep attracting our readers.
I am looking forward to working with Associate Editors and special issue guest editors in planning interesting issues over the years to come.
Finally, in closing this message, I’d like to acknowledge those reviewers who have helped us to read and assess manuscripts and make decisions throughout 2012. The Journal of Human Genetics relies on their expert knowledge and warm support. The following individuals have provided reviews of papers submitted to JHG since November 2, 2011.
Abbes, Salem
Abnet, Christian C
Akiyama, Masashi
An, Wenfeng
Aoki, Yoko
Ariyoshi, N
Bae, Joon Seol
Barbujani, Guido
Bergen, Andrew
Boer, Judith
Bonilla, Carolina
Bost, Muriel
Bradley, Brenda
Bravi, Claudio
Burns, Kathleen
Calafell, Francesc
Capelli, Cristian
Cha, Pei-Chieng
Chaiyaratana, Nachol
Chan, Jonathan
Chang, Shun-Jen
Chang, Wei-chiao
Cheong, Hyun Sub
Cho, Yoon shin
Collod-Béroud, Gwenaëlle
de Neve, Jan-Emmanuel
DeJong, Jeff
Deng, Hao
Domino, Edward F
Echizen, Hirotoshi
Eguchi, Mariko
Elson, Joanna L
Farrington, Susan
Fregel, Rosa
Fujimoto, Akihiro
Fukami, Maki
Fukumoto, Seiji
Fukushima, Kunihiro
Funayama, Manabu
Furukawa, Yoichi
Garcia-Barcelo, Maria-Merce
GarcÃa-MartÃn, Elena
Gleicher, N
Gojobori, Jun
Goto, Akiteru
Goto, Jun
Hagerman, Paul
Harada, Naoki
Harms, Matthew
Has, Cristina
Hasegawa, Hisaya
Hasegawa, Tomonobu
Hayashi, Shin
Hayashi, Yukiko
Hegele, Robert
Hirankarn, Nattiya
Hirose, Shinichi
Hishimoto, Akitoyo
Horikawa, Yukio
Hosoi, Takayuki
Hotta, Kikuko
Houlden, Henry
Hui, Zhou
Huster, Dominik
Ichikawa, Iekuni
Imamura, Toshihiko
Imoto, Issei
Inoue, Haruhisa
Inoue, Ituro
Inoue, Ken
Ishiguro, Hiroki
Ishikawa, Kinya
Ishikawa, Shumpei
Ishizuka, B
Isomura, Minoru
Iwai, Naoharu
Iwamoto, Kazuya
Iwamoto, Sadahiko
Iwasaki, Naoko
Iwata, Takeshi
Jensen-Seaman, Michael I
Jin, Yan
Johnson, Todd
Kamatani, Yoichiro
Kaname, Tadashi
Katagiri, Toyomasa
Kato, Mamoru
Kaur, Gurvinder
Kazazian, Haig
Keicho, Naoto
Kent, Lindsey
Kim, Heebal
Kim, Jeong Hyun
Kimberling, William
Kimura, Ryosuke
Kinoshita, Akira
Kirschfink, Michael
Kivisild, Toomas
Kiyotani, Kazuma
Kobayashi, Kazuhiro
Kochi, Yuta
Kohara, Katsuhiko
Kohda, Kazuhisa
Koizumi, Akio
Kong, Qing-Ping
Konishi, Hiroyuki
Kosho, Tomoki
Kowa, Hisatomo
Kozaki, Ken-ichi
Kumasaka, Natsuhiko
Kurahashi, Hiroki
Kure, Shigeo
Kurima, Kiyoto
Kurosawa, Kenji
Kurosawa, Motohiro
Kurotaki, Naohiro
Lao, Oscar
Lee, Hsin-Chen
Li, Hui
Liu, Tze-Tze
Liu, Yu-Li
Loh, Han Chern
Long, Jirong
Luo, Xiaoping
Maeda, Shiro
Mahasirimongkol, Surakameth
Mahdieh, Nejat
Malyarchuk, Boris
Mano, Shuhei
Matsuda, Koichi
Matsumoto, Naomichi
Matsunaga, Tatsuo
Matsuo, Hirotaka
Matsuura, Tohru
Maxwell, Patrick H
Mayr, Johannes A
McElreavey, Ken
Michel, Martin
Mikami, Koichi
Minucci, Angelo
Misawa, Kazuharu
Mitamura, Takashi
Mitsunaga, Shigeki
Miura, Masatomo
Miyagawa, Taku
Mizuta, Ikuko
Mona, Stefano
Mori, Daisuke
Mori, Yasumichi
Morisaki, Takayuki
Muramatsu, Masaaki
Murayama, Kei
Mushiroda, Taisei
Muto, Kaori
Nagai, Yoshitaka
Nakabayashi, Kazuhiko
Nakagawa, Masanori
Nakajima, Atsushi
Nakajima, Toshiaki
Nakamura, Akinori
Nakamura, Kimitoshi
Nakamura, Takuro
Nakanishi, Koichi
Nakano, Yoshiro
Nakao, Mitsuyoshi
Nakaoka, Hirofumi
Nakata, Yoshio
Nakayama, Tomohiro
Nanba, Eiji
Neagos, Delia
Noguchi, Emiko
Numabe, Hironao
Numata, Shusuke
Ogata, Tsutomu
Oh, Bermseok
Ohashi, Hirofumi
Ohashi, Jun
Ohashi, Toya
Ohira, Miki
Ohno, Kousaku
Ohnuma, Tohru
Okada, Yukinori
Okamoto, Nobuhiko
Onouchi, Yoshihiro
Onuma, Hiroshi
Oota, Hiroki
Orr, Nick
Osada, Naoki
Osawa, Haruhiko
Ota, Masao
Ozaki, Kouichi
Ozono, Keiichi
Papenfuss, Anthony
Park, Hae-Sim
Peerapittayamongkol, Chayanon
Peng, Min-Sheng
Perez de Nanclares, Guiomar
Pithukpakorn, Manop
Richards, Martin B
Rogers, Jeff
Rojas-Martinez, Augusto
Roy, Puspita Das
Rund, Deborah
Russo, Antonio
Saito, Shinji
Saitoh, Shinji
Sakaeda, Toshiyuki
Sakai, Norio
Sakamoto, Tohru
Sakurai, Akihiro
Saleem, Mohammad
Sasaki, Hidenao
Satake, Wataru
Sato, Noriko
Savas, Sevtap
Seielstad, Mark
Senter, Leigha
Sharma, Swarkar
Shaw, Philip
Shibata, Hiroki
Shigemizu, Daichi
Shintaku, Haruo
Shotelersuk, Vorasuk
Shuin, Taro
Sim, Edith
Sinnett, Daniel
Skaar, Todd
Slama, Abdelhamid
Soares, Pedro
Soejima, Hidenobu
Solomon, Sheila
Sorio, Claudio
Sueoka, Kou
Sugano, Kokichi
Suriyaphol, Prapat
Suzuki, Akari
Suzuki, Yoichi
Suzuki, Yutaka
Swallow, D
Tabara, Yasuharu
Tajima, Atsushi
Takahashi, Atsushi
Takahashi, Yuji
Takeuchi, Fumihiko
Tamari, Mayumi
Tamiya, Gen
Tamura, Kazuo
Tang, Clara
Taniguchi, Atsuo
Tashiro, Kei
Teh, Bin
Thiele, Susanne
Thongnoppakhun, Wanna
Tohru, Ohta
Tomita, Hiroaki
Tongsima, Sissades
Tornesello, Maria Lina
Toyoda, Tetsuro
Tsai, Shih-Jen
Tsuchiya, Naoyuki
Tsujikawa, Motokazu
Umetsu, Kazuo
Usami, Shin-ichi
Van den Bosch, BJC
Van Oven, Mannis
Veltman, Joris
Walsh, Tom
Wang, Lin
Wang, YM
Watanabe, Yoshinori
Weese-Mayer, De
Wilson, James
Winge, Marten
Xu, Shuhua
Xu, Xiangmin
Yamada, Ryo
Yamada, Shizuo
Yamagata, Zentaro
Yamaguchi, Tetsutaro
Yamaguchi-Kabata, Yumi
Yamamoto, Ken
Yamamoto, Toshiyuki
Yang, Wanling
Yang, Zhenglin
Yao, Yong-Gang
Yasuda, Kazuki
Yasui, Kohichiroh
Yasunami, Michio
Yin, Jiaoyang
Yoon, Kyong-Ah
Yoshida, Kunihiro
Yoshida, Shousei
Yoshida, Teruhiko
Yoshimura, Kunihiko
Yoshino, Makoto
Yoshiura, Koh-ichiro
Yu, Long
Yuasa, Isao
Zhang, Xin-Xin
Zheng, Shu-Sen
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Tokunaga, K. New year wishes and updates. J Hum Genet 58, 1–2 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhg.2012.136
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jhg.2012.136