Our Anesthesia and Pain Medicine is currently expanding into a global-scale journal

Article information

Anesth Pain Med. 2023;18(3):211-212

Publication date (electronic) : 2023 July 14

doi : https://doi.org/10.17085/apm.23080

Hyungseok Seo¹, Hyun Kang^,2

¹Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine , Seoul, Korea

²Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Corresponding author: Hyun Kang, M.D., Ph.D. Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 06974, Korea Tel: 82-2-6299-2586 Fax: 82-2-6299-2585 E-mail: roman00@naver.com

Received 2023 July 3; Revised 2023 July 5; Accepted 2023 July 5.

Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (Anesth Pain Med; APM/ISSN:1975-5171) is the official journal of the Korean Society of Anesthesiologists (KSA) and represents the official journals of the following societies: the Korean Society of Neuroscience in Anesthesiology and Critical Care (KSNACC), the Korean Society for Anesthetic Pharmacology (KSAP), the Korean Society of Obstetric Anesthesiologists (KSOA), the Korean Society of Pediatric Anesthesiologists (KSPA), the Korean Neuromuscular Research Society (KNRS), the Korean Society of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesiologists (KSCVA), the Korean Society of Transplantation Anesthesiologists (KSTA), the Korean Spinal Pain Society (KSPS), the Korean Society of Regional Anesthesia (KSRA), and the Korean Society for Airway Management (KSAM). As an official journal of several societies in departments of anesthesia, we have proudly improved our roles in increasing the knowledge of advancements in anesthesia and inspiring clinical or research confidence. Recently, the APM was indexed using the Scopus database. At this point, we would like to look back on the steps we took and enforce them for further advancement.

Since the inception of our journal in 2006, our readership was expected to be limited to the domestic audience, and nearly all articles were published in Korean. However, considering the vast and rapid increase in our advancement of research and practice resources in the field of anesthesia, we cannot help but consider transitioning into a globally indexed journal. Finally, all articles have been published in English since 2019, and we decided to be indexed in PubMed Central (PMC), an archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the USA National Institutes of Health’s Library of Medicine.

On the journey of being indexed in the PMC, Professor Young-Cheol Woo, the previous editor-in-chief, conducted the entire process with the critical assistance of Professor Sun Huh. Every editorial board member thoroughly participated in revising our webpage and e-submission system for 3 months; specifically, the ‘best practice’ section of our website was the most critical part for all board members concerned. Finally, we received the notification of indexing by the PMC on October 20, 2020 [1]. Owing to our efforts, a number of manuscripts have been submitted worldwide, and there has been a remarkable improvement in both quantity and quality.

In late 2022, Professor Hyun Kang was appointed the new Editor-in-Chief of APM and insisted that we should be more globalized and indexed by well-known databases. We organized a special team for a swift decision-making process and pinpointed revisions. Currently, we have achieved two milestones in our journey toward globalization. First, we became indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) [2], a unique trusted index of open journals worldwide. DOAJ is currently regarded as a gateway for determining whether the corresponding journal is problematic [3]. Second, the APM is indexed by Scopus as of June 20th. Scopus, which covers over 87 million documents and has 1.8 billion cited references, is one of the largest databases. This extensive coverage is helpful for our journal and articles to reach more researchers and be cited.

Through this editorial, the APM expresses great gratitude to every person, including the previous and current editorial board members and reviewers, who contributed to our journal’s improvement and sophistication. We extend special thanks to Seong Ho Chang, Keon Hee Ryu, and Young-Cheol Woo, who served as editorial board members for their unwavering dedication.

Furthermore, the APM regards every author submitting their valuable manuscript as its absolute power and always holds a deep appreciation for it. The journey of the APM to become a globally recognized journal continues. From now on, we are preparing to be covered by the Emerging Science Citation Index (ESCI) or the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE). Moreover, MEDLINE, created by the USA National Library of Medicine, poses another challenge. Although there are several problems in the current publication environment, such as distinct aims and scopes, ethics, data sharing, and preprints, all of our editorial board members have strict responsibilities and a passion for significantly improving our journal. We will make every effort to ensure that the APM is highly regarded and cherished by the authors, readers, esteemed members of the KSA, and the societies that constitute the APM.