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New Era of Asian Cardiovascular and Thoracic Annals

Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Since its first issue in March 1993, the Asian Cardiovascular & Thoracic Annals has truly been "The Voice of Cardiothoracic Medicine in Asia", and a dream realized for all regional surgeons. Many of these clinicians had felt the sting of rejection from well-established scientific journals. An opportunity existed for them to share their clinical experiences with colleagues in the East and West through a respected medium.

A popular Korean saying states that even mountains and rivers change after 10 years, and indeed, there have been many changes in our journal since it was first launched a decade ago. Accordingly, this review of our past, where we stand now, and what lies ahead for the journal is presented as a means of updating the journal’s loyal followers.

During the past 10 years, 1508 manuscripts have been submitted to the Asian Annals of which 887 have been published, more than 50% of all submissions. Initially there was a higher than expected number of case reports published - understandable when considering there had not been a large volume of cases in most Asian countries. However, the goal from the outset for this journal was to encourage original contributions from the region.

Although there are many established journals serving the Cardiovascular and Thoracic fraternity, the Asian Annals has attempted to reflect the experiences of the Asian cardiac surgeon. However, it has been difficult for those of us in Asia to compete with the giants from the West in terms of clinical accomplishments, as we’ve lacked the experience, facilities, case numbers, manpower, and funding. By highlighting and sharing our work in an Asian journal, it has become apparent that the gap between the West and ourselves is starting to close.

The quality of any journal is assured by taking reviewers comments very strictly into consideration when determining whether a paper meets its high standards for publication. Quite frankly, in many cases our journal initially published articles of substandard quality to encourage disadvantaged authors in countries that lacked the facilities, personnel, and so forth to produce quality papers. This policy was implemented and followed with the unspoken understanding that more stringent guidelines for publication would slowly be adopted as the various authors gained confidence and the necessary institutional infrastructure improved.

Even with these shortcomings, in 1998 our journal was indexed / abstracted in the EMBASE / Excerpta Medica Database which allowed authors around the world to access our published papers. In March 2001, we joined the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, and the European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery on CTSNet with full text on line. Our acceptance by these outstanding Western journals and having the Asian Annals placed side-by-side with them greatly encouraged our publisher and editorial board members to continue. Being on the Internet via www.ctsnet.org allowed the Asian Annals to fully represent the interests of Asian cardiothoracic surgeons in what was quickly becoming a worldwide international network of increasing value. In March 2002, the Asian Annals was also accepted for MEDLINE Indexing by the prestigious National Library of Medicine in the United States of America. We of course knew that by achieving this major scientific milestone the quality of scientific papers would continue to improve.

These indexing and Internet accomplishments along with our dual role as the "Official Journal" of the Asian Society for Cardiovascular Surgery (ASCVS) and the Asian Pacific Society of Cardiology (APSC) have strengthened the journal in scientific circles and in the eyes of our constituents. Coincidentally, an affiliation was established with the older Association of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons of Asia (ASCVSA) to further increase the journal’s exposure.

As we prepare for the future many questions must be addressed: What do these "official journal" designations signify and what benefit is expected? Should we change our quarterly publication to be bi-monthly? How do we better encourage submission of higher quality manuscripts? Is there a better method to have a more objective review of manuscripts for our publication to become even more scientifically oriented? How can we seek much wider circulation and a stronger subscription base therefore making the journal more financially sound? These and many more problems are blocking our progress. However, in looking back over the past 10 years we cannot just give up. We must now work together to resolve and overcome these obstacles before us.

As a Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief these past 6 years I’d like to suggest a plan of action over the next decade as follows:

1. We should unite our two Asian surgical societies into one. In this way our energies will be better focused towards one entity, we will hold a higher standard of annual meeting once a year, and publish more papers in an improved journal that truly represents all of Asia.
   
2. We must all assist to make the Asian Annals financially sound. Subscriptions should be encouraged of authors and editors. Advertisements should be sought from the device industry by our society and by members of the editorial board. Both groups must show strong leadership in Asia as our names are intertwined and fully associated with the journal.
   
3. Finally, to help solve the problems we face, leaders in cardiovascular medicine from all over Asia should meet annually and coordinate efforts for an improved working relationship with the publishers of the journal.
   

At the onset the goal of all the founding members of the journal was to make it "The Voice of Cardiac Medicine in Asia". Not only ourselves but many others have worked hard to achieve this goal. Such a proclamation must not become a meaningless echo and it is in our hands to have the "voice" resonate clearly and credibly, so as to represent our best interests for many years ahead.

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 Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cho, B. K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Cho, B. K.