Asian Cardiovasc Thorac Ann 2007;15:1
© 2007 Asia Publishing EXchange Ltd
Changes to Improve the Annals
David Lik-Ching Cheung, MD, Editor-in-Chief
The Asian Annals is fourteen-years old. As one of the members of the original group of surgeons who started the journal, I have witnessed it progress from being a free medical journal to the present status of a subscription-paid and official journal of the Asian Society for Cardiovascular Surgery. We have gained the vaulted MEDLINE/Index Medicus indexation and are now a member of the journals on CTSNet. This has been made possible by many eminent surgeons behind the scenes in the United States, who have given us valuable advice and encouragement. Significant changes were made in the past decade, which include the adoption of mandatory peer review, and more recently, online submission and reviewing. However, as we continue to aspire to be a world-class medical journal in the field of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery for Asia, further improvements are being introduced into the editorial side of the journal.
One of the biggest drawbacks we encountered was the difficulty in getting the manuscripts reviewed quickly. It has been a nightmare. Most of our reviewers from Asia have been very enthusiastic in accepting assigned manuscripts, but have failed to deliver the review or submit it on time. This causes undue delay in completing the reviewing process. For this, we are taking the following measures to reduce the review time. I have created Section Editors drawn from our Editorial Board, and also invited surgeons from this region who are experts in their fields. They will not only give a critical decision in the arbitration of rejecting or accepting a manuscript after peer review but also recommend young active reviewers. We are in the process of updating our database of reviewers and casting the net wider to add more to the database. Using our electronic tracking system, we intend to pursue reviews with greater diligence to ensure a speeding-up of the process.
Another big problem that causes frequent complaints from our authors is the delay between acceptance and publication. Since gaining the MEDLINE/Index Medicus indexation, we have experienced an ever rising submission rate. A victim of our success perhaps, but a problem that we will have difficulty in resolving. In the past year, we have increased the publication rate from quarterly to bimonthly. A further increase is not possible or desirable at present. The Asian Annals survives on a very tight budget and now much of the editorial and publishing work is being done on a voluntary basis as the Society contributes higher quality material, reflecting the standard of research and practice in this region. Only by improving our standing in the world of medical journals will we be able to attract more first-class papers, which at present go overseas.
On the publishing side, the Annals has been reducing the number of case studies in the printed journal, and to reduce the large backlog of accepted papers, we are publishing the case studies on the website. In the future, we hope to end case studies in the printed version so as to allow more resources to publish original research.
An innovation that is being introduced in the coming year is to have reviews from invited authors who will give a critical but balanced view. In this part of the world, the Asian Annals still has a role in educating the ever increasing number of young surgeons, as the development of cardiovascular and thoracic surgical units is gathering pace. Changes being made in the coming year will hopefully get the Annals to the next level to make more impact in the near future, and it will continue to be a useful channel of communication and a source of knowledge in this part of the world.
