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EDITORIAL |
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Year : 2018 | Volume
: 66
| Issue : 1 | Page : 1-2 |
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Indian Journal of Ophthalmology: Right on track
Santosh G Honavar
Editor, Indian Journal of Ophthalmology, Editorial Office: Centre for Sight, Road No 2, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad - 500 034, Telangana, India
Date of Web Publication | 28-Dec-2017 |
Correspondence Address: Santosh G Honavar Editor, Indian Journal of Ophthalmology, Editorial Office: Centre for Sight, Road No 2, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad - 500 034, Telangana India
Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/ijo.IJO_1296_17
How to cite this article: Honavar SG. Indian Journal of Ophthalmology: Right on track. Indian J Ophthalmol 2018;66:1-2 |
On behalf of the editorial board of the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology (IJO), I wish you a very happy and a fulfilling New Year 2018.
IJO has a long tradition and a history that Indian ophthalmologists are duly proud of. It is into its 66th volume this year. The journal is what it is today because of the commitment, efforts, and immense intellectual inputs of its illustrious former editors and their talented editorial boards. The promise of the new team that assumed office in April 2017 was to make IJO bigger, brighter, and better; to represent and fulfill the rising academic aspirations of Indian ophthalmologists and support their abilities; and be an integral partner in the beautifully unfolding growth story of Indian ophthalmology. We had promised ourselves to work on the quality of the scientific content; publications that are of immediate practical importance and are relevant to the readers, but with a good blend of cutting-edge research to keep the intellectual stimulation and curiosity alive; timely, objective, and dispassionate review process; and punctuality in every aspect of the publication pipeline of the journal.
Our team of young and restless assistant editors, ably backed by the deep wisdom and experience of the editorial board, are working hard to bring about the desired changes. At the outset, manuscript categories were redefined and standardized checklists were introduced for each category to help the authors to optimize their manuscripts, and for the reviewers to be objective in their comments. The mix of manuscripts was rejigged to hit the sweet spot – a combination of expert reviews, emphasis on clinically oriented original research articles, exciting “bench-to-the-bedside” translational concepts, well-illustrated case reports, and photo essays and images – something for everyone. “One-Minute Ophthalmology,” a case-based learning format designed especially for IJO by Dr. Carol Shields, is a new addition this month. Cataract special issue of December 2017 has brought together well-curated articles by international authorities, which we are duly proud of. We are further working on special issues in other specialties as well.
The plan of action to put the IJO publication timeline on track is very much in place. We are steadily advancing each issue by a few days with an aim to publish the electronic table of contents (eToCs) of the journal on the first day of every month from January 2018. In 2018, we plan to further advance the eToC to the middle of the previous month and ship the print version by the first of every month.
With all these measures steadily making a positive impact, there is an indication that we have been able to enthuse the authors to seriously consider IJO for their submissions. A good news this month is that the number of manuscript submissions has touched an all-time high – already 1296 this year! Despite the rising numbers, we are keeping our heads cool and are sticking to our promised timeline of the first decision in 6 weeks – thanks to the energetic assistant editors, supportive section editors, workaholic associate editor, and highly committed and self-motivated reviewers – team IJO is now well oiled and is gearing up to scale higher. The journal has also grown bigger with 230 pages in the November issue and 260 pages in the Cataract Special December issue.
Leadership of the All India Ophthalmological Society (AIOS) has been extremely supportive and it is their collective vision (and the collective aspirations of AIOS members) that team IJO is translating into action. On behalf of AIOS and team IJO, I thank the IJO readership, authors, and reviewers for their constant support and encouragement. We would be happy to receive your bouquets and brickbats at editorjournal@aios.org – while your good words will further encourage us, your constructive criticism will help us do even better.
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