So here we are! Welcome to this first issue of Bone and Joint360. As Editor-in-Chief, I am both proud and delighted to share this new journal with you. To bring this project to fruition has required much work by a host of people throughout the world. I am but one of many.
360 forms part of the instant-information era. It is born from an understanding that orthopaedic surgeons, wherever they may be, are busy individuals who are frequently overcommitted professionally. There is always something to be done that day, from the moment they wake up in the morning until the instant they retire to bed. Life is not simple for orthopaedic surgeons in 2012. Reading the orthopaedic literature is something they like to do, know they ought to do, but is not always something for which there is time. 360 hopes to lighten that burden.
For you, the reader, we have tried to produce a journal that is easy to read and of interest to everyone, irrespective of subspecialty. It is a means of keeping up to date with the current orthopaedic literature without necessarily having to open every journal. Our hope is that it should take no more than 60 minutes to read, cover to cover.
The lynchpin of 360 is its Editorial Board of approximately 30 individuals, drawn from some of the most notable names in the world of orthopaedic surgery. Board members are the eyes and ears of the journal and are busy people too. They have kindly undertaken to keep 360 informed of any current published research that they feel is of interest. Daily, our journal inbox is filled with suggestions from around the world of papers, articles and ideas that need a broader airing.
At 360, we find it fascinating that surgeons in different parts of the world can have similar ideas for research at almost identical times. Sometimes they can have diametrically opposed views. Meanwhile, work from one country might have made it into the mainstream orthopaedic literature while work of an identical nature from a different land may not have done so.
For this first issue, the Feature Article written by Tom Hogervorst from The Netherlands particularly interests me. I had no idea that evolution played such a key part in our everyday practices. Could it just be that some of the oddities of morphology on which we now operate might actually be normal after all? An appreciation of evolution certainly gives a different insight into how various parts of our anatomy have developed and why they function as they do. Have a look at the Roundup section of 360 and see what researchers from Germany, South Africa and Canada have also found, specifically in the hand and foot.
Once you have read this first issue please take time to tell us what you think. Even better, write us a letter. Write about whatever topic you wish. You may disagree with something we have said, or you may have a view that you would like the world to hear. If there is space, and you are not too forthright with your language, we might even publish you too.
We want the world to read 360, for all orthopaedic surgeons to use it as a primary source of information. Carry this journal wherever you go. Show it to your friends. Show it to your colleagues. Indeed, show it to anyone and everyone you meet. 360 exists for you, the reader. Without you we would simply pack up and go home.
No less importantly, you will realise how much work it takes to produce a journal such as this. To reach this point, as well as its Editorial Board, 360 owes much to so many other individuals for their ideas and hard labour. We acknowledge them below. They are good people and incredibly helpful.
All that now remains is for me to wish you happy reading. When you are done, remember to show 360 to your friends and colleagues, perhaps even your family. Ask them all to tell the world too.
Richard Villar
Editor-in-Chief
