Navigating change: upholding scientific integrity in an era of innovation

It has now been over a year since taking over as Editor-in-Chief of Bone & Joint Research, and as such I wanted to take this opportunity to close out 2025 with an update on changes we have introduced at BJR, highlights from the recent past, and future directions of travel.At its core, BJR is a journal for clinically relevant, high-quality, musculoskeletal basic science research.We want to publish the research that is most relevant to our readers, whether based in engineering, biomechanics, tissue bioengineering, cellular biology, stem cells, hard tissue, soft-tissue, dentistry...the list continues.To this end, our scope has been redefined somewhat, and can be found in our Instructions for Authors on the updated website.We have removed genetics from our remit, and have made the decision not to publish purely clinical research -whether randomized control studies, cohort studies or systematic reviews.The rest of the Bone & Joint family of journals (The Bone & Joint Journal (BJJ) and Bone & Joint Open (BJO)) cover clinical papers very well, and I would encourage authors to submit clinical research to those high-quality journals instead.Our BJR papers should be rooted in basic science and its translation.It can be difficult sometimes to see the clinical applications and translations of some complex basic science research, but as authors I implore you to attempt to highlight the translational opportunities your work creates.For your research to change practice, it needs to be consumable by as large an audience as possible, and that means pointing out why it is relevant to clinicians in addition to scientists.Here at BJR we are enthusiastic about knowledge translation and research promotion to increase your audience and the impact of your research.We remain very active on social media (X, Instagram, TikTok)