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A new look for 2002
The observant reader of the Annals will notice that this first issue of the year 2002 looks different. The redesign of the journal is not just a manifestation of fashion, in a time where the only constant seems to be change. During the yearly and other meetings of editors of specialist journals published by the BMJ Publishing Group there has been a growing awareness that redesigning the journals is mandatory for the future. Although different editors may have varying opinions on the relative values of web versions and paper versions of their journals, it now becomes more and more clear that paper versions of these specialist journals will remain important for most of their readership, including that of the Annals. With this in mind it is important to make thesejournals as attractive as possible for the readership, to facilitate transfer of knowledge, and make the reading of the journal a true pleasure.
BMJ Publishing Group specialist journals editors increasingly found the current design dated and limited, and therefore called for a change. The main goal was and is that reading specialist journals, including the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, will be a better experience for the reader. What does that mean for the authors? Box 1 summarises differences between the old and new design.
1 Main differences
Papers
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New fonts
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“Two” column layout
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Authors' affiliations have moved
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New heading styles
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Tables boxed and shaded
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Flexible figure widths
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Summary boxes
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References—first author in bold
Leaders
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Three column layout
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Short, snappy title with “subtitle”
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Pull out quotes
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More illustrations
Reviews
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Very short summary paragraph
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Different page 1 layout, then as for papers
Although the editorial team recognises that details of the redesign may have to be changed/improved in the forthcoming months, it is convinced that this change in design will please the reader and facilitate the goals of ARD—namely, bringing high quality science and education to the readership in the best possible way.