Post written by VideoGIE Editor Emeritus Field F. Willingham, MD, MPH, FASGE, from Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

I cannot believe how fast it went. What an honor to have had the opportunity to lead VideoGIE for these past 5 years. I loved every minute we spent working on and evolving the journal. I am so grateful to the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) for the opportunity. Many times, opportunities arrive with significant guardrails; the remarkable thing about working on VideoGIE for this last half decade was that no change, no matter how big it was, was too big, and we never heard that an idea was too bold. 

A friend of mine said, “Of all the journals I get, tables of contents in my email and journal content promotions, VideoGIE is the journal I actually open and read.” And we can see this in our open and click-through rates (which were higher than the industry averages, our publisher Elsevier noted). Readers love our content. We are clicking the VideoGIE links, opening, watching, and reading the journal content–it is the leading edge of therapeutic endoscopy. 

When we were welcomed as the new VideoGIE team, we set out to update the design conventions for the journal. We sought to create a clean, modern, simple, iconic design language. What came out of that was a complete transformation—the title, masthead, logo, cover page, website, and mobile content experience. The new design language was instantly iconic and an instant hit, transforming the journal’s look and feel with a modern design that captured both the endoscopy and video nature of the journal. It was so well-received, the design conventions were adopted for the whole ASGE family of journals. It was impactful for readers; with the new site, our community was spending 20% more time right away engaging with our content. 

I wanted to say thank you to the endoscopy community all over the world. We learned so much from you. More than half the content we receive is international. VideoGIE is where we go to showcase the most cutting-edge techniques in the field, where we see the first human use of new endoscopic devices and approaches, where we go to study subtle details when we are adopting a new procedure. We sought to facilitate these uses. We created a table at the beginning of all videos that lists the endoscopes, wires, devices, and equipment used for each case. We asked authors to show the set-up of the equipment ex vivo, hand cams, and tech’s roles, so that readers would have all the critical details. 

Another major shift: when a written abstract is accepted for Digestive Disease Week (DDW), it is then published in a supplement to the society journals. When an endoscopic video was submitted for DDW, it was shown only at the meeting. We wanted to expand the connection between DDW video content and VideoGIE. Now videos are submitted for DDW with written abstracts, and we publish the abstracts in a new supplement to VideoGIE. The Best-of-the-Best videos from the plenary sessions, Mel Schapiro Award Winner, and World Cup winners are given fee waivers, so the authors can submit their amazing work to VideoGIE without charges. We created an award for the best first-author submissions from fellows that is now presented every year at DDW.

In terms of impact, we can see increased engagement with the journal in several ways. On social media, we can observe engagement through journal interactions on social media. Compared with 2021, we saw increases of 61% in Facebook followers and 131% in Twitter/X followers for the journal accounts and 141% in subscribers for VideoGIE’s YouTube channel.

In terms of traffic to the VideoGIE homepage, 2025’s traffic was approximately 25% higher than the year we started. And for perhaps the most important metric, article downloads, there was a remarkable 70% increase in full-text usage since 2021 (ScienceDirect, Journal Branded Solutions, and Clinical Key). 

We also created CME credit. My friend and colleague Lisa Cassani, MD, had been writing brilliant questions to accompany articles, and we decided to launch CME credit for the journal. We brought on a co-question writer, Nikolaos Lazaridis, MD, MSc, PhD, appointed Drs Cassani and Lazaridis as our CME Editors, and together their questions became CME content for the journal. From no CME 5 years ago, hundreds accessed the course content in 2025, with CME credits awarded by VideoGIE. 

Working on the journal has been one of the most rewarding things I have done in my career. Everything we accomplished was a direct result of standing on the shoulders of the remarkable prior Editors, Gottumukkala S. Raju, MD, FASGE, and Todd H. Baron, MD, MASGE. I had the gift of a spectacular team of Associate Editors whose brilliance, insight, and attention to detail showed in every submission we handled. My ever-grateful thanks to them: Edward J. Despott, MD, FRCP, FEBGH, FASGE, MD (Res); Vaishali Patel, MD; Kara L. Raphael, MD; and Fateh Bazerbachi, MD. The ASGE staff managing editorial team–Stephanie Kinnan, Sarah Trotto, and Rebecca Meier–is the top in the field; the delight we had working with you was only surpassed by the marvel we had at the attention to detail that made it possible to publish a journal of this quality. Big thanks to Rachael Engels, our Senior Publisher at Elsevier, who was supportive and excited about our boldest ideas and saw every change through the most positive lens. To my former mentor and Chair of the Editorial Board, John R. Saltzman, MD, FACP, FACG, FASGE, AGAF, it would be difficult to imagine a more thoughtful, supportive, or insightful leader for this role–thank you, again, for everything you do. 

Finally, please help me extend a warm and supportive hand to my friend and colleague Mihir S. Wagh, MD, FACG, FASGE, the new Editor-in-Chief. We are all excited to leave the journal in your hands knowing you and your team will take VideoGIE to new heights. 

I tell my fellows that therapeutic endoscopy is a small group worldwide, and we are all colleagues, remarkable people doing remarkable things in the service of their patients. I hope that we have helped you in your careers and practices over these past 5 years. Thank you for supporting the journal and the trust in me and the remarkable team at VideoGIE. Here is to the next 5 years of the world’s most remarkable endoscopy. 

The information presented in Endoscopedia reflects the opinions of the authors and does not represent the position of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE). ASGE expressly disclaims any warranties or guarantees, expressed or implied, and is not liable for damages of any kind in connection with the material, information, or procedures set forth.