EDITORIAL
Year : 2019  |  Volume : 14  |  Issue : 1  |  Page : 1

Emerging trends in publishing and publication in the current era: Restoring the balance

Dattatraya Muzumdar
Department of Neurosurgery, Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College and King Edward Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Date of Web Publication

18-Jun-2019

Correspondence Address:
Dr. Dattatraya Muzumdar
Department of Neurosurgery, Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College and King Edward Memorial Hospital, Parel, Mumbai 400012, Maharashtra
India

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None

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DOI: 10.4103/JPN.JPN_84_19

How to cite this article: Muzumdar D. Emerging trends in publishing and publication in the current era: Restoring the balance. J Pediatr Neurosci 2019;14:1

How to cite this URL: Muzumdar D. Emerging trends in publishing and publication in the current era: Restoring the balance. J Pediatr Neurosci [serial online] 2019 [cited 2023 Sep 26];14:1. Available from: https://www.pediatricneurosciences.com/text.asp?2019/14/1/1/260623

It gives me immense pleasure to be associated with the Journal of Pediatric Neurosciences, the official journal of the Indian Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery, and to take the reins from Prof. Sandip Chatterjee as Editor. As you are aware, the Indian Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery is dedicated to the care of pediatric brain disorders, involving neurosurgeons, pediatric neurologists, radiologists, and pathologists, and rehabilitation. The journal has been active since 2007 and it has evolved into a robust platform for presentation and publication of quality original and research articles in the field of pediatric neurosurgery, pediatric neurology, radiology, pathology, and other allied sciences.

The previous editors have worked extremely hard and done an excellent job setting a stage for further growth and evolution of the journal. The journal has a wide indexation and readership. It is of good repute and it would be a challenge to keep it afloat.

A major challenge for all print journals is the regulation of the cost of publication. The cost of publishing, printing, and distributing issues has been rising steadily. It is certainly a daunting task to manage the incurring costs, especially when there are four issues per year for a journal like ours. Internationally, the cost is usually recovered through annual contribution from society members to maintain their membership in good standing. Also an option is given to members to opt for online or print issues, thus reducing the cost toward publishing and publication. The cost of publishing continues to remain a perpetual challenge to generate funding to match the publishing cost of the journal in a country like ours, wherein there is profound diversity in socioeconomic strata.

In today’s fast-paced world, there is contracted time for reading the print issues. In lieu of the technological advances and electronic academic media, the online option appeals to be cheaper; easier to access, reproduce, and distribute; can be purchased anytime; and requires only an Internet connection. There are various advantages, wherein the electronic material can be modulated to suit reader’s convenience and requirement. It can be cross-referenced on the Internet and multiple reprints can be reproduced. However, a proportion of readers would still be thrilled to hold the journal in their hands and flick the pages glancing through the contents rapidly and then reading relevant topics at leisure.

It is a myth that adopting the only online option would reduce the pricing. Instead the publishing industry achieves a larger margin of profit as the cost of printing and distribution is only a fraction of the total publishing cost. It remains to be seen whether authors will be content with solely electronic prints as publishing a print copy of the journal is a matter of pride and prestige, contributing to the scholarship.

The editorial board has been restructured with appointment of Associate Editors who will be sharing the responsibility of the large number of manuscripts received from different parts of the world. We seek their able guidance in continued progress and evolution of the journal. They would be able to help us provide reviews in a timely manner and also look closely into the quality of manuscripts. Our aim is to ensure that decisions are promptly made for high-priority manuscripts and published in a timely manner once accepted.

We solicit support from all of you in the pediatric neurosciences community. Any feedback and suggestions to improve our journal and help raise its stature to a high impact score will be encouraged.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

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