evaluation of anesthesia journals: a bird’s eye perspective

if we make a cursory look at the present trend of journals in the  discipline  of  anesthesia  and  articles  that  they publish, we are overwhelmed both by their number and the highly elegant and innovative works that they publish. in the beginning of the 20th century i.e., 1922, the first journal of anesthesia, anesthesia & analgesia (a & a) was launched and published by the international anesthesia research society. francis mcmechan served as the first editor-in-chief of a&a; and continued his services in this capacity from 1922 till 1939 when the first world war started. he started his career as a newspaper reporter and this background helped him a lot in executing his duties as the editor-in-chief of the journal.  as an editor, he performed his tasks exceedingly well despite the fact that there was a dearth of available tools of communication according to prevailing standards. mcmechan corresponded with anyone interested in anesthesia connecting the recipients with what they needed, showing his “fraternity and cordiality” [1]. following his death in 1939, laurette van varseveld, his wife took over the charge of the journal as an associate editor and because of her unique contributions to the journal in general and to the specialty of anesthesia in particular, she is widely being remembered as the “mother of anesthetists” across the atlantic and in europe [2]. during the period when she served as an associate editor, emanuel klaus assumed the stewardship and editorial responsibilities at the highest rung. in the year 1923, british journal of anaesthesia (bja) was founded and published by oxford university press on behalf of the royal college of anaesthetists and the college of anaesthetists of ireland. it’s very first editor hailed from america by the name of h.n. cohen. since he had married a girl from the british isles, he stayed and continued his editorial responsibilities there in uk. in bja, there had been an evident transatlantic involvement which was certainly because of cohen’s origins [3]. later, journals sprouted like mushrooms and at present we have more than 60 peer reviewed journals besides many open access and non-peer reviewed anesthesia journals that are being published across the globe. bja with an impact factor of 4.3 ranks the third journal in this category [4]. it is hardly a matter of months that aacc was officially approved as a scientific and research journal by the ministry of health, ir iran. within a short span of time and after having brought out the 3rd issue of the journal, it is a rare distinction and a matter of pride for all our staff and authors that it was accredited as the only english research journal in our specialty in the country. having achieved this coveted position, our lofty and most cherished goal of getting the journal indexed in pubmed and isi is not a distant reality. however, to attain this position in the annals of contemporary journals, our responsibilities are doubled as the guardians of this new fledgling journal. through these columns, i would like to renew my invitation to all our members of the editorial board both within and outside the country to come with their scholastic and innovative contributions so that the seemingly difficult and arduous terrain is trudged without any hurdles and problems. awards and distinctions are never served on a silver platter but they are achieved with hard labor and devotion. in this regard, we all have to gird up our loins and work zealously to carve out a land mark achievement and smoothly glide and propel this new journal to the zenith of perfection. as said earlier, the journal serves as a smorgasbord for you and all you have to accomplish is to decorate and flower it with your novel and superb manuscripts [5]. the journal is your baby as i always say, and for that matter it needs your profound attention. if you leave or ignore it, it would meet a terrific blow and that would be the death knell of this burgeoning journal on which all of us have focused our attention and industry. it needs the unremitting zeal of our researchers to flood the journal with immaculate articles. the zeal should not be ephemeral but should last so long as the journal survives ad leaps ahead. i will keep on orchestrating my message for your preponderant contributions and your scintillating works. to be honest, it is a giant enterprise and not one man’s role and task. when i turn over the pages of the latest issue of the journal, i find that it is a distinct improvement over the first two issues, nevertheless, there is still paucity of original articles, of course knowing very well that creative and innovative work is a formidable and a herculean task. we should strive that the manuscripts we are submitting attains an international approbation, and i have this glimmering hope that we would be nearing it in the not so distant future.