From the editor-in-chief’s desk: Continuity with clarity

STEWARDSHIP, SCIENCE, AND THE RESPONSIBILITY OF RELEVANCE

Annals of Pediatric Cardiology (APC) has, since its inception, occupied a unique and important space in global pediatric cardiovascular literature. Conceived as a forum to give voice to the challenges faced by children with congenital heart disease (CHD) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the journal has steadily evolved into a renowned platform that bridges real-world clinical complexity with academic rigor. Starting as a newsletter for the Pediatric Cardiac Society of India, edited by Dr. Shyam Sunder Kothari, the founding editors, Dr. Bharat Dalvi and Dr. Raman Krishna Kumar, laid the foundations for APC and navigated the challenges of a nascent journal, culminating in its indexing in PubMed. Subsequent tireless efforts by Dr Shyam Sundar Kothari, followed by Dr. Krishna Iyer as editors, took this journal further to the world stage.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the contributions of the outgoing Editor-in-Chief, Dr. S. Ramakrishnan. During his tenure, APC consolidated its position as a credible, internationally visible journal while remaining firmly anchored in core issues relevant to CHD in resource-limited settings. His emphasis on ethical rigor, balanced editorial judgment, and thoughtful editorial reviews[1,2] enhanced the journal’s scientific quality and institutional maturity. The clarity of vision with which he guided APC through a phase of exponential growth provides a strong foundation on which we will now build further.

As I assume the role of Editor-in-Chief, I do so with a strong sense of humility and continuity, not change. APC today is indexed with an impact factor of 0.7 and a Citescore of 1.6, is widely read, and is internationally recognized – not because it sought to emulate larger journals, but because it remained true to its purpose. It has provided a space where late presentation, constrained resources, innovative adaptations, and pragmatic solutions are not viewed as limitations, but as realities that deserve careful study, honest reporting, and thoughtful discussion.

The fields of pediatric cardiology, congenital heart surgery, and intensive care have matured considerably worldwide, including in India and other LMICs. Alongside improved access and expanded programs has come an increasing responsibility: To move beyond anecdotal evidence and isolated experience toward data-driven practice. The questions we face today are no longer limited to whether we can deliver care, but how well, for whom, and at what cost. APC has an important role to play in nurturing this transition – from experience to evidence, from volume to outcomes, and from individual excellence to system-level learning.

At the same time, it is essential that rigor does not become gatekeeping. The diversity of contexts in which pediatric cardiac care is delivered demands flexibility in how science is framed and interpreted. APC must continue to encourage well-designed clinical trials, observational studies, quality-improvement initiatives, registry-based analyses, and negative or neutral studies, provided they are methodologically sound and clinically honest. Our aim is not to privilege novelty alone, but relevance, transparency, and reproducibility.

JOURNAL PERFORMANCE AND REACH: AN UPDATE

Building on the steady growth documented in earlier years, APC has demonstrated substantial expansion in its digital reach and readership over the past 5 years. In 2025, APC demonstrated substantial growth in global reach and reader engagement, with 52,176 sessions and 52,191 page views. Readers accessed the journal from a broad international audience, with India contributing 26.66% of sessions, followed by the United States (18.27%), Indonesia (5.08%), the United Kingdom (3.46%), China (3.38%), Canada (2.38%), and Australia (2.36%), reflecting APC’s growing international visibility. User engagement remained strong, with a mean session duration of 3 min 19 s and a high engagement rate of 81.50%. Scholarly utilization increased markedly, with 105,599 abstract views, 2225 full-text views, and 109,226 total article views, underscoring sustained and deepening engagement with APC’s original research, case reports, and review articles [Figure 1a-c].

Figure 1.

(a) Web growth of Annals of Pediatric Cardiology in the last 5 years, (b) Geographic reach, (c) Engagement growth

Between 2020 and 2025, annual submissions increased nearly fivefold for all articles and more than sixfold for original research, enabling us to increase the number of issues from 3 to 6 per year. This sharp rise was accompanied by a deliberate and sustained tightening of acceptance rates, underscoring substantial improvements in manuscript quality, rapidly expanding global engagement, and strengthened editorial rigor and selectivity [Figure 2a and b].

Figure 2.

(a) Article acceptance rates (all articles), (b) Original article acceptance rates

These trends clearly underscore APC’s transformation from a regionally influential journal into a globally engaged platform for pediatric cardiac sciences, marked by substantial gains in international visibility, readership, and scholarly engagement across continents.

THE ROAD AHEAD

In the coming years, the journal will seek to strengthen its core mission along three broad directions. First, to further improve the quality of original research by emphasizing clarity of questions, appropriateness of methods, and integrity of reporting. Second, to broaden the journal’s geographic and disciplinary reach, ensuring balanced representation from cardiology, surgery, intensive care, anesthesia, imaging, and allied sciences across diverse regions. Third, to invest in capacity building – through reviews, debates, and educational content – that supports young investigators and emerging programs in developing robust clinical research ecosystems.

The strength of APC rests on its community of authors, reviewers, and readers, whose trust, expertise, and engagement define the journal’s relevance. In appreciation, we have published the names of all reviewers who contributed in 2025 in this issue of the journal.

I look forward to working closely with the editorial board, reviewers, and contributors in the years ahead. The responsibility is substantial, but so is the opportunity. Together, we can ensure that APC serves not only as a mirror of contemporary pediatric cardiac care but as a guide to its future direction.

Continuity with clarity, evolution with purpose: Let that be our shared goal!