Editorial

The Journal of Renal Nutrition (JRN) has accepted the proposal to become co-sponsored with the International Society of Renal Nutrition and Metabolism (ISRN&M). The co-sponsorship will facilitate the JRN becoming the only international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed Journal of renal science and dietetics. By fulfilling this niche, the JRN provides a specialty communication forum for the medical and nutrition literature that is not currently available. The interest and amount of research being completed in the fields of renal nutrition and science continue to expand. With this co-sponsorship, the JRN will be even better positioned to accept papers authored and reviewed by among the most talented in the field worldwide.

The ISRN&M is an international society of physician scientists and dietitians whose purpose is to advance the knowledge of nutrition and metabolism in renal disease and renal failure and to foster communication of the advancements of this knowledge by means of scientific meetings and cooperation with other scientific societies of nephrology, nutrition, biochemistry, and physiology. The society is unique in that it incorporates basic scientists, physicians, and renal dietitians into a single, focused organization. Until now, the society has allowed professionals with interests in renal nutrition to meet every other year and present scientific and clinical information but has had no way to service its memberships' needs or to communicate this information between meetings. Co-sponsorship of the JRN will allow for communication of scientific information to our membership on a regular and more frequent basis. It will serve to bridge the gap between bench-top and clinical science to altering the nutritional status of patients through changes in nutritional practice.

By supporting this co-sponsorship, the Council on Renal Nutrition (CRN) provides renal dietitians the opportunity to show leadership and growth in nutrition education, research, and clinical care. It will maximize international communication among renal nutritionists. The co-sponsorship allows the JRN to better serve the CRN membership by providing increased exposure to renal science and an interdisciplinary forum for the publication of renal dietetic research. Papers in dietetics will become more important as the demand and interest level for clinical nutrition information and renal nutrition education materials increase.

What does “co-sponsorship” mean? How will this affect the JRN? Professionals from a larger number of countries will be participating on the Editorial Board. The JRN will publish Proceedings of the Congresses of the ISRN&M. There will be a higher volume of manuscripts submitted, resulting in the possibility that the JRN publication schedule will increase to bi-monthly or monthly. The sophistication and diversity of papers published in the JRN will increase. New features could be developed. An untapped potential will accompany this opportunity. All told, the co-sponsorship will be an attribute to the JRN and, therefore, to the renal nutrition science and dietetics literature.

The official voting process for this co-sponsorship will be completed by mid April. We hope that by the time you receive the April 2002 issue of the JRN, the co-sponsorship will have transitioned from a proposal, to a “new” Journal of Renal Nutrition.