A New Era

On the first of July 2012 the responsibility and opportunities of stewardship of The Angle Orthodontist will pass to the new leader of the journal, Steve Lindauer. Steve has served the journal as irreplaceable associate for the past several years and he has been instrumental in making possible the continued growth of the journal. Steve is an immensely talented orthodontist and you can count on him to retain and polish those aspects of the journal that are strong and to improve those features that are weak.

We now are 10 years past the initiation of our open access policy and the journal has truly been globalized by this step. I consider open access the seminal development of the journal in this millennium. The Angle Orthodontist is now read by workers in places that surprised me and will surprise many of you. Steve has been responsible for the review process and the number of submitted manuscripts has increased every year. We are on track this year to receive well over 1000 manuscripts as our all-digital process and speed continue to attract authors.

The future is not without challenges, however. Chief among these is a common to all open access journals – How to finance this altruistic promotion of orthodontic science and to create a financially stable basis. The Angle Society has taken this task as their mission thus far, but costs surely will continue to rise. Open access is the very personification of professionalism at its finest. Open access deserves the support of all of us who richly enjoy the benefits of orthodontics.

Why did I choose to step down at this point in time? I finished my orthodontic program 50 years ago and have had the privilege of working in orthodontics for all those years. I haven't lost my enthusiasm, but I really believe that it is good stewardship to step down when things are going well and you are still on top. How many examples can you recall of persons who have continued to work in their chosen field and ultimately stayed too long? Think of athletes who felt the desire to perform again and attempted to return only to discover that they had lost their edge. I consider this a tragedy for the person and a disservice to the profession they love. In the words of Al Neuharth, there is a time to lead and a time to leave.

My tenure as editor of The Angle Orthodontist has been an honor and a privilege. I consider knowledge fundamental to growth and the quality and quantity of information have both improved greatly in the past half century. It was my privilege to be part of this evolution. This tenure as editor of The Angle Orthodontist has been the frosting on my professional cake.

Thank you for your support.