Introducing The Lancet Rheumatology

The Lancet Rheumatology, September 2019, Volume 1, Issue 1

This week, the British medical journal The Lancet, launched a new journal that focuses strictly on rheumatology. Aptly called "The Lancet Rheumatology,"  the journal's mission is to "provide an independent voice to the rheumatology community and to the millions of patients living with these conditions," the editors wrote.

The need for the journal was driven by an increased prevalence of musculoskeletal diseases whose toll - in terms of both clinical and economic burden - continues to rise, the editor's wrote in the journal. And, despite the uptick in research in recent years, much more needs to be done to improve patient care.

The inaugural September issue of the journal includes two reviews: Hussein Al-Mossawi, Laura Coates, and colleagues have written a review on precision medicine in psoriatic arthritis. And,  Wen Zhang and John Stone offer a review of IgG4-related disease in which they suggest some approaches to optimal management of the condition.

The journal's advisory board includes rheumatology experts from 16 countries. The editors stated that, "we have committed to achieving complete gender parity in corresponding authorship for Review, Viewpoint, and Health Policy articles, and we strive to achieve gender balance among peer reviewers."