From the Desk of the New Editor

“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” —Melody Lynn Beattie

With gratitude, I assume the role of Editor of the Journal of Postgraduate Medicine (JPGM) with this issue. As I take charge, my mind takes me back in a flash to the year 1980 when I entered the hallowed portals of Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College and King Edward VII Memorial Hospital as a teenaged MBBS student. As I visualize the journey from that nascent stage in my life to now; wherein I have become the 10^th Editor of the official publication of the staff society of my Alma Mater, I consider it necessary to thank my teachers and colleagues who have influenced me and made this possible. During my MD (Pediatrics) training (1988–1990) in this great institute, I was initiated into writing case reports by my teachers Dr. M.D. Shah, Dr. M.K. Jain, and Dr. Keya Lahiri. One of my first publications was in this very journal and I still fondly remember the excitement that I felt both on its acceptance and subsequent publication.[1] After my postgraduation, I had the privilege to work as a medical officer (1991–1992) with Dr. Nilima Kshirsagar, who initiated me into doing research projects and publishing original articles. By the time I began my career as a medical teacher in this institute in 1992, I was already convinced that it is important to publish in eminent peer-reviewed journals the experiences and insights that one imbibes by working in a public hospital and share them with the entire medical fraternity. I was fortunate to work as an Associate Professor of Pediatrics with Dr. Madhuri Kulkarni at Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and General Hospital, Sion (1998–2008) who always encouraged me to continue my passion.

“There's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow.”—William Shakespeare, Hamlet

I believe that providence has played an important role in my becoming Editor of JPGM. I say so, because I could come back to my Alma Mater in 2009 as a Professor of Pediatrics only because one of my senior colleagues opted to take voluntary retirement. This homecoming gave me an opportunity to get elected twice, first to the post of Associate Editor of JPGM (2012–2016) and now to the post of Editor of JPGM (2016–2020). I wish to thank all my supporters for making this possible.

“The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.” —Alfred North Whitehead

JPGM was the first internationally indexed medical journal published by any Indian medical college.[2] It was and continues to remain a leading, quarterly, multispecialty peer-reviewed journal, has an impact factor of around 1, an acceptance rate of about 7%, and is among the top-ranked journals in the country.[3] It has progressed over the last 62 years and the new Editorial team is aware of the great work done by its predecessors and the great responsibilities that it will have to shoulder. The new team has Dr. Shirish Joshi and Dr. Manjula Sarkar as its Associate Editors and Mrs. Mariya Jiandani, Dr. Sweta Salgaonkar, and Dr. Shilpa Sankhe as its Assistant Editors. The new team would continue with the initiatives launched in the previous years. Furthermore, the journal's basic structure and editorial policies would remain the same. We reiterate that the JPGM will continue to make its entire content available to readers free of cost and, in addition, will not charge author processing fees. During Dr. Nithya Gogtay's tenure (2012–2016) as Editor, the journal has further progressed with creation of the JPGM iPad app and getting listed in the digital repository PubMed Central.[3] Also, during Dr. Gogtay's tenure, articles have now started getting available online within a few days of their acceptance to increase their visibility, readership, and downloads for personal use.[3] The new Editorial team will continue the good work and make all efforts to ensure that the journal maintains its leading position.

The new Editorial team is sure that the staff society of this institute which publishes the journal will always be a source of support and encouragement, and Dr. A. N. Supe, its President, will continue to be a pillar of strength. We look forward to the continued patronage of the Research Society, Diamond Jubilee Society Trust, and the Department Development Fund. The journal remains indebted to its over 7000 reviewers and seeks their continued services. The Editorial Managers at Wolters Kluwer India Pvt. Ltd., too are significant stakeholders and we are sure that they will continue to keep the journal's manuscript management system at par with world standards over the next 4 years as well. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Nithya Gogtay for training me over the last 2 months to operate the JPGM manuscript management system so that I can play my role effectively from day one.