It is with great honour and humility that I commence a new and exciting challenge in my career; namely, the editorship of Spinal Cord, the flagship journal of the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS). In my view, Spinal Cord has been, and continues to be, the journal of record for the multidisciplinary field of spinal cord injury.

I am grateful to the Executive Team at ISCoS for selecting me to serve in this role. While further communications will present a more detailed future vision for Spinal Cord, I wish to send a clear message to the spinal cord injury community that the editorial team will strive to create an excellent experience for authors submitting their work to our journal. Spinal Cord serves as a forum reflecting the breadth of spinal cord injury research, including traumatic and nontraumatic spinal cord injury, and key issues related to these disorders. We will assure prospective authors receive timely and high-quality reviews of their work. Moreover, we are working closely with our publishing partner, Springer Nature, to ensure a smooth and efficient process for authors, and we continue to integrate constructive feedback into our workflow.

We live in a fast-paced world where the appetite for cutting edge information is at an all-time high, and journals must work to ensure the work being published is effectively communicated to enhance reach and knowledge translation. Our editorial team is reviewing our social media strategy and I wish to acknowledge our Associate Editor, Dr. Sonja de Groot, who has taken on the role of our coordinating Editor in charge of social media. A new initiative to enhance the visibility of manuscripts will be for authors to have the option to submit a visual abstract with their final publication. Visual abstracts make articles more attractive to potential readers and enhance the appeal on social media platforms.

I wish to acknowledge the past members of the Editorial Board, and past Associate Editors of Spinal Cord, who have dedicated significant energy over the years to ensuring an efficient and fruitful experience for those who chose to publish in our journal. We are currently in the process of recruiting new members to the Editorial Board and Associate Editor team to join Drs. Anthony Burns, Jörg Krebs, Narihito Nagoshi, Rüdiger Rupp, and Sonja de Groot.

I will also make a personal commitment to the spinal cord injury community to strive to make Spinal Cord the top journal in the field of spinal cord injury. Again, I am very grateful for the honour of being entrusted with the position of Editor-in-Chief of Spinal Cord and I hope to welcome your manuscript submissions in the future.

Michael G. Fehlings, MD, PhD, FRCSC, FACS