This first issue of JCRP in 2017 is a good time to provide you with some updates about the journal. First and most obvious is the fact that there is new journal cover. The last time a new cover for JCRP was introduced was in 2007. Now, 10 years later, the design and colors used on the cover have been redesigned to help provide a new look for the journal. I want to thank the JCRP publisher, Andrea Allison-Williams, and the design team at Wolters Kluwer Health for their assistance with the new cover.

Also, the 2015 impact factor (IF) data have been announced. The IF is important for professional journals and is often 1 of the factors that authors use to determine to which journals they will submit manuscripts. It is a system managed by Thomson Reuters Web of Science, and the IF number is a calculation of the average number of times articles published in the past 2 years from a specific journal have been cited as references in published articles. The IF for JCRP for the years 2014-2015 was 1.632. This is an increase from the previous IF of 1.583. Based on the 2-year IF, JCRP is ranked 79 out of 124 journals in the cardiac and cardiovascular systems category. There is also a 5-year IF, and the recently updated figure for JCRP is 1.992, which also increased from the previous 5-year IF of 1.82. It is positive whenever the IF increases.

Finally, on behalf of the entire JCRP editorial team, here's wishing each of you a healthy and happy 2017.

Larry F. Hamm, PhD, MAACVPR, FACSM

Editor-in-Chief

Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention