Following a 5-year term as Joint Editor in Chief of Clinical and Experimental Allergy, Professor Mohamed Shamji has stepped down from our society journal to assume the presidency of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) in June 2026 (Figure 1). Professor Shamji's laboratory is renowned internationally as a leading centre for research on type 2 inflammation and immune tolerance. The team has made seminal contributions to understanding the mechanisms underlying allergic inflammation and its treatment, particularly in the context of allergen-specific immunotherapy. Professor Shamji's prominent international profile has substantially expanded the global readership and authorship of Clinical and Experimental Allergy over the past 5 years. He has co-led special issues on Allergy in India and China, as well as topic-specific issues on nutrition, COVID-19, and immune modulation. These initiatives have further strengthened the Journal's community, including editorial board members, peer reviewers, authors, and readers 1, 2. He has significantly contributed to our Journal through astute invitations, manuscript handling, and editorial decisions. Notably, early in his tenure, he oversaw the handling, publication, and promotion of the Addenbrooke's team's pioneering description of polyethylene glycol as a cause of anaphylaxis related to COVID-19 vaccination 3. Where possible, Professor Shamji's editorial handling aimed to give authors a chance to publish their work, even if in a shorter manuscript format, rather than rejecting manuscripts outright. However, his contribution goes beyond inviting and handling journal manuscripts. Clinical and Experimental Allergy now routinely includes graphical abstracts for all original and review articles, a development driven by Professor Shamji's leadership and vision. These graphical summaries facilitate the dissemination of research through social media and conference platforms, thereby increasing the visibility of authors' work. Under Professor Shamji's guidance, the Journal has also adopted podcasts, video abstracts, and broad dissemination across multiple social media channels as standard practices to enhance engagement with published articles. It takes time to raise a journal's profile, but Professor Shamji has certainly achieved this for Clinical and Experimental Allergy. Over his 5-year tenure as joint Editor in Chief, the number of article downloads has increased by 69%, the journal impact factor has increased by 52%, and in the past 3 years the number of article submissions has increased by 65% (Figure 2). From a society journal with fairly static metrics and a Q2 impact factor, Clinical and Experimental Allergy has, by any measure, regained its position as a leading international journal, and much of this change in profile is due to Professor Shamji's commitment and innovation. Beyond raising the profile of the journal, Professor Shamji has helped to shape a distinctive vision for Clinical and Experimental Allergy as the home of ‘trusted evidence in allergy’ 4. This has meant increased attention to research integrity, removing advertising from the baby milk industry from the journal website to align with international recommendations, and increased transparency regarding commercial support for published articles. Clinical and Experimental Allergy and our parent society, the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology, have also developed strengthened links with EAACI over these past 5 years. As Professor Shamji takes on his new role as President of EAACI, the world's largest allergy professional society, we very much hope that these relationships will continue to strengthen. Thank you, Mo, for your outstanding contribution to Clinical and Experimental Allergy! R.J.B. wrote the first draft, R.G. reviewed and edited the draft. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Boyle et al. (Mon,) studied this question.