The ambition of theEuropean Respiratory Journal

Counterculture icon Timothy Leary once said: “Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition” [1]. As incoming Chief Editor of the European Respiratory Journal ( ERJ ), I will bluntly state that the ambition of the Journal is not to seek to be equal with other respiratory publications but to be the best possible publication available to help, inform and open new horizons to junior and established healthcare professionals and scientists who have an interest in (respiratory) medicine and science. The ERJ is proud to be the flagship publication of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), an undisputed leading group of international clinicians and scientists [2, 3]. After 4 years’ service on the Editorial Board of previous Chief Editors Anh Tuan Dinh-Xuan and Vito Brusasco, I know that being the new Chief Editor of the Journal will be a difficult but exciting challenge [3, 4]. On this occasion, I would like to briefly share some facts and thoughts with you in this opening editorial. Despite obvious limitations [5], it is now widely accepted that having the …