{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.017011834319526627, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0029585798816568047, 'mean_word_length': 4.854978354978355, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Seven Years of IJS and Working Hard to Meet the Needs of Stroke Professionals Globally

Many of us have been involved in the conduct of negative trials, particularly in the field of neuroprotection. How many billions of dollars would have been saved had there been a fuller and franker disclosure of information about negative results particularly in the pre-clinical sphere? There is an obvious tension between journals wishing to publish only positive results to raise their impact factor and profit margins. Recognizing these tensions is important and editors need to maintain balance between ‘telling a good story’ and public good. Hence, there is a real need for adequate opportunities for investigators to be guaranteed a platform to record their experimental experiences; this will save others needlessly wasting time and money going down the same fruitless path. Peter Sandercock beautifully expounds these and other issues in his Leading opinion on negative results in this edition. Well worth a read! This is our seventh year of publication and we continue to evolve and improve; this is largely due to our superb team of Associate Editors, including; Patrick Lyden, Conrado Estol, Jong S Kim and Peter Rothwell; and our outstanding Editorial Board; special mention also to our Managing Editor, Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins. As an example of the changing face of our journal in this edition, we again have an exciting new cover by commissioned artist Amy Hooten. I find the abstract nature of this one particularly appealing. We are starting the year with a ‘bumper edition’ to accommodate the exploding number of submitted manuscripts. We will also increase the number of editions from six to eight in 2012, and this together with our online early view initiative should help to create more publishing space for our high quality articles in a timelier manner. 2012 is a big year in stroke! Not the least of which will be the World Stroke Congress in Brazil. I know Ayrton Massaro and his colleagues are working tirelessly to make this a unique experience. For those of us who don’t live in the region it’s a great opportunity to experience a different culture while at the same time absorbing the latest information about the global burden of stroke. We hope that many of you will make the trip. Please note that registrations are open. As usual we have an array of interesting articles, thrombolysis in carotid dissection, combination intravenous and intracranial approaches as well as a fascinating Leading opinion from Sean Savitz on stem cells and stroke. And, for those of you interested in small vessel disease, a very interesting review on this subject by Srikanth Velandi et al. Good reading!