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Changing Leadership for the Journal
EDITORIAL
Editorial
Changing Leadership for the Journal Peter Skillington, President ASCTS∗ The Australasian Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons, C/- Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Spring Street, Melbourne, Vic. 3000, Australia
T
he year 2004 marks a major milestone for Heart Lung and Circulation Journal (HLC). Renewed cooperation between the Australasian Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons (ASCTS) and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ) has enabled a major structural change in the composition of the Editorial Board, in order to allow it to continue to evolve into a leading cardiac journal for our region of the world. The appointment of Richmond Jeremy as the new Editor-in-Chief, and an expanded role for cardiology sub-specialities with attendant sub editors should enable HLC to better represent the membership of both societies, bearing in mind that the membership of CSANZ is approximately 8–10 times that of the ASCTS. This more proportional sharing of editorial responsibility, along with a move of the editorial office to CSANZ Headquarters in Sydney, potentially allows the journal to better position itself for further growth and subsequent indexation. From the perspective of the ASCTS, we are deeply indebted to Frank Rosenfeldt, the Founding Editor, who has worked tirelessly to nurture the Journal from its inception to the significant position it now holds, a Journal of which both societies can be justly proud. We are fortunate that Frank will remain as Editor Emeritus and the ASCTS will continue to support him and the office staff at the Alfred Hospital. All surgical manuscripts will continue to be processed there.
The major challenge for the new Editorial Team is to achieve indexation for the Journal. Despite the best efforts of ASCTS, and Frank Rosenfeldt in particular, we have realised that this is simply not possible if the Journal remains under the custodianship of the ASCTS. With only 120 Members in Australia and New Zealand, we cannot provide sufficient high quality manuscripts to achieve this goal. However, with the shared responsibility between both societies, and with governance of the Journal now resting mainly with the Cardiac Society, there is a renewed push for all cardiac centres (encompassing cardiothoracic surgery, cardiology and all its attendant sub-specialities, as well as research and basic science) to submit as many high quality manuscripts as possible over the next 1–2 years. Providing this occurs, indexation will follow. There are other challenges ahead as well. It is vitally important that there is a smooth and seamless transition of editorial responsibility from ASCTS focused to a more shared situation. Aggressive marketing of the Journal to our colleagues engaged in research, as well as trainees who are producing excellent work, is necessary to encourage them to submit quality manuscripts. This is essential. From negotiations that have taken place thus far, I, along with Harvey White (President, CSANZ), am confident that the renewed co-operation recently established, will enable us to see this through. The ASCTS eagerly looks forward to the next stage in the ongoing development of HLC.
∗ Tel.: +61-3-9276-7414; fax: +61-3-9249-1240. E-mail address: [email protected] (P. Skillington).
© 2004 Australasian Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1443-9506/04/$30.00 doi:10.1016/j.hlc.2004.02.014
Editorial
Changing Leadership for the Journal Peter Skillington, President ASCTS∗ The Australasian Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons, C/- Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Spring Street, Melbourne, Vic. 3000, Australia
T
he year 2004 marks a major milestone for Heart Lung and Circulation Journal (HLC). Renewed cooperation between the Australasian Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons (ASCTS) and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ) has enabled a major structural change in the composition of the Editorial Board, in order to allow it to continue to evolve into a leading cardiac journal for our region of the world. The appointment of Richmond Jeremy as the new Editor-in-Chief, and an expanded role for cardiology sub-specialities with attendant sub editors should enable HLC to better represent the membership of both societies, bearing in mind that the membership of CSANZ is approximately 8–10 times that of the ASCTS. This more proportional sharing of editorial responsibility, along with a move of the editorial office to CSANZ Headquarters in Sydney, potentially allows the journal to better position itself for further growth and subsequent indexation. From the perspective of the ASCTS, we are deeply indebted to Frank Rosenfeldt, the Founding Editor, who has worked tirelessly to nurture the Journal from its inception to the significant position it now holds, a Journal of which both societies can be justly proud. We are fortunate that Frank will remain as Editor Emeritus and the ASCTS will continue to support him and the office staff at the Alfred Hospital. All surgical manuscripts will continue to be processed there.
The major challenge for the new Editorial Team is to achieve indexation for the Journal. Despite the best efforts of ASCTS, and Frank Rosenfeldt in particular, we have realised that this is simply not possible if the Journal remains under the custodianship of the ASCTS. With only 120 Members in Australia and New Zealand, we cannot provide sufficient high quality manuscripts to achieve this goal. However, with the shared responsibility between both societies, and with governance of the Journal now resting mainly with the Cardiac Society, there is a renewed push for all cardiac centres (encompassing cardiothoracic surgery, cardiology and all its attendant sub-specialities, as well as research and basic science) to submit as many high quality manuscripts as possible over the next 1–2 years. Providing this occurs, indexation will follow. There are other challenges ahead as well. It is vitally important that there is a smooth and seamless transition of editorial responsibility from ASCTS focused to a more shared situation. Aggressive marketing of the Journal to our colleagues engaged in research, as well as trainees who are producing excellent work, is necessary to encourage them to submit quality manuscripts. This is essential. From negotiations that have taken place thus far, I, along with Harvey White (President, CSANZ), am confident that the renewed co-operation recently established, will enable us to see this through. The ASCTS eagerly looks forward to the next stage in the ongoing development of HLC.
∗ Tel.: +61-3-9276-7414; fax: +61-3-9249-1240. E-mail address: [email protected] (P. Skillington).
© 2004 Australasian Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1443-9506/04/$30.00 doi:10.1016/j.hlc.2004.02.014