{
  "abstract": "Welcome to the November 2025 issue of Frontline Gastroenterology (FG). It was recently my first anniversary of becoming Editor in chief of FG and so I have been reflecting on the last year and the journal’s many achievements and milestones over 2024–2025. One of the biggest milestones has been seeing our impact factor (IF) increase to 3.1. This was a great achievement for the editorial team and everyone associated with the journal in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Group and the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG). I hope this IF will continue to increase over the next few years. In addition, our new affiliation with the British Association for the Study of the Liver (BASL) has been a huge positive—in fact, our BASL Special issue should have just been published (at the point this UpFront goes to print) and I hope it will be hugely popular with our readership. I want to thank all the authors, reviewers, the BMJ Group, BSG and the editorial team for all their efforts in helping make this happen—the first ever hepatology special issue for FG. It was timed to coincide with the BASL conference in Belfast, at the start of October. Very aptly, alongside this, I am delighted that we have recently just announced our new affiliation with the Roux Group (the trainees section of the Association of Upper Gastrointestinal (GI) Surgeons) (figure 1). Surgeons are a crucial part of the wider multidisciplinary team in gastroenterology, hepatology and hepatopancreatobiliary medicine teams, and so it makes perfect sense to have a close relationship in terms of research, training and education—all joint priorities of FG and the Roux Group. Finally, I am delighted to have been invited to speak to a conference of delegates from the Indian Society of Gastroenterology in October 2025, in Tamil Nadu, India. I hope I am able to enthuse them about the journal and develop a strong bond with our learnt colleagues—there is so much ‘frontline’ knowledge that can be shared.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Gastroenterology, Royal Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Philip J Smith"
    }
  ],
  "title": "UpFront",
  "uid": "64bc0442-6732-50c1-b797-47cee2798d05"
}