Indian Journal of Surgery Medknow Publications on behalf of Association of Surgeons of India ISSN: 0972-2068 Vol. 65, Num. 5, 2003, pp. 449

Indian Journal of Surgery, Vol. 65, No. 5, Sept-Oct, 2003, pp. 449

Letter to Editor

"The ball is in your court"

Kaushik Bhattacharya

Department of Surgery, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Deemed University, Chennai 600116. E-mail: kaushik_srmc@rediffmail.com

Code Number: is03097

Sir,

Since the first issue of 2001, the Indian Journal of Surgery (IJS) had progressed tremendously under the leadership of Dr.T. E. Udwadia, who chaired the first elected Editorial Board of the Journal. The Journal's major achievements in this period were the timely publication of 6 issues/year, web-based peer review system, availability of full text at Bioline International and of course, a radical change in the format and quality of each article especially the letters to the editor which brought out the free and fair expression of views from both the readers and the Editorial Board. Nevertheless, I understand that the IJS cannot satisfy all of us all the time, especially whenever our articles are rejected or revised. But that is the problem faced by all journals, not by the IJS alone. After nearly 65 years since inception, the IJS was inching towards its final goal getting indexed. And here the story ends.

Upon receiving the ballot papers for the elections of the next Editorial Board, I am perplexed to find that none of the presently active Editorial board members including the Chairman Dr. T. E. Udwadia wants to guide the IJS to its ultimate destination, when the final countdown has already begun. I do not find any valid reason as to why the present team does not want to contest for a second term in office and consolidate the work done. Otherwise we will celebrate the 100^th year of the IJS without getting indexed. We were also looking forward to seeing the IJS at the British Journal of Surgery's website.

Let me quote the late Dr. R. K. Gandhi "In the anatomy of creation, it is axiomatic that what takes years to construct, requires hardly a second to demolish. A handful of bulldozers can hold sway over an array of builders and sagacity demands that such forces of destruction are kept at bay."¹

The ball is in your court, Dr. Udwadia.

Kaushik Bhattacharya

Department of Surgery, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Deemed University, Chennai 600116.

E-mail: kaushik_srmc@rediffmail.com

REFERENCE

1. Gandhi RK. Moratorium on mutilation. Indian J Surg 1985;47: 131-2.

© 2003 Indian Journal of Surgery. Also available online at http://www.indianjsurg.com