Dawn of a New Era

Four years ago (January 2014), we started our journey on an unchartered territory by publishing the first issue of Journal of Neuroanaesthesiology and Critical Care (JNACC) as the clinical and scientific publishing platform of the Indian Society of Neuroanaesthesiology and Critical Care (ISNACC). It was a proud moment not only for the bigwigs of the society but for everyone connected with the journal. The well-wishers of ISNACC opined that publishing a journal on neuroanesthesia and neurocritical care would encourage its members and like-minded people to highlight their research talent by providing them a platform to share their innovative work to the scientific world. Furthermore, they realized this exercise would take ISNACC to a higher pedestal, making Indian scientific work visible in the International arena, apart from providing similar opportunities for the neuroanesthesiologists across the globe. The mission statement of JNACC was to disseminate knowledge pertaining to neuroanesthesiology and neurocritical care as well as spread awareness of neuroanesthesia as a subspecialty to various parts of India and the world at large. We were quite gung-ho on the journey of JNACC under the expert guidance of our first publishing house. With the unrelenting efforts of our editors, members of ISNACC, and most importantly the authors, JNACC achieved quite a few landmarks. The journal got registered with the abstracting partners, such as EBSCO’s publishing electronic databases, Ex Libris-Primo Central, Google Scholar, Hinari, Infotrieve, National Science Library, ProQuest, and TDNet. It has also got indexed with the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). The editorial board profusely thank all these people for placing JNACC on world map. We also thank our publisher, especially Dr. Sunny Duttagupta for his strategic guidance, our reviewers, office bearers of ISNACC, and sponsors for playing a big role in the sustainability and overall growth of the journal.

During past 4 years of existence, more than 220 scientific articles have been published in the three issues released each year along with three special issues. Having achieved the preliminary success, the journal now looks forward to getting recognized with PubMed Central (PMC), SCOPUS, and Emerging Source Citation Index (ESCI). The circulation of JNACC based on demand keeps increasing every year with constant improvement in the quality of articles as well. The goal of achieving higher indexing status is a herculean task and the editorial board is well aware of it. Many factors in this context merit consideration, viz. good quality of articles, number of articles submitted from abroad, regularity of publication, and above all, an appropriate coordination with the publishers.

Keeping the interest of authors of JNACC and members of ISNACC in mind, the editorial board decided to move on with a neuro-focused publisher of international repute, Thieme Medical Publishers. It is a leading publication house, which is well-known to promote journals pertaining to subjects of neurosciences, and JNACC fits into their scheme of things.

Currently, we are in the state of starting a new relationship with the new publishing house, but we will always cherish the sweet memories of our association with our immediate past publishing house. Change is the law of nature; therefore, this change should not let the sense of despondency descend on us because we see a new era of light in front of us. Time wheel is inviolable and no one can stop the appearance of the new dawn (for JNACC). Eventually, we have to learn from the past, start afresh with renewed enthusiasm, and keep marching ahead, with new vision. However, to envision the new dawn, it requires no less than a tectonic change in the form of major contributions from editorial board, reviewers, and authors alike.

Change is never comfortable as it always brings sense of uncertainty, but we are sanguine that our liaison with Thieme Publishers will be akin to a breath of fresh air. Let us put coordinated efforts so that the association between JNACC and Thieme will usher us in the dawn of a new era. However, this change cannot absolve the members of our society of their responsibilities, and they should continue to contribute good-quality original articles. Ultimately, this yard stick alone will judge the quality of journal largely, and thence, due recognition by the indexing agencies. The indexing agencies certainly do not follow the belief that the provision of a conducive atmosphere by the publishers is as an important parameter for recognition. A captain is only as strong as its team members are. Therefore, it will be unwise on our part to hope our dreams to materialize by solely relying on the promises of publishers.

In the end, we fervently hope that the expected new dawn may not turn out to be a mirage, and request everyone to work toward achieving our goal(s).