Letter from the President

Letter from the President In the past, the science of oral surgery has to a great extent been practiced within localized areas determined by tradition and language barriers. New knowledge has been slow to cross borders. This segregation must not be upheld if we want to attain the highest degree of progress. It will be necessary to make all qualified scientific material on oral surgery from all over the world easily accessible to the interested. Too often valuable papers are actually wasted because they are published in a national dental journal and either do not reach oral surgeons in other countries or are written in a language not understood outside that particular country. At present, specialized journals on oral surgery exist in the U.S., England, and Germany. This has been a natural development because of the high degree of development within oral surgery in these countries. Although these journals do accept contributions from oral surgeons in other countries, they reflect mainly the tradition in their own countries, and their editorial boards are national. The growing interest in oral surgery in other countries will result in increased research and development activity and a need for more space in a specialized journal. This is the basis for the INTERNATIONALJOURNALOF ORALSURGERY.This Journal is intended to provide a forum for the most advanced knowledge in the field of oral surgery, irrespective of its national origin. The Editor-in-Chief, J. J. Pindborg, who is head of the Dental Department of the University Hospital of Copenhagen and Professor of Oral Pathology, is known to oral surgeons all over the world. With his experience as author of numerous books and papers and as editor o~ dental journals, he will be a guarantee of the Journal's excellence. To help him, outstanding oral surgeons from nineteen countries have agreed to serve on the Editorial Board. To ensure high quality, papers submitted for publication in the Journal will be subjected to a system of referees. Each submitted paper will be reviewed by two authorities in the particular subject, who, not knowing the name of the author, will advise the Editor whether to accept the paper or not. Acceptance of a paper in the Journal will therefore be an asset to the author and will ensure a wide international circle of readers. One volume will be published annually, with six issues of approximately 64 pages each. Monographs or larger papers such as theses may, if accepted by the referees, be published as extra issues of the Journal. The cost of these issues must be paid by the anthors. If the Journal obtains a substantial number of subscribers, the Publisher has agreed to pay a percentage to a fund which may be used to

subsidize the production cost of these extra issues. If, by agreementwith the author, a firm sponsors an extra issue, the right of advertising in that issue is reserved for the sponsor. Each issue of the Journal will contain a section on International News from the International Association of Oral Surgeons and affiliated national associations. This section, which will provide a most valuable communication link among Fellows of the I.A.O.S., will be edited by the Secretary-General. It will be a principal aim to keep the publication time to an absolute minimum, so that the latest results within the field of oral surgery will be available in the shortest possible time. It is my sincere hope that Fellows of the International Association of Oral Surgeons will support this Journal. Any Fellow who has a paper of a quality appropriate for international distribution should consider publishing it in this Journal, and all Fellows should read the Journal and subscribe to it. JORGEN RUD President International Association of Oral Surgeons