In Service to the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research—Part B: Applied Biomaterials

It has been my distinct honor to serve as the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research—Part B: Applied Biomaterials. JBMR-B is one of two sister journals (along with Journal of Biomedical Materials Research—Part A) of the Society For Biomaterials (SFB)—the first and oldest professional scientific society in the field of biomaterials. This linkage has been, and continues to be, an extraordinary partnership between SFB and John Wiley that has benefited the field of biomaterials and those who call themselves Biomaterials Scientists. I would like, in the space below, to reflect on my time as EIC and to thank those who served with me and made JBMR-B what it is today. I applied to become EIC of JBMR-B in 2008 when the then-current EIC, Harold Alexander, announced his plan to step down after 22 years as the founding editor of JBMR-B. Amazingly, SFB, in conducting the search for Harold's replacement, chose me, and also asked (basically in the same phone call) that I run for president of SFB where I was elected to serve in the 2010–2011 term. I started as EIC in June of 2009 and served until June 2025. This 16 year run was one of the most fulfilling efforts of my career. I saw firsthand how SFB and the JBMRs were linked together and how that link supported both organizations. When I took on the role, I recruited some of the top biomaterials scientists in SFB to serve as my panel of domain-expert associate editors in areas like cardiovascular biomaterials, orthopedic biomaterials, dental biomaterials, surfaces of biomaterials, drug delivery and tissue engineering, etc. People like Joel Bumgardner, Joo Ong, Martine LaBerge, Chris Seidlecki, Dave Puleo, and others joined me in our efforts to grow the journal and advance its mission. Thank you to all who served as associate editors, editorial board members, or peer reviewers over this time! When we started, scientific publishing was undergoing tremendous changes. All submission and reviews were handled online with a clunky but usable editor's dashboard. In my time as EIC, we have seen the rise of open access, the growth of predatory journals, cases of plagiarism, and other challenges to scientific publishing. We also saw the proliferation of biomaterials-focused journals, where many saw advantages in developing additional places to publish biomaterial-focused research. While all these changes were taking place, since 2009, JBMR-B went from publishing 8 volumes per year to 12 and from reviewing about 600 manuscripts per year to about 800. Our impact factor grew from about 2 to its present 3.4. The overall rejection rate of the journal stayed within the 75%–72% range, meaning that 3 out of 4 manuscripts submitted to the journal were ultimately rejected. In the same time period, researchers from around the world submitted manuscripts for consideration in JBMR-B. Countries like China, India, Iran, and Brazil grew in their percentage of manuscripts submitted, while submissions from the US declined over the same time period. This reflects, in my opinion, a two-fold change. First is the shifting of the research focus within the US away from biomaterials science and towards tissue engineering and then regenerative medicine. While both fields relied on biomaterials (and still do), scientists felt that publishing in other journals was more appropriate for their work. The second is the exponential growth in the field of biomaterials outside of the US. Countries like China, which before 2009 had very little in the way of a well-developed research focus on the biomaterials field, developed rapidly to the point that the Chinese SFB has over 20,000 members today. It has been a tumultuous time in publishing and the effects of these changes on SFB and Wiley have been significant. Moving forward, these and new challenges will continue to impact SFB and Wiley. For me, I was so grateful to have had the support and friendship of so many. However, one person, in particular, stands out, and that person is James M. Anderson. Jim, as the long-serving editor of JBMR-A and a long-term mentor and friend of mine, brought me under his wing (and into his confidence). He treated me like a co-equal in this role and supported me at many points in my career as a professor and as editor. Working with Jim in support of the society and the journals was a major reason I stayed in the role for as long as I did. Thanks Jim! Like Jim, as he said in his reflections on serving as EIC of JBMR-A in 2021, I have made it a priority to publish my work in the SFB journals (A and B) with 63 of 225 peer-reviewed papers in one of these two journals over my 37 year career as a professor. I am proud of this work and of having supported these journals. The new EIC for JBMR-B, Danielle Benoit, whom I brought into the journal, first as an associate editor, and then as deputy editor, has taken over for me, and I know she will bring the dedication, organization, and vision to advance the journal into the future. I wish her every success in guiding JBMR-B into the future. The field of Biomaterials, a field I have dedicated my professional career to, will continue to impact millions of patients every year for the foreseeable future. The mission of JBMR-B is to advance our understanding of biomaterials science and to apply this knowledge to the use of medical devices to enhance and advance the health and well-being of patients. That mission is as strong today as it was when I took up this job, and I believe JBMR-B is in excellent hands for this mission. The author has nothing to report. The author declares no conflicts of interest. Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.