Correspondence to

It is my great pleasure and honour to introduce BMJ Open Gastroenterology, a new online, open access, peer-reviewed journal which will be dedicated to advancing the science and practice of gastroenterology and hepatology through the rapid publication of high-quality original research, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, endoscopic and technol-ogy reports, perspectives on all disciplines and therapeutic areas within the specialty. The creation of this journal represents a joint part-nership of two great organisations with long-standing traditions of excellence in medicine, the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) and BMJ. Since 1840, when it was launched a