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

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.