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Indian Journal of Surgery, Vol. 65, No. 3, May-June, 2003, pp. 291-292 Letter from Mr R. C. G. Russell R. C. G. Russell Chairman, Editorial Board , British Journal of Surgery Code Number: is03063 Dear Tehemton, You wrote to me on the 18th April and since that time I have been pondering your letter. Also, you do not give your own e-mail and so I am unable to process this by e-mail as I would wish. The reason for the delay in writing is that we too are restructuring the British Journal of Surgery. It is needful at this time and we are on the cusp of moving to the WEB. Nevertheless, we have found that the time is not yet ripe to give up the paper journal and so we are continuing trying to improve the old Journal. You will have noticed that we recently changed publisher and are now with Wiley. Wiley are a very much more energetic publisher than Blackewells and we have seen a strength of marketing that has been previously lacking. Nevertheless, we have had to work very hard at the paper journal to bring it back to Blackwell's standard. My first piece of advice is to consider joining an international rather than a national publishing house. However, it seems that this advice is too late. It is possible that Medknow Publications are linked to an international group and that this could do much to your international profile. The second area is of course making the journal web based. The British Journal of Surgery is undertaking a vigorous marketing campaign in South East Asia to disseminate the BJS widely. One of the suggestions that has been made by the Marketing Department is to suggest that the British Journal of Surgery could be made available to members of the Indian Association of Surgeons for a markedly reduced price. This has not progressed so far, but your letter has indeed been making me think that a joint initiative between the Indian Journal of Surgery and the British Journal of Surgery might be appropriate. For instance, a rolled up subscription could be established with the Indian Journal as both paper and web and British Journal of Surgery on the web. If you are interested in considering this further I would be very happy to discuss it with you. A further possibility for your authors and your readers is to have access to the British Journal of Surgery website. This is being extensively revised by Wiley and it is possible that we could publish the contents of the Indian Journal of Surgery on our website simultaneously with the publication in India. The mission of the British Journal of Surgery is quite clear, to make it a world journal equal to the American Annals of Surgery. Recently we have been very successful in joint initiatives with the Netherlands Association of Surgeons, the Swedish Association of Surgeons and the Swiss Association of Surgeons, all of whom will by January 2004 be getting the British Journal of Surgery as part of their Association subscription. Once again my apologies for the delay in replying to your letter but circumstances were not suitable until our initiative had reached a certain stage. Should you like to discuss these initiatives I am sure that I could come and discuss with you, along with a member of Wiley, such is our enthusiasm to co-operate. R. C. G. Russell Chairman, Editorial Board
Editor's note Professor R. C. G. Russell sent this letter in response to my communication which I had sent to the entire Editorial Board and the Advisory Committee of the IJS informing them about the way things were shaping up at the IJS, and in particular our plans to establish a strong presence on the WEB. The reason I requested Professor Russell permission to publish his letter in the Indian Journal of Surgery, to which he kindly agreed, was because I felt this was the most efficient and expeditious method by which I could elicit the views, feedback and advice of the entire membership on the possibilities and potentials raised in his letter. I would appreciate views from the membership. Tehemton E. Udwadia Chairman, Editorial Board Copyright 2003 - Indian Journal of Surgery. Also available online at http://www.indianjsurg.com |
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