Volume 24.1 (Jan 2015)
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Vol.24, No.1 (January, 2015) Editor : Michiaki Mishima Associate Editors : Yoshinosuke Fukuchi, J Patrick Barron, Kwun M Fong, Yasutomi Yamanaka Message from the President Dear APSR members; I am honoured to take this opportunity to deliver this first message to all my colleagues — the APSR members. First of all, I would like to say thank you very much for your continuing great support to the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology. Attended by over 2,700 delegates from around the world, the 19th Congress of the APSR in Bali, Indonesia, was successfully staged in November 2014, with the great cooperation of the Indonesian Society of Respirology led by Dr Faisal Yunus. Another milestone to celebrate is the Impact Factor of our official journal; Respirology, which jumped from 2.781 in 2012 to 3.495 in 2013. Respirology is now ranked the 15th out of 53 journals in the Respiratory System category, compared with being the 18th the previous year. Respirology Case Reports has been steadily building a sound reputation in the short period since its inauguration. I would like to thank particularly Dr Peter Eastwood, Dr Norbert Berend and their colleagues at the Editorial Office for their excellent achievement. In addition, an education component called 'ESAP' (Educational Seminar of the APSR) has been used to implement seminars in the Asia-Pacific region, coordinated by Dr David Lam. Three ESAPs were held in 2014: 'State of the Art Pulmonology' in Quezon City, Philippines, in August; 'Lung cancer' in Bali, Indonesia, in November prior to the APSR2014 Congress; and finally 'Paediatric Asthma' in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in December. I'm sure more ESAPs will take place in 2015 to extend our educational activities and to penetrate our region through APSR member societies. We have also increasing opportunities offered to APSR young investigators through the APSR scholarships and travel awards. In other words, our young researchers will have more opportunities in 2015 than before. Another focus for 2015 is to expand the number of en bloc member societies, especially in Central Asia and ASEAN countries. I believe that the more members we have, the more educational opportunities, and the more strength in the APSR for our future development in the region. As you may know, the APSR has very tight business relationships with the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS). This group joins international respiratory societies together, including the APSR, ATS, ACCP, ERS, ALAT, PATS, IUATLD and other international respiratory organizations. The FIRS has specific working groups to which each member society and organization contributes. The FIRS Joint Position Statement on Electronic Cigarettes was one example of our depth of commitment, for which Dr David Lam joined as the representative of the APSR. The FIRS Annual Meeting to discuss worldwide issues relevant to respirology will be held in Cape Town, South Africa in early February 2015. Both Dr Kwun Fong, the new Secretary General of the APSR, and myself are invited to exchange productive information among FIRS members. In early 2015, the preliminary announcement of the scientific programme for the 20th Congress, APSR2015, to be held on 3-6 December, will be launched and will be distributed to APSR Assembly Heads from the Central Congress Committee and Local Congress Committee to boost the quality of the congress in Kuala Lumpur. The congress term will definitely fill the city with delegates from around the world. Finally, I wish you and your family a happy new year with sound health throughout the year. Michiaki Mishima ‐1‐ publishes a larger proportion of citable papers Message from the Secretary General from the region, consistent with its important Dear APSR friends and colleagues role as the major journal representing Asia- Pacific respiratory research. It is my great honour and privilege to write to you th as the new Secretary-General of the APSR, which The 20 anniversary is marked by the journal’s carries much responsibility in the rewarding job transition from print and online publication to of serving our President Dr Michiaki Mishima. an electronic-only platform. This change follows Dr Mishima did a wonderful job as Secretary the trend of other scholarly journals and allows General to Dr Arth Nana and his shoes will be Respirology to expand its online initiatives, such as hard to fill, though I will do my very best. the videos featuring journal content. Authors will be able to publish full-colour illustrations free of It is opportune also to acknowledge and thank Dr charge and readers can enjoy the new Enhanced Nana for his invaluable work as the outstanding HTML Article that is easy to read on many devices. outgoing APSR President, leading the APSR Wiley, Respirology’s publisher, is also on the verge Executive team to further consolidate and build of launching its journal app for iPad and iPhone the APSR ever stronger to realise its mission and which will make it even easier to stay up to date vision. We all, as members of the APSR, have the with the latest publications in respiratory medicine. opportunity to work together with dedication to contribute to the APSR’s aims; i.e., encourage In 2014, the number of submissions to Respirology research, improve clinical practice through increased, the turnaround time decreased and teaching, increase awareness of health problems the acceptance rate remained the same as in and promote the exchange of knowledge among 2013. The majority of submissions (61%) and respirologists in the Asia-Pacific region. To this published papers (58%) continued to originate end I look forward to supporting Dr Mishima from the region. and the Secretariat to increase our membership Respirology published eight issues in 2014 and activities to allow us improve lung health containing 107 original articles, 25 editorials, in our hospitals, medical centres, clinics, towns, 26 invited reviews (embedded in the review cities, countries and regions and encourage you series on ‘Modern Statistical Methods in to contribute your many talents. Respiratory Medicine’, ‘Update in Interventional Another aim of the APSR is to hold the pinnacle Pulmonology’, and ‘Respiratory Disease: Using respiratory meeting in our region, and I am Lung Function Measurements to Greater sure that we all share sincere appreciation and Advantage’), 3 year-in-review papers, 19 unsolicited thanks to Dr Faisal and his wonderful team for reviews, 2 clinical practice guidelines and several holding such a successful 2014 Congress in Bali. scientific letters and correspondences. Respirology The meeting will be remembered by us all for its also published three supplements including the quality and fellowship, especially to Dr Mishima Abstracts of the 2014 Airway Vista meeting (Seoul, and myself at the start of our service to the Korea), the Thoracic Society of Australia & New APSR, and you, the members. We hope to hear Zealand and the Australian & New Zealand from many of you with new ideas, willingness to Society of Respiratory Science 2014 Annual participate and your valuable contribution to our Scientific Meetings (Adelaide, Australia) and the shared goals. Please do not hesitate to contact the 19th Congress of the APSR (Bali, Indonesia). Secretariat or myself with your proposals. Since the publication of the June APSR Kwun Fong Newsletter, Respirology has welcomed Judith Mak (Hong Kong) and Safwan Badr (USA) to the team Message from Editor-in-Chief of of Associate Editors, while David Barnes (Australia) joined the Editorial Board and Kevin Murray Respirology (Australia) joined the Statistical Review Board. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all This year, Respirology celebrates its 20th year of Editors, Editorial Board members and reviewers publication. In the first issue of 2015, we publish for their time commitment, expert advice and an Editorial that reviews Respirology’s journey so support of the journal throughout 2014. far, with a look into the future. Finally, I would like to thank the rest of the Since Respirology published its first issue in 1996, team behind Respirology including the Editorial it has grown rapidly to become a widely-read and Office, the staff at Wiley, the APSR Secretariat widely-cited journal of regional and international and the APSR Executives for their hard work and importance. The journal currently attracts support during 2014. I look forward to another 350,000 electronic downloads per year. The latest productive and successful year for the journal. impact factor of 3.495, announced in July 2014, places it in the top 30% of all respiratory system Peter Eastwood journals listed on Thomson Reuters’ Journal Citation Reports, making Respirology the highest Message from Editor-in-Chief of impact general respiratory journal in the Asia- Pacific region. Compared to other respiratory Respirology Case Reports journals with similar citation rates, Respirology We are delighted to announce that Respirology ‐2‐ Case Reports is now available on PubMed Central well as the team at Wiley-Blackwell and the APSR (PMC) and searchable in PubMed. All case Secretariat. reports already published in an issue are now available on PMC, and the newly accepted I am looking forward to the year ahead and case reports will be deposited in PMC upon I trust that with the new listing in PubMed, publication in an issue. We believe that being Respirology Case Reports will keep on growing, on PMC will give a boost to submissions and will attract still more interest. This will strengthen increase the journal’s visibility. its role as an important resource for clinicians, in the Asia-Pacific region and globally, to share The journal continues to be widely marketed by their experience with others and provide unique Wiley. The latest campaign was in the Respiratory guidance for patient care of rare and unusual Medicine e-newsletter, where Wiley published an cases.