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A Voice for Asian Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery

Montreal, Canada

At the dawn of the new millennium, it is clear that Asia, the most populous region in the world and the birthplace of great ancient civilizations, is re-emerging in the twenty-first century to play increasingly important roles in modern science and technology. Rapid expansion of the Asian economy will allow provision of adequate healthcare for its vast population to become an attainable goal. However at present there is an immense unmet need for improved care of patients with cardiac and thoracic diseases. Cardiothoracic disease is becoming more common with improvements in life expectancy, and often requires application of ever-advancing medical knowledge and technology to provide optimal care. In this evolving milieu, a respected and strong voice representing Asian cardiothoracic surgery, providing unique opportunities for Asian surgeons to share their experiences and new discoveries with the world, is highly desirable. Since this huge region includes a few highly advanced countries while many others are still struggling to reach modernity, another important mission for such a voice is to bridge the gap between these nations.

Surgical society meetings of our specialty of course can provide such opportunities. However they are limited by the time and expense required to attend such meetings. Conversely, professional and scientific publications have a wide reach at modest expense, and can be consulted periodically for reference, complementing Society meetings. This journal, the Asian Cardiovascular and Thoracic Annals, is uniquely qualified to fulfill this important role. Through the foresight and devotion of its founders, this journal is now recognized as being among the leading periodicals in our field. It is the official journal of two major specialty societies in Asia: the Asian Society of Cardiovascular Surgery and the Asian-Pacific Society of Cardiology, and is affiliated with the Association of the Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons of Asia. It is on many scientific citation systems, and is one of only four world class journals listed and accessible through CTSNet, the most prestigious Internet site for cardiothoracic surgery in the world. The three other journals listed on CTSNet are the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, both from the USA, and the European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. The Asian Cardiovascular and Thoracic Annals should provide a unified voice to the best of Asian cardiothoracic surgery in order to rank with these "super-power" journals in the field.

In spite of such an achievement, this journal is still facing an uphill battle. It must promote greater subscription and advertisement by focusing on high caliber manuscripts. Without the publication of high quality papers in this journal, subscription and advertisement will suffer. This is a vicious cycle, since loss of subscription reduces its professional influence and impact, which then discourages manuscript submission by the authors. So, what are the strategies available to achieve this goal of attracting high caliber material?

In the United States, both the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and Society of Thoracic Surgeons mandate every presenter at their scientific meetings to submit a manuscript to their respective official journals. Failure to comply is penalized. In the Asian surgical societies, this may be difficult to do at present, but perhaps members whose papers have been chosen for plenary sessions during a meeting can be mandated to submit a manuscript, while those in multiple simultaneous sessions can be encouraged to do so. This policy, if approved by the societies, should be announced to the participants of their scientific meetings. Their manuscripts should have priority for publication, yet would still require peer review. However it is probably not practical to expect most invited guest speakers to submit manuscripts.

Another strategy is to have sections devoted to specific topics, that is, mini-symposia of various topics. If this becomes a publicized policy, organizers of symposia relevant to the mission of this journal who may wish to publish their proceedings but with limited resources, can propose and negotiate with the editor of this journal to publish them as "special sections". In such cases, the organizers of high caliber symposia may be invited to serve as guest editors, provided the quality of articles published is maintained. Such an arrangement can be mutually advantageous, and has been successfully adopted by many leading scientific journals.

Invited reviews and commentaries from renowned authorities can serve important educational goals. Invited reports from various countries in the region, taking turns to describe their achievements and challenges, could inform and advance the familiarity and unity of readers from various parts of Asia. Practical "how to do it" articles are usually quite popular among clinicians, and active discussion through "letters to the editor" should be encouraged to promote reader participation. Designation of Section Editors to invite and publish review articles on issues unique to Asian countries may be considered. Last but not least, the Editorial and Advisory Boards should continue to discuss these and other imaginative strategies to strengthen the journal’s unique relevance to Asian surgeons, such that this journal is not seen as simply a junior version of established prestigious journals in cardiothoracic surgery. The goal of this journal should be to become the best in the world in representing both the present and future progress in Asian cardiothoracic surgery. When this journal can earn the loyalty of the Asian cardiothoracic surgeons by instilling a sense of "ownership", it will prosper and enhance the evolution of Asian cardiothoracic surgery in this new century.

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 Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Ray Chu-Jeng Chiu Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Chiu, R. C.-J. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Chiu, R. C.-J.