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The Next Step Forward

Hong Kong People’s Republic of China

In the challenging times of the New Millennium and in the interest of further gaining the full acceptance of the Asian Cardiovascular & Thoracic Annals (Asian Annals) in its purpose of communicating new knowledge in the field of cardiac medicine, we must now take the next major step forward.

Key milestones for the Asian Annals this past year were being awarded Medline Indexing by the National Library of Medicine, becoming the Official Journal of the Asian-Pacific Society of Cardiology, and direct linkage with CTSNet (Cardio-Thoracic Surgery Network). We are naturally excited and encouraged by these achievements, which will strengthen the Journal. The cardiology link is important as for the first time both surgeons and physicians can share the same forum in the field of cardiac medicine.

Now is the right moment for the Asian Annals to take this new direction because we want to ensure a secure future for the publication. Such a step involves making the Journal financially sound and further improving its quality. As you may recall, 11 years ago through the determination of Frank Tamru and a small group of cardiac surgeons the decision to produce the Journal was made. Throughout this time it was entirely funded by a group of investors and supplemented by advertising revenues. The investors injected a considerable amount of money into the company producing the Journal as they strongly believed in our vision of creating "The Voice of Cardiac Medicine in Asia" as our regional forum for sharing and exchanging knowledge among cardiac specialists.

We have arrived at a situation where there is a need to increase income without adding greater financial burden on our initial investors. Also we must prepare for increasing the number of issues of each yearly volume from four to six. In spite of achieving recognition, some in the medical device industry would not take this aspiring peer-reviewed Journal seriously. Is this because the region is not profitable for these companies? I hope that this shortsightedness is temporary, as we all know Asia will be an important market in the future.

Early on, it appeared that a small editorial group was sufficient to produce a high quality Journal but as we worked more closely with the publication we realized this was not the case. After close review we now need to take the next step by relocating the Asian Annals to Hong Kong to achieve the ambitious goals we have set for ourselves in the years ahead. In the new Hong Kong office, we can reduce production costs and improve the overall efficiency of the publishing process. For the first time in the history of the Journal we will have a designated editorial office working closely with the production side. With a key editor "on-site", such a move will help streamline and speed up the manuscript review process. Furthermore, new technology such as electronic review of manuscripts will be introduced at the new office.

Taking this next step is both an exciting and challenging task for the Journal. Before moving forward it is time to thank the dedicated staff in Singapore who have worked there for over the past 10 years. They have worked hard to improve the scientific importance and the quality of the print Journal. The Asian Annals has also been an excellent source of information via its Regional News section, which will be continued from the Hong Kong office. A special thanks must go to the Managing Editor, Ms. Pat Siow who is leaving us but will be assisting in the transition of the publishing process to Hong Kong.

Finally, as your Journal, we are dedicated to improving cardiac healthcare in the region by serving as a credible medium for the exchange of knowledge, training programs, surgical techniques, information and concepts for practicing cardiac professionals and researchers. The publishing team and editorial board look forward to your continued loyal readership and support as we move forward in our new home in Asia.

This Article Extract Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): David LC Cheung Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cheung, D. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Cheung, D. L.