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Authors are the souls of any journal, and deserve much respect. To publish a journal manuscripts are needed from authors. Authors have a great responsibility for producing facts of their work in terms of number and results truthfully and an individual honesty is expected from authors in this regards. Both ways its true "No authors-No manuscripts-No journals" and "No journals–No manuscripts–No authors". Reviewing a manuscript is also a very responsible and important task of any peer-reviewed journal and to be taken seriously. It needs knowledge on the subject, sincerity, honesty and determination. Although the process of reviewing a manuscript is a time consuming task butit is expected to give one's best remarks within the time frame of the journal.
Salient features of the JCDR: It is a biomedical, multidisciplinary (including all medical and dental specialities), e-journal, with wide scope and extensive author support. At the same time, a free text of manuscript is available in HTML and PDF format. There is fast growing authorship and readership with JCDR as this can be judged by the number of articles published in it i e; in Feb 2007 of its first issue, it contained 5 articles only, and now in its recent volume published in April 2011, it contained 67 manuscripts. This e-journal is fulfilling the commitments and objectives sincerely, (as stated by Editor-in-chief in his preface to first edition) i e; to encourage physicians through the internet, especially from the developing countries who witness a spectrum of disease and acquire a wealth of knowledge to publish their experiences to benefit the medical community in patients care. I also feel that many of us have work of substance, newer ideas, adequate clinical materials but poor in medical writing and hesitation to submit the work and need help. JCDR provides authors help in this regards.
Timely publication of journal: Publication of manuscripts and bringing out the issue in time is one of the positive aspects of JCDR and is possible with strong support team in terms of peer reviewers, proof reading, language check, computer operators, etc. This is one of the great reasons for authors to submit their work with JCDR. Another best part of JCDR is "Online first Publications" facilities available for the authors. This facility not only provides the prompt publications of the manuscripts but at the same time also early availability of the manuscripts for the readers.
Indexation and online availability: Indexation transforms the journal in some sense from its local ownership to the worldwide professional community and to the public.JCDR is indexed with Embase & EMbiology, Google Scholar, Index Copernicus, Chemical Abstracts Service, Journal seek Database, Indian Science Abstracts, to name few of them. Manuscriptspublished in JCDR are available on major search engines ie; google, yahoo, msn.
In the era of fast growing newer technologies, and in computer and internet friendly environment the manuscripts preparation, submission, review, revision, etc and all can be done and checked with a click from all corer of the world, at any time. Of course there is always a scope for improvement in every field and none is perfect. To progress, one needs to identify the areas of one's weakness and to strengthen them.
It is well said that "happy beginning is half done" and it fits perfectly with JCDR. It has grown considerably and I feel it has already grown up from its infancy to adolescence, achieving the status of standard online e-journal form Indian continent since its inception in Feb 2007. This had been made possible due to the efforts and the hard work put in it. The way the JCDR is improving with every new volume, with good quality original manuscripts, makes it a quality journal for readers. I must thank and congratulate Dr Hemant Jain, Editor-in-Chief JCDR and his team for their sincere efforts, dedication, and determination for making JCDR a fast growing journal.
Every one of us: authors, reviewers, editors, and publisher are responsible for enhancing the stature of the journal. I wish for a great success for JCDR."
Thanking you
With sincere regards
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Ghritlaharey, M.S., M. Ch., FAIS
Associate Professor,
Department of Paediatric Surgery, Gandhi Medical College & Associated
Kamla Nehru & Hamidia Hospitals Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462 001 (India)
E-mail: drrajendrak1@rediffmail.com
On May 11,2011
Dr. Shankar P.R.
"On looking back through my Gmail archives after being requested by the journal to write a short editorial about my experiences of publishing with the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research (JCDR), I came across an e-mail from Dr. Hemant Jain, Editor, in March 2007, which introduced the new electronic journal. The main features of the journal which were outlined in the e-mail were extensive author support, cash rewards, the peer review process, and other salient features of the journal.
Over a span of over four years, we (I and my colleagues) have published around 25 articles in the journal. In this editorial, I plan to briefly discuss my experiences of publishing with JCDR and the strengths of the journal and to finally address the areas for improvement.
My experiences of publishing with JCDR: Overall, my experiences of publishing withJCDR have been positive. The best point about the journal is that it responds to queries from the author. This may seem to be simple and not too much to ask for, but unfortunately, many journals in the subcontinent and from many developing countries do not respond or they respond with a long delay to the queries from the authors 1. The reasons could be many, including lack of optimal secretarial and other support. Another problem with many journals is the slowness of the review process. Editorial processing and peer review can take anywhere between a year to two years with some journals. Also, some journals do not keep the contributors informed about the progress of the review process. Due to the long review process, the articles can lose their relevance and topicality. A major benefit with JCDR is the timeliness and promptness of its response. In Dr Jain's e-mail which was sent to me in 2007, before the introduction of the Pre-publishing system, he had stated that he had received my submission and that he would get back to me within seven days and he did!
Most of the manuscripts are published within 3 to 4 months of their submission if they are found to be suitable after the review process. JCDR is published bimonthly and the accepted articles were usually published in the next issue. Recently, due to the increased volume of the submissions, the review process has become slower and it ?? Section can take from 4 to 6 months for the articles to be reviewed. The journal has an extensive author support system and it has recently introduced a paid expedited review process. The journal also mentions the average time for processing the manuscript under different submission systems - regular submission and expedited review.
Strengths of the journal: The journal has an online first facility in which the accepted manuscripts may be published on the website before being included in a regular issue of the journal. This cuts down the time between their acceptance and the publication. The journal is indexed in many databases, though not in PubMed. The editorial board should now take steps to index the journal in PubMed. The journal has a system of notifying readers through e-mail when a new issue is released. Also, the articles are available in both the HTML and the PDF formats. I especially like the new and colorful page format of the journal. Also, the access statistics of the articles are available. The prepublication and the manuscript tracking system are also helpful for the authors.
Areas for improvement: In certain cases, I felt that the peer review process of the manuscripts was not up to international standards and that it should be strengthened. Also, the number of manuscripts in an issue is high and it may be difficult for readers to go through all of them. The journal can consider tightening of the peer review process and increasing the quality standards for the acceptance of the manuscripts. I faced occasional problems with the online manuscript submission (Pre-publishing) system, which have to be addressed.
Overall, the publishing process with JCDR has been smooth, quick and relatively hassle free and I can recommend other authors to consider the journal as an outlet for their work."
Dr. P. Ravi Shankar
KIST Medical College, P.O. Box 14142, Kathmandu, Nepal.
E-mail: ravi.dr.shankar@gmail.com
On April 2011 Anuradha
Dear team JCDR, I would like to thank you for the very professional and polite service provided by everyone at JCDR. While i have been in the field of writing and editing for sometime, this has been my first attempt in publishing a scientific paper.Thank you for hand-holding me through the process.
Dr. Anuradha
E-mail: anuradha2nittur@gmail.com
On Jan 2020
Commentaries
Gospels of a Pandemic- A Metaphysical Commentary on the Current COVID-19 Crisis
OA01-OA02
Correspondence
Sourya Acharya,
Doctors Qtrs, ABVR Hospital, DMIMSU, Sawangi, Wardha, Maharashtra, India.
E-mail: souryaacharya74@gmail.com
The entire human race is now going through an extremely rough patch. The SARS-CoV-2 is ravaging us in and out, ripping through our bodies and souls. Fighting is the core of survival and the fitter will win. Optimism flies high and yes! Human will be the ultimate winner but maybe the entire human race will be fatigued enough to celebrate the triumph. It’s now the call of Nature that “Lessons are to be learned”.
The “Big–Bang” which created our Universe happened from Quantum fluctuations. The realm of our visible Universe contains within it: uncountable galaxies, stars, nebulae, black holes and dark matter. We are the luckiest to be in the Goldilock’s zone (habitat zone) that has enabled us to grow in a habitable atmosphere!! As per Einstein, the eternal macrocosm is disciplined by the theory of relativity; the cosmic law of causality and determinism. But there evolves the hidden paradoxical truth, the truth of duality, uncertainty and indeterminism of Quantum Physics that fiercely contradicts causality and epitomise duality. This is the essence of “Quantum superposition”- the simultaneity of wave and particle, life and death. This war between the theoretical and particle physicists will go on till, we achieve the eternal wisdom, “The Quantum Gravity” which would be the Final equation of triumph. Ultimately, from relativity to quantum all are the play of Eternal Physics.
Alas! The same search will continue in our science, the “Science of Medicine”. It’s the same play of biophysics from Epidemiology to Molecular genetics! The disease will be there, its behavioural epidemiology will predictably swing in the fabrics of agent, host and environment akin to “The special theory of Relativity”. It will live and die out expectantly, but; here enters the villain…our enemy won’t succumb to every fight! It’s not that moron as we thought. It was and is still there preparing itself at its molecular level. Those quantum molecular mutations are indeed quantum fluctuations which would create a big bang. That would ravage our epidemiologic prejudices.
The human race has been shattered by several pandemics since time immemorial. But this is something different. The warnings had come earlier in form of SARS and MERS. The corona virus was adamant, and why not? After all, it prepared itself with great discipline for that ultimate divinely scientific weapon, “the mutational fluctuations” and the power for zoonotic spillover or species jumping. And now it waited for the right moment, the moment of human indiscipline. It is indeed not important how it attacked; whether by directly infecting us from bats, through an intermediate mammal (Malayan pangolin) or maybe from a point source laboratory; but yes, what is worth important is it struck back with a vengeance with new preparedness and rest is history. It is high time we the supreme race (are we?) start to respect Nature and learn our lessons.
The first gospel: is not to tamper with the laws of natural discipline and to realise that maybe, we aren’t the smartest of species. Though, the viruses out there are quantum sized, but they possess and are poised with the greatest power of Genetic diversity. They have the capability of mutagenic shifts and drifts that would destroy any human weapon (medicines/vaccines). They have been here on this planet millions of years before us. They have experienced the evolution and thrived through eternal cataclysms. They have influenced evolution of life. Even we, the newest of species carry their fossils in our genomes as reminders of past epidemics that our ancestors survived.
The second gospel: makes us realise how our activities have been the genesis of emergence of new pathogenic disease causing viruses. Our selfish overwhelming greed has no boundaries; it is limitless and is encroaching and disturbing other natural habitats. We with our activities are warming up the atmosphere and its temperature. This is giving a chance to certain species to expand their old habitat and encounter new hosts. And by the virtue of our so called advancements, we are subjecting ourselves to those close dangerous encounters. The unknown enemy is out there powerful enough to wipe us out. The irony is our great minds already know all this!! Maybe it’s the wisdom paradox, “Glorified wisdom with a nucleus of utter ignorance and foolishness”.
The third gospel: would be to leave behind all our pseudo egoism, petty politics, selfish cruel barbarism, racism, religious bigotries, terrorism, wars (with due respect to the devil inside), and focus and concentrate our economy on mending and maintaining the natural laws which we have tampered with, and destroyed. It is necessary to propel research in those directions that would strengthen us as a smart species in reality.
Agents will remain through eternity (any doubts?), they will continue to prepare themselves for greater encounters and of course, they are superior to us as species. They will continue to mutate in their respective quantum physical realms and jump through species and attack us with greater vigour. Maybe greater Pandemics are waiting to cast their spells!! Intermediate hosts will remain as innocent bystanders; they will always respect the laws of Nature and will be at the mercy of their masters (agents). It is on us, how we play with the environment so that the delicate fabric of Epidemiology would pave way to promote Euthenics.
Our future is filled with uncertainties. Actually, the human race is thriving in a trance of superposition (alive and dead at the same time!). From relativity to Quantum mechanics and from epidemiology to molecular genetics. Nature has written its own Gospels. Respect it or perish in the Apocalypse!! Others are here to stay. We won’t be here to learn from History, for we will be history.
