Editorial
Are we heading in the right direction? Indian J Med Res 125, January 2007, pp 8-9
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Journal editors are a harasd lot constantly under stress. For a monthly journal like the IJMR, most of our work is time-bound. There are always deadlines to meet - bring the journal on time; acknowledge authors immediately; get papers reviewed fast; respond to all complaints promptly; and edit and publish papers quickly. Journal editors are also expected to the near-impossible - keep everyone cheerful and contented - authors (they want their paper published yesterday); reviewers (expect to be treated with kid gloves); and subscribers (they buy the Journal). There is more. Keep a tab on the international coverage. Look out for the impact factor. Watch our rivals (very important and every journal does it), and so on. When we do we find time e where we are heading? I have not en any scientific study on editors and their crown but I suspect most editors (men, of cour) do end up with premature gray and receding hairline.
So New Year is perhaps a good time to look back, pau and wonder if the goals t have been achieved. There are always unfinished tasks. Are we on the right path? I mean the content that we print every month. No matter what the editors take credit for (often undervedly) most of the journal’s
content is not under their control, except when it is a special issue with focud theme. They can only choo from among the accepted articles, try and ensure some kind of a balance in subject coverage. Not surprisingly, there could be more than one good paper on, say, tuberculosis in one issue and none in the subquent three. As there is not much feedback from our readers, we talk to experts and Editorial Board members on what we should be publishing.
But the question as to what a learned journal should be publishing is still unclear. Whether it is a general or speciality journal and irrespective of the country or type of publisher. Nearly all editors from the NEJM (a society
李永丰publication) to Nature (a commercial periodical) are constantly concerned about the ‘ideal content’. Even a very new journal like the PLOS Medicine1 is concerned, rightly so. Should a general medical journal from developing country like the IJMR focus only on dias of the poor or encourage any piece of rearch that interests medical rearchers the world-over. Should our content be India-specific? Both have strong positive reasons. I believe there should be good mix of both but then each journal editor has his own priorities. A very high quality manuscript rejected by Nature on the grounds that it is less ‘citable’ went on to win a Nobel prize. An unfazed John Maddox did not regret rejecting the paper. After all, it is Impact Factor that lls his journal. And during 1980s, after an anal
ysis showed the NEJM to be more US-centric, there has been a conscious attempt by the Journal to be more global.
The year gone by has generally been satisfying.
A few things may be worth recapitulation. We
achieved an important milestone in the Journal’s history - reaching the highest impact factor ever of
0.8692. We ran a ries of articles3-8 addressing the
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problem of persisting polio in India in spite of efforts far more intensive than anywhere el in the world3-8.
They identified the major critical issues as the very low efficacy of OPV and the potential benefits of introducing the more consistently effective IPV. This long-overdue policy shift has indeed begun with the registering of IPV in India for the first time in history, in June 2006. We believe that the IJMR papers have obviously influenced this critical policy shift.
葱烧海参做法To keep a clo watch on the continued conduct of unethical drug trials in India, the Indian governme
nt has propod a national system of recording of ongoing clinical trials. We wrote on the National Registry of Clinical Trials being t up at the ICMR9. At the time when the Indian government is contemplating a national policy, we took a stand 8
on the critical issue of data protection and advocated that public interest should override commercial and business interests10. The IJMR is perhaps the only journal from India and among the few in the world, that took note of the unfortunate sacking of two editorial colleagues at the Canadian Medical Association Journal cautioning the conquences of stifling editorial freedom, especially for medical journals that are increasingly being influenced by the pharma industry11. Finally, how Indian should be facing the onslaught of the newly emerging giant China in science and technology12. In fact, medical sciences is one area where India ems to enjoy a distinct edge over China and is for us to surge ahead to be a true global super power. My own gut feeling is that China would leave us behind.
Yet, my worry about the content persists. We hardly published any paper on the critical appraisal of national policies despite our best efforts. In the recent past, a host of new policies like the Biotechnology, Stem Cell, Pharma were brought out. Sometimes I wonder whether we believe in the karma philosophy of accepting everything. Even issues as the autonomy of the Medical Council of In
dia (that was debated in the Parliament) or the Valiathan Committee Report on All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi that talks about the autonomy, freedom and quality of medical education in India did not merit scholarly debate in the columns of IJMR. Our inexplicable reluctance to take on the establishment does not augur well either for medical education and rearch or for public health, as many such policies eventually impact everyone in an increasingly globalizing and border-less competitive world. For a country so much obsd with Americanism, critical appraisal of Governmental policies is one quality that we have sadly not imbibed. Posterity would not judge us kindly.
Finally, at risk of being repetitive, it is high time we come out of the continued obssion with publishing outside India13,14. More worrying is the mind-t of the people at the top who consider a paper worthy of mention only when it appears in a ‘prestigious’ journal abroad (read USA). Not citing their own papers from an Indian journal is too well known as is the reprehensible habit of ignoring good Indian work in striking contrast to the US scientists. This despite the abus they heap on Western journals privately on their alleged bias, demanding modifications in the manuscript and humiliating mistreatment bordering on harassment. Should we, for a change, learn from our more successful neighbor China which has triggered a publish-in-China movement12. There is a need for a drastic change in the mind-t at the top.
We are committed to making IJMR an international, very readable journal with good mix of varied content from across the globe.
We wish all our authors, readers, reviewers, and subscribers a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.
K. Satyanarayana
e-mail: kanikaram_
References
1.PLoS Medicine editors. Are we publishing the right stuff?
PLoS Medicine 2006; 3 : e512.
2.Satyanarayana K, Jain NC. The IF of IJMR is on the ri.
Indian J Med Res 2006; 123 : 717-8.
3.John J. The Golden Jubilee of vaccination against
poliomyelitis. Indian J Med Res 2004; 119 : 1-17.
4.John J. The vicissitudes of global eradication of polio.
Indian J Med Res 2004; 120 : 1-3.
5.John J. ‘Polar Spectrum’of problems in polio eradication.
Indian J Med Res 2004; 120 : 133-5.
6.John J. Who benefits from global certification of polio
eradication? Indian J Med Res 2004; 120 : 431-3.
7.John J. Will India need inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV)
天论to complete polio eradication? Indian J Med Res 2005;
122 : 365-7.
8.John J. Establish herd effect to interrupt wild poliovirus
食道炎有什么症状表现
transmission. Indian J Med Res 2006; 124 : 1-4.
9.Satyanarayana K. Sharma A, Ganguly NK. Indian registry
for clinical trials. Indian J Med Res 2006; 123 : 587-90.
10.Satyanarayana K. Srivastava S, Ganguly NK.
Data protection issues in India. Indian J Med Res 2006; 123 : 723-6.
11.Satyanarayana K. Editorial ‘autonomy’ in learned journals:
lessons from the CMAJ episode. Indian J Med Res 2006; 123 : 9-10.
12.Satyanarayana K. Indian and China: Time to catch up.
传统节日古诗Indian J Med Res 2006; 124 : 597-600.
13.Satyanarayana K. The journal on the move. Indian J
Med Res 2006; 123 : 9-10.
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14.Satyanarayana K. Time for ‘Publish in India’ movement.
Indian J Med Res 2004; 119 : vii - ix.
SATYANARAYANA : ARE WE HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION9
