Reflecting on 2020 and Planning for Pediatrics in 2021: Finding Opportunity in the Midst of Difficulty

Each year we share a commentary with our readers, reflecting on the previous year and sharing our plans to improve the journal for the coming year. We are writing this in the waning months of 2020, a year marked by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and greater awareness of the insidious impact of racism in the United States. We have all been affected professionally and personally by the events of this past year. However, we are both humbled and inspired by the work that was submitted to be considered for publication during this challenging time.

Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a doubling of the number of submissions monthly to Pediatrics. Pediatricians and others invested in improving child health outcomes have somehow been able to balance challenging work and personal demands to share with us their studies and insights about how to meet the needs of children and families across the many difficult issues that have confronted us in 2020. Our goal with Pediatrics is to keep the child and family at the center of all we do by disseminating high-quality peer-reviewed clinically and policy-relevant research studies, reviews, and commentaries to improve child health. Like everyone else, we have had to adapt our “usual approach to business,” and by doing so have developed improvements that will carry us forward into the new year and beyond.

One of the most visible changes is the reduction of our time to publication. Previously, we …

Address correspondence to Lewis R. First, MD, MSc, Department of Pediatrics, Given Courtyard S-250, Burlington, VT 05405. E-mail: lewis.first{at}med.uvm.edu