The Indian Journal of Anaesthesia: The timeline never ceases

The Indian Journal of Anaesthesia (IJA) is a journal in the making. This could come to you as a surprising statement, made 63 years after its first publication, and after services of 14 dedicated editors, right from 1953![1,2] Well, that is how I see it, despite IJA being a stable and widely read journal in India and outside, in the context of the ongoing silent revolution in the publication industry.

The growth and evolution of a journal is marked by many events related to the person, the place and the time. The IJA evolved in a steady manner over the four decades under different editors from different places in India, but the timeline spiked in the last two decades, first by the widespread application of computers, and subsequently, by revolution in informatics, internet and social media. The authors, the reviewers, the editors and the publishers have all benefited from this revolution.

The contents of the journal are decided partly by what the reader wants. And then by the demands of the modern publication mechanism where focus is on the metrics of publication. Traditions and conventions have to be balanced with contemporary demands of publication, and hence, the IJA became a monthly issue from January 2015 onwards and focussed more on publications of original articles.

There are men…. and women at work as editors and reviewers, supporting the journal and the authors. Interesting work for them and sometimes boring; it is 7 days a week. I was privileged to be associated with the system as an assistant editor under the outstanding past Editor, S S Harsoor and learnt the art of editorial process, teamwork, punctuality and organisational skill.

The IJA has a referee base of nearly 1000, a mix of all genres in terms of quality. The judicious use of the available pool is a delicate act of balancing; selective use of the best so that their services are conserved and optimising the services of the others. The IJA has gone beyond the ‘two reviewers’ system to the ‘best review’ system with numbers being based on the ‘review’ of the ‘quality of review’. The acceptance rate for articles in IJA is tightened over the years, reflecting the high quality of review by the journal.

The Editorial Board has been the think tank for the last 4 years with valuable input and support for the growth of IJA. The editorial succession, as discussed in one of our meetings, allows for a gradual rejig of the board, indicating the maturity of the system. With the system largely in auto-mode, the new editor in chief, J V Divatia, will have the liberty to initiate new measures for greater visibility of IJA. The day-to-day work of responding to queries, interacting with the publisher and putting together the works of authors, reviewers and editors will now be the domain of the new EIC. The rigorous system of reviewing and editing will of course, stay.

I am exiting as the Editor In Chief after 4 years, and 36 issues of IJA. My tenure has been a pleasant but challenging experience. The academic satisfaction has always been the prize for the struggle, reaching peaks with each of the 36 issues going online. My heart would skip a beat each time the hard copy reached my doorstep, anxious and worried not only for a typo or two but also for a distorted title or a missing table, despite the triple pre-publication proofing involving a team of seven editors. The challenges and responsibilities become massive, especially because tens of thousands of readers access and read the journal every month.

The association with the publishers, Medknow Wolters Kluwer, has been a fruitful one with their quality pre-publication support leading to high-value outputs and greater visibility. The Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists (ISA) started the IJA as its official publication and consistently supported the IJA through the thick and thin of the publication for the last seven decades. Mainly catering to the research and publication needs of its members, the free online access has resulted in tremendous growth of the journal in terms of submissions from authors within India and abroad.

The potential for IJA is great; I foresee the IJA becoming one among the top ten anaesthesia journals worldwide by the year 2020.

I thank the members of ISA who gave the opportunity for me to serve as the Editor In Chief of IJA, and most importantly, to all authors and readers. As I said, a complete journal is in the making… in the period of advancing informatics and emergence of social media as powerful tools of communication and recognition of ‘altmetrics’, and smartphones and tablets, the Editor needs to be constantly on the edge. Goodbye to the post, not to the institution, the IJA; I am the ‘past editor, number 15’. Nice to sign off with the publication of the first ever guidelines on Difficult Airway from India.

‘Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to others’.

–Jack Kornfield

Greetings and wishes for the New Year!