An exercise in continuity

Saumya Panda

 Department of Dermatology, KPC Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Correspondence Address:
Saumya Panda
Department of Dermatology, KPC Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal
India

To step in as the editor of IJDVL at this stage is a huge challenge, precisely because the journal is in ascendancy. The expectations are predictably huge, the margins of error paper thin and delivering the promise more difficult as the climb gets steeper.

The biggest challenges, thus, would be to maintain the momentum and preserve the character of the journal painstakingly etched by my predecessors. It is, therefore, going to be more an exercise in continuity than anything else, an approach sounding minimalist yet requiring great effort.

To achieve this end, it has been a privilege to retain to a great extent the huge team of superlative caliber that Dr. Ramam had assembled. That Dr. Ramam and I happen to share similar visions regarding much of the editorial policies and objectives have obviously helped in ensuring the continuity in team building.

The readers will notice some obvious changes in the exterior of the journal. A difference in look and format will help to reduce the quotient of boredom among our regular readers, we surmise.

The editorial team is now less anonymous, the board having been recast displaying the respective responsibilities of the individual members. Some overseas experts, who have rendered yeoman's service over the years, either by churning out excellent reviews or by providing wise counsel, now find place among the Editorial Advisory Board.

A prominent new feature in this Editorial Board is the introduction of the designation Emeritus Editor. As defined during the last Editorial Board meeting, the Emeritus Editor will be the immediate past editor who has completed a full term and who is willing to serve as one. The tenure of the Emeritus Editor will be coterminous with that of the Editor-in-Chief. This policy has been introduced to utilize the experience of the previous editor and to retain his/her ties with the journal in an advisory capacity.

In a nutshell, my aim as an editor will be to continue in the same mode and have more or less the same policies in place as the previous editor. Only thing is: due to an explicit interest in evidence-based dermatology, some editorial measures in that direction might be more overtly visible. For example, from 2018, we shall not publish any more interventional studies that have not been prospectively registered in a publicly accessible clinical trials register like the Clinical Trials Registry – India. This is already being done by the journal. The formal announcement only makes the commitment to minimize selective reporting outcome bias a stated journal policy. More such measures and evidence-based dermatology-centric articles will be in the pipeline.

A new and exciting section that makes its debut in this issue is the one named “Pearls.” This is in recognition of and a tribute to the innovative instincts of some of our colleagues who go on introducing novel techniques in the diagnosis and management of skin diseases in our resource-poor settings. We think that documenting these little innovations can lead to significantly better clinical outcomes for a large section of our patient community. IJDVL has taken another significant step in introducing video documentation which will render the reproducibility of such techniques much easier, particularly with regard to dermatosurgery.

Finally, all our efforts will come to naught unless we continue to receive unstinted support from our members, the readers, contributors and reviewers. The editorial team is also a dynamic entity. Hence, we solicit constructive criticisms from you all, the best of your research as contribution, as also your volunteerism for the cause of the journal, be it an offer to join as a reviewer or as a member of the editorial team. We promise to try our best to accommodate all such suggestions and offers as soon as we possibly can, if not with immediate effect.

Let us hold high the flag of the IJDVL and the IADVL. Together.