Pending articles at IJDVL: A novel solution

Garehalty R Kanthraj

 Department of Skin and STD, Government Medical College and Hospitals (VIMS), Bellary - 583 104, Karnataka, India

Correspondence Address:
Garehalty R Kanthraj
Department of Skin and STD, Government Medical College and Hospitals (VIMS), Bellary - 583 104, Karnataka
India

To the Editor:

One is heartened to know about 220 articles still pending for publication, in the IJDVL journal.[1] To balance the increased number of articles sent for publication and combating the financial paucity in maintaining the journal, is a challenging situation for the editorial board. Therefore, in this article I put forward some suggestions to overcome them.

Art and science of publication has changed rapidly with the invasion of the internet. Dermatology like radiodiagnosis is a visual speciality, where clinical photographs find a special significance at the web. Analysis of the current and future perspective of books and journals in dermatology has been highlighted by Burgorf.[2]

Based on the consultation of referees and the editorial board, the articles sent for publication to IJDVL can be grouped as follows depending on the priority. a) Journal (articles in this category will also be on the web) and (b) articles selected exclusively for web publication. These articles selected for web has to be governed by publication principles that is being applied for the regular journal articles. Articles not fitting in the above categories can be rejected.

Table of contents in each issue of IJDVL should include a list of articles selected exclusively on web. Readers who are interested can access them. Assignment of copyright from the author at the time of submission should state clearly that his article in case if not selected for the journal, can be selected on web alone. Such articles cannot be published in any other journal or other websites.

I hope, by using the website, paucity of funds and lack of financial sponsorship can be overcome by the IJDVL editorial board. Also IJDVL Journals can be obtained at regular intervals. Healthier articles will be in the journal. It reminds me a Chinese proverb ′ every book must be chewed to get out its juice′.

1.	Pavithran K. Report of chief editor IJDVL. Indian J Dermatol Venereal Leprol 2001; 67(1) [Google Scholar]
2.	Burgdorf WHC. Will there still be books and Journals in the new millennium? Arch Dermatol 2000; 136: 31 -33. [Google Scholar]