It is a pleasure to announce the launch of our official BSS membership journal, BMJ Open Respiratory Research (BMJORR). BMJORR is a peer-reviewed, open access journal published by the BMJ group in partnership with the British Thoracic Society; it is the sister journal to Thorax. The journal focuses on
robustness of methodology and scientific rigour, operating a rapid review process, with continuous publication online, ensuring timely, up-to-date research is available worldwide.

After negotiations with the editorial board and the publishers the journal will expand its current focus from critical care and respiratory medicine to include sleep medicine as its third column, in line with other major professional organisations. The journal publishes review articles and research studies in
basic science, pilot studies or proof of concept, observational studies, protocols, registries, clinical trials and systematic reviews with meta-analyses.

BMJORR is a young and ambitious journal which started publishing in 2014 and is indexed in PubMed Central, Scopus and Web of Science (Emerging Sources Citation Index). The following points might be important for the BSS membership:

  • The partnership with the BSS allows a wider publication, readership and it offers the chance to grow
    together.
    ● The BMJORR logo will be displayed on the BSS website and at future events, while the BSS will be
    presented on the journal’s communications (“…an official journal of the BSS”).
    ● The BSS has been offered representation at editorial board level to supervise and advise future sleep related manuscript submissions and editorial comments.
    ● Monthly communications of the latest content will be forwarded to BSS members via email, if you have signed up for this with the BSS.
    ● Supplemental issues for future BSS conferences offer the chance to include the program and to reference abstracts.
    ● The journal invites members to consider future submission of original contributions and encourages the publication of official BSS statements, guidelines or reviews (all submissions are subject to the usual rigorous peer review.
    ● The open access article publishing charge is offered at a reduced rate for BSS members (25% discount on standard APC).

We hope that you will join us in welcoming this new arrangement which will start in June 2018 for a two year period before being reviewed.