A message from the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board, 2024: journal metrics and statistics, and appreciation to reviewers

Article information

Anesth Pain Med. 2025;20(1):1-4
Publication date (electronic) : 2025 January 25
doi : https://doi.org/10.17085/apm.25202
1Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Inje University Ilsan Paik Hospital, Goyang, 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 2025 January 12; Accepted 2025 January 15.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND RECOGNITION

In August 2024, Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (APM) was indexed in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI). Articles published from 2022 onward, starting with Volume 17, Issue 1, are now included. In 2023, our journal was also indexed in SCOPUS and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). These achievements underscore APM's significant progress as a scholarly journal in anesthesiology, including perioperative management, critical care, and pain management, and strengthen its standing as an internationally recognized publication.

CHALLENGES IN 2024

The year 2024 was a challenging year for academic societies in South Korea. In February, the government announced an unexpected increase in medical school admissions by 2,000 students, a 67% rise compared to the current annual intake. This abrupt policy change prompted widespread resignations among medical residents in protest. Consequently, the remaining professors were burdened with increased workloads, leaving minimal time for research and academic writing. As a result, the number of article submissions from South Korea has inevitably declined. Despite these difficulties, the journal’s global reach has continued to expand. The growing international reputation of APM has contributed to an overall increase in submissions. While we are hopeful that these issues will be resolved by 2025, the ongoing dispute between the government and medical professionals remains a source of uncertainty. Nevertheless, we encourage both South Korean and global researchers to persevere in advancing knowledge and sharing their findings through our journal.

SPECIAL ISSUE ON PEDIATRIC ANESTHESIA

This year, APM published a special issue dedicated to pediatric anesthesia. Researchers from various countries contributed valuable insights, enriching the journal's content. We aim to publish additional special issues covering other subspecialties in anesthesiology to further advance research in the field.

EDITORIAL COMMITMENT

As the Editor-in-Chief and members of the Editorial Board of APM, we are honored to have played a role in the journal’s continued success. The editorial team remains committed to maintaining the high standards of this publication. Moving forward, we will focus on advancing APM by encouraging high-quality research submissions and fostering collaboration with sub-societies of the Korean Society of Anesthesiologists, its members, and international scholars.

JOURNAL METRICS AND STATISTICS

APM's indexing milestones include the Korean Citation Index (2015), PubMed Central (2020), SCOPUS, DOAJ (2023), and ESCI (2024). The journal’s application for Embase coverage in 2023 further demonstrated its commitment to enhancing visibility and impact. The annual volume of submitted articles has increased from 100–150 to 193 in 2024. Domestic submissions declined to 42 due to the aforementioned challenges in South Korea; however, international submissions have offset this decline. By 2024, authors from 28 countries are expected to contribute, up from 19 in 2023 (see Fig. 1 for detailed data).

Fig. 1.

Number of articles submitted to Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine in 2023 and 2004 according to the author's country. The circular area is proportional to the change in the total number of submissions.

Articles published in APM during 2022 and 2023 were cited 130 times by Web of Science-indexed articles in 2024. (Available from https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/summary/e32b8796-fb29-44f7-a54a-610e4e8ef2bc-0140b0b35f/relevance/1; Last accessed: January 19, 2025) The total number of original articles and reviews published in 2022 and 2023 were 41 and 40, respectively. The manually calculated impact factor for 2024 in the Web of Science is 1.6 (130/[41 + 40]).

As of January 5, 2025, the CiteScore Tracker 2024 (available from: https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/21101166816) calculated by Scopus was 3.4 (728 citations to date/214 documents to date), representing a significant increase from 2.3 in 2023.

In 2024, APM published 21 high-quality reviews (including those in the pediatric anesthesia special issue), 19 original articles, and 18 other contributions, such as case reports and letters to the editor.

MOST-CITED, MOST-READ, AND MOST-DOWNLOADED ARTICLES

Among articles published in 2023–2024, the most-cited article according to Crossref is “Post-dural puncture headache prevention and treatment with aminophylline or theophylline: a systematic review and meta-analysis” by Barati-Boldaji et al. [1], cited 9 times. According to the Web of Science, the most-cited article is “Recent updates on interscalene brachial plexus block for shoulder surgery” by Kang and Ko [2], cited 7 times.

The most-read article during this period is “Opioid-free anesthesia using a combination of ketamine and dexmedetomidine in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a randomized controlled trial” by K R et al. [3], with 5,941 views. The most downloaded article is “Predictors of fluid responsiveness in the operating room: a narrative review” by Oh and Lee [4], downloaded 900 times.

The APM Research award for 2024 was presented to the article “Relationship between intraoperative requirement for anesthetics and postoperative analgesic consumption in laparoscopic colectomy: a randomized controlled double-blinded study” by Lee et al. [5].

APPRECIATION TO REVIEWERS

The APM editorial team extends its deepest gratitude to the 131 reviewers who dedicated their time and expertise to evaluating the manuscripts in 2024. Their invaluable contributions have been instrumental in maintaining the journal's integrity and high standards.

The reviewers' names are listed below in alphabetical order of family names in Korean.

Woon Seok Kang

Hoon Kang

Won Uk Koh

Jae Chul Koh

Bon-Wook Koo

Chang-Hoon Koo

Woojin Kwon

Seunghee Ki

Ho-young Gil

Kyung Woo Kim

Kyung-Hoon Kim

Doyeon Kim

Doo Sik Kim

Min Kyoung Kim

Sang Tae Kim

Sang Hun Kim

Sin Hyung Kim

Yeon-Dong Kim

Young-Kug Kim

Young Sung Kim

Won-joong Kim

Eunsoo Kim

Eun-hee Kim

Jae Hun Kim

Jeongmin Kim

Joungmin Kim

Jeayoun Kim

Jonghae Kim

Ju Deok Kim

Jun Hyun Kim

Jin-Tae Kim

Tae Kyong Kim

Hyunjee Kim

Hyun-Chang Kim

Hyungtae Kim

Hye Jin Kim

Hyo-jin Kim

Hee-Yeong Kim

Hyo-seok Na

Francis Sahngun Nahm

Sun Woo Nam

Sang-Hwan Do

Wangseok Do

A Ram Doo

Ho-Geol Ryu

Jee Youn Moon

Jeong-jin Min

Kibeom Park

Sang Yoong Park

Sang-Jin Park

Sun-kyung Park

Sung-Yong Park

Sungchul Park

Jungchan Park

Ji-Hyoung Park

Ji-hoon Park

Hue Jung Park

SeungUk Bang

Si Ra Bang

Jiyoun Bang

Sung Hye Byun

Kwang Suk Seo

Jeong Hwa Seo

Hyunjee Kim

Hyun-Chang Kim

Tae-Yun Sung

Hye-min Sohn

Hee-Jeong Son

Seokyoung Song

Seung Woo Song

Young Song

In-Kyung Song

In-Ae Song

Woo Jong Shin

Won-jung Shin

Hyun-Jung Shin

Eun-Jin Ahn

Chunwoo Yang

Eun Jung Oh

Chahyun Oh

Tak Kyu Oh

Jae Hee Woo

Yongjae Yoo

Jihion Yu

Susie Yoon

Seung Zhoo Yoon

Ji Uk Yoon

Ka Young Rhee

Ki Hwa Lee

Myeong Jong Lee

Sang Hyun Lee

Seongheon Lee

Seung Young Lee

Seung Cheol Lee

Oh haeng Lee

Jae Hoon Lee

Je Jin Lee

Ji-hyun Lee

Jin Young Lee

Cheol Lee

Hannah Lee

Hyun-Young Lee

Ho Jin Lee

Heeseung Lee

Junyong In

Yun-Hee Lim

Young-eun Jang

Hae Wone Chang

Kum-Hee Chung

Ki Tae Jung

Ji Seon Jeong

Chan Jong Chung

Hyun-Sik Chung

Hae-sun Jung

Sung-Ae Cho

Sooyoung Cho

Ah-Reum Cho

Choon-kyu Cho

Young Seok Jee

Min Suk Chae

Byung Moon Choi

Seong-Soo Choi

Yong Seon Choi

Yoon Ji Choi

Jong Bum Choi

Jun Gwon Choi

Hey-ran Choi

Jiwon Han

Min-hee Heo

Boohwi Hong

Sung Mi Hwang

Notes

FUNDING

None.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Jun Hyun Kim has been the associate editor-in-chief of the Anesthesia and Pain Medicine since 2023, and Hyun Kang has been an editor-in-chief of the Anesthesia and Pain Medicine since 2023. However, They were not involved in the peer reviewer selection, evaluation, or decision process of this article. No other potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Writing - original draft: Jun Hyun Kim, Hyun Kang. Writing - review & editing: Jun Hyun Kim, Hyun Kang.

References

1. Barati-Boldaji R, Shojaei-Zarghani S, Mehrabi M, Amini A, Safarpour AR. Post-dural puncture headache prevention and treatment with aminophylline or theophylline: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Anesth Pain Med (Seoul) 2023;18:177–89. 10.17085/apm.22247. 37183286.
2. Kang R, Ko JS. Recent updates on interscalene brachial plexus block for shoulder surgery. Anesth Pain Med (Seoul) 2023;18:5–10. 10.17085/apm.22254. 36746896.
3. K R V, Singh K, Sahay N, Sinha C, Kumar A, Kumar N. Opioid-free anesthesia using a combination of ketamine and dexmedetomidine in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a randomized controlled trial. Anesth Pain Med (Seoul) 2024;19:109–16. 10.17085/apm.23097. 38725165.
4. Oh AR, Lee JH. Predictors of fluid responsiveness in the operating room: a narrative review. Anesth Pain Med (Seoul) 2023;18:233–43. 10.17085/apm.23072. 37468195.
5. Lee JH, Doo AR, Oh H, Lee H, Ko S. Relationship between intraoperative requirement for anesthetics and postoperative analgesic consumption in laparoscopic colectomy: a randomized controlled double-blinded study. Anesth Pain Med (Seoul) 2024;19:117–24. 10.17085/apm.23146. 38725166.

Article information Continued

Fig. 1.

Number of articles submitted to Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine in 2023 and 2004 according to the author's country. The circular area is proportional to the change in the total number of submissions.