The four ATS journals are a cornerstone of the ATS, where the research and work our members do is collected, published, disseminated and ultimately utilized to improve patient care.  As the world contends with the spread of COVID-19, timely, peer-reviewed, excellent science is even more important.

Each ATS journal is unique.  For example, the Blue Journal, the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, has seen an increase in submissions and expects its impact factor to continue to rise. We also recently welcomed Prescott Woodruff, MD, as a new associate editor for asthma. In addition, the Journal published a special critical care–focused issue on April 1, and we plan to address COVID-19 in the near future by publishing a short case series, a podcast, and an editorial on the topic with international authors led by Michael Niederman, MD.

The Red Journal, the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, continues its success and improvements by increasing the number of editorials, providing animated videos, which serve as quick highlights on recent papers, expanding the journal podcast series, and adding an early career group to engage young scientists, who also oversee the new Reading Beyond the Red section. The Journal is pleased to report significant increases in submissions and the impact factor.

Colin Cooke, MD, has been appointed as editor-in-chief of The Annals of the American Thoracic Society. He hopes to strengthen the Journal’s position within the pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine communities by continuing to publish content highly relevant to practicing clinicians, clinical investigators, and population health officials. This includes clinical, epidemiological, and health services research, as well as clinical reviews and expert commentaries on interesting and educational patient cases.

This year, the ATS launched its first open access journal, ATS Scholar, on Feb. 24, 2020! This online, open-access journal publishes papers and videos related to education and training that are relevant to Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep medicine. As with any new journal, it will evolve over time. We hope our readers and the education community will inform that growth by reaching out to us with feedback about the content they enjoy as well as new content they seek.

In another exciting initiative, the ATS Journals have also created a page where you can find all new research related to COVID-19, available now.

We look forward to another productive year!