Thank you to the reviewers of Rheumatology Advances in Practice 2023

Abstract

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2023 has been a much anticipated milestone for Rheumatology Advances in Practice (RAP) – achieving the journal’s first impact factor, coming in at an impressive 3.1. This is cause for celebration and is a culmination of the dedication and hard work of the team behind the success of RAP and the wider RAP family, which includes not only our editorial team, associate editors and Editorial Board members, but also our authors and reviewers.

The RAP reviewers have been key to the success of the journal; their selfless commitment in helping to ensure the quality of our publications is very much appreciated. Our reviewers enjoy a fulfilling satisfaction of realizing their valuable input contributed to our inaugural impact factor. Together with the authors and reviewers, we are excited about the future of the journal and the benefits our publications will bring to the rheumatology community and patients.

This year, our reviewers also supported a number of RAP initiatives. Our 2^nd^ Trainee Publishing Programme proved to be popular again, with the five winning entries receiving free open access publication [1]. We produced our first special issue on ‘Exercise as medicine’ [2], led by Prof. Lindsay Bearne, one of our fantastic associate editors. We also published our new series, ‘Current and future advances in practice’, led by Dr David Liew, who is a member of the RAP Editorial Board and Digital and Social Media Committee [3]. These initiatives define a number of principles RAP believes in. First, being inclusive. Last year RAP introduced lay summaries to our publications by considering readability for our patients and non-specialist readers [4]. The Trainee Publishing Programme recognizes the importance of providing future generations of experts the platform to publish and provides these emerging researchers with an encouraging opportunity to do so. The new ‘Current and future advances in practice’ series offers a platform for less well-studied rheumatology conditions to be highlighted, as these apparently underserved diseases are especially important to the patients who live with them. Second, RAP encourages novel ideas and initiatives from its Editorial Board members and provides opportunities for members to extend themselves in leading these projects.

As RAP continues to be creative in being inclusive and in providing opportunities to do so, this ambition relies on our reviewers and their insights, expertise and recommendations. We would therefore like to thank all our reviewers for their unwavering support and hope to continue to welcome more reviewers into the RAP family.