Précis for JCEM: No Empty Promises

A friend of mine recently wrote: “Paul, precisely when will you be publishing the précis you promised?” Her puckish note referred to my January editorial (JCEM 2016;101:31) announcing the new JCEM format that included the promise of a précis for every original article in the Table of Contents (TOC).

The lag times in publication of elements of journals are always a problem. We try to get accepted manuscripts in print as soon as possible, but 2- to 3-month lag times are the rule. We compensate for this by putting up manuscripts on the JCEM internet site quickly after acceptance for immediate access. However, despite advanced planning, a glitch occurred in the start of providing a précis for each original manuscript in the January TOC. Current projections are that this new addition will begin with the April issue.

We believe you will like précis. They will be no longer than two sentences. The first sentence will state what experiments the authors performed. The second will tell you what they observed—and in plain English, without cryptic acronyms. Our hope is that the use of précis will slow down our readers as they peruse the TOC. We appreciate that endocrinology and metabolism are very inclusive fields. They provide us with broadly based information that makes us more informed doctors and research scientists. We also realize that titles of JCEM articles often contain specialized language and acronyms that are not familiar to all readers. Our purpose is to help readers stretch their curiosity and read articles they normally would not think of looking up. We are hopeful that précis will help you discover valuable new knowledge that you might otherwise overlook. So, no empty promises. Precisely.