It is indeed an honour and a privilege to take charge as the new Editor-in-Chief of the Indian Journal of Anaesthesia (IJA). It is also a sobering thought as one has to live up to the high standards set by the previous editors, especially my predecessor, Dr. S. Bala Bhaskar. His erudition, dedication and meticulous attention to detail are exemplary. The challenge before the new Editorial team is to maintain continuity while promoting change and to evolve to meet the current and future needs of researchers, authors, readers and anaesthesiologists from India and abroad.
The IJA is a now a PubMed-indexed journal and has recently been included in the Thomson Reuters Emerging Sources Citation Index. The next important step will be to obtain an Impact Factor (IF-Thomson Reuters), which would be a reflection of the number of times articles from the IJA are cited in the literature (average citations over a 2-year period), and thus one measure of the scholarly content and standing of the IJA.
How can we improve the scholarly content and the citability of the IJA? Undoubtedly, the IJA must publish articles that are of high quality, address relevant issues and contribute new or novel information and knowledge. The only way to get researchers and authors to submit their best works to the IJA, rather than to other higher IF journals, is to instill confidence in the IJA, by improving the review process and timely publication of high-quality articles. Publication however is the last link in the chain. The process starts with the identification of relevant research questions, rigorous study design, meticulous study execution and analysis of the data. Needless to say, all studies must conform to ethical and regulatory norms. The numerous ISA-IJA Research Methodology workshops will certainly help in this process. Once the manuscript is submitted to the IJA, it is assessed for compliance with the instructions and then reviewed by the Associate Editors or the specialised Section Editors. Articles that pass this screening will be allocated for peer review to several external reviewers. The IJA is indebted to these anonymous reviewers who in many ways form the backbone of the journal. We depend on them for a thorough, unbiased, fair and timely assessment of the scientific merit of the paper. They voluntarily contribute their time and expertise to critically appraise the manuscripts, raise queries, make comments to improve the manuscript and help the editors and the Editor-in-Chief select articles for publication. Once an article is accepted for publication, it goes through a series of steps including approval of article proofs by the authors before it is published. It is therefore vital that authors, editors and reviewers maintain the set timelines to facilitate timely publication.
The IJA also needs to improve its visibility across the globe. Researchers and authors can play an important role with multicentre academic collaborations within and outside India and through partnerships with other international societies. In the coming months, we hope to harness the power and reach of electronic social media including Facebook and Twitter for this purpose. We also hope to add new article types and features. Our aim will be to position the IJA as an international, scholarly, respected journal that all anaesthesiologists in India and across the world can turn to for knowledge and information, to improve patient care and safety. We seek your help and co-operation in this endeavour. Together, we can!