Conference Lectures
ANESTHESIA JOURNAL: A PERSPECTIVE
PROF.DR.NIBEDITA PANI, H.O.D, DEPARTMENT OF ANAESTHESIOLOGY AND CRITICAL CARE ,SCBMCH, CUTTACK, ODISHA.
INTRODUCTION
Anesthesiology research in developing nations, especially of Asia and Africa is almost touching newer heights in the last decade with so many publications and research papers being submitted to various national and international journals. Somehow, the acceptance rate of such manuscripts is quite low, which leads to a poor citation and indexing ratio.As such, the real contribution to the world literature is minimal across all disciplines in general and anesthesiology in particular from developing nations.
“Perspective” literally means the art of representation. The domain of clinical research and publication demands a wide array of acumen in research methodology, statistics and proficiency to write amongst many others. Today’s “science” requires the “art” of representation to be validated in the complex sphere of evidence based medicine.
ARTICLE TYPOLOGY: A MIXED BASKET TO CHOOSE FROM
There are different types of articles one finds across various scientific journals. These give the author and the reader alike a range of publications to choose from, and creates a sense of heterogeneity in these scientific publications.
EDITORIAL-An editorial is an article written by or under the direction of the editor of a journal. Editorials give opinions on important problems and issues of the day and intend to persuade readers to agree to a particular point of view.An editorial is similar to an essay in that it focuses on a specific issue or topic, offers a thesis, and provides evidence and supporting arguments to convince its readers. The title clearly identifies the topic; the introductory statement includes the writer’s view on the issue; the body provides supporting evidence and examples; and the conclusion restates the writer’s view and provides a final appeal for the reader to agree to that view.
CLINICAL INVESTIGATIONS-These articles focus on various aspects of the medical speciality of anesthesiology: perioperative medicine, critical care medicine, pain medicine, various techniques of difficult airways or regional blocks. Although there is overlap, authors will choose one of these areas during the submission process. The investigation done should be new and innovative. These sections usually encompass comparison between two or more techniques or procedures either prospectively or retrospectively. Clinical investigation forms the crux of the research and publication in any technical field and thus for the basis of an evidence that later finds its place in routine practice. In the present era of Evidence based medicine, the level of research has been clearly quantified as Level 1, 2 and 3 based on their methodology, execution and inferences. Present day research is more oriented towards a beter level of evidence. From the perspective of a researcher it is imperative in orienting their work towards a clinical investigation of practical significance. The reader on the other hand is more interested in clinically and practically relevant articles.
REVIEW ARTICLES- Theyarealso published in many journals. They are comprehensive papers that synthesize older ideas and suggest new ones. They cover broad areas.they stand with new ideas against the old ones with evidences in hand to prove them.
SPECIAL ARTICLES-Articles that do not readily fall into the above categories may be published as Special Articles. These article lie in the purview of the Editor, and it is his duty to identify and give space to these special articles in the journal;which otherwise have not been classified and thus find hindrances in publication.
CASE REPORTS- New uncommon case specific reports are published in this section with special mention about the entire anesthetic conduct of the case. The author should be knowledgeable enough to identify rare case scenarios. This knowledge is often acquired by being in constant touch with journal publications. The wisdom of identifying and publishing these reports needs to be mentored by the seniors who have had experience in publishing.
LETTER TO EDITOR-In academic publishing, letters to the editor of an academic journal are usually open post-publication reviews of a paper, often critical of some aspect of the original paper. The authors of the original paper sometimes respond to these with a letter of their own. Controversial papers in mainstream journals often attract numerous letters to the editor.
IMPROVEMENT AND QUALITY CONTROL
The drawbacks in anesthesiology research can be improved drastically by training the post-graduate students in qualitative assessment along with quantitative and the clinical assessment during their tenure. The qualitative research has to be given due respect with support from a well-designed theoretical frame-work with practical feasibility. However, at no stage the qualitative and quantitative research methodology should be treated as separate. Both are two sides of the same coin with similar scientific basis; follow the same rules of theoretical research and scientific rigor with an emphasis on achieving reliable, valid and scientific answers to the pre-specified research hypothesis. The merit of qualitative research lies in the fact that it explores the research process in a flexible and creative manner based on the concepts of methodological plurality and theoretical plurality. Further, qualitative research incorporates scientific methods such as triangulation, respondent validation, purposeful sampling, transparency of research, reflexivity, and analytical methods into the research design.
So if we improve the research methodology and hence the publications in our journals of anesthesiolgy, be it national or international then that is going to bring a huge difference.
WHERE ARE WE HEADING?
The rapid growth of few journals such as Indian Journal of Anesthesia, Saudi Journal of Anesthesia, Journal of Anesthesiology Clinical Pharmacology, Anesthesia Essays, and Researches and many more speaks well of the giant strides being taken to promote this specialty among world's leading academic journals. The ranking is further expected to improve over the next few years. China, Japan, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and many other Asian countries are doing excellent academic progress, which is almost equivalent to few developed nations of the world. These trends will definitely help in establishing positive anesthesia trends in the clinical and the public health.
CONCLUSION
Authorship in a journal is of academic, social and financial benefit, but what every author must remember is that the responsibility that he or she bears while writing an article is almost everlasting. The work they provide essentially forms basis of many new horizons ahead.
Free exchange of health information is quintessential for good health, good research and patient benefit. The journals essentially focus on topics of importance to the practical fields of medicine. In developing countries like ours there should be an urgency in improving our standards of research not only to match but exceed that laid down by our developed counterparts. This is not the time for pessimism, it is essentially all of our duties to march ahead in this era of “Globalization of Health information”.
PROF.DR.NIBEDITA PANI, H.O.D, DEPARTMENT OF ANAESTHESIOLOGY AND CRITICAL CARE ,SCBMCH, CUTTACK, ODISHA.
INTRODUCTION
Anesthesiology research in developing nations, especially of Asia and Africa is almost touching newer heights in the last decade with so many publications and research papers being submitted to various national and international journals. Somehow, the acceptance rate of such manuscripts is quite low, which leads to a poor citation and indexing ratio.As such, the real contribution to the world literature is minimal across all disciplines in general and anesthesiology in particular from developing nations.
“Perspective” literally means the art of representation. The domain of clinical research and publication demands a wide array of acumen in research methodology, statistics and proficiency to write amongst many others. Today’s “science” requires the “art” of representation to be validated in the complex sphere of evidence based medicine.
ARTICLE TYPOLOGY: A MIXED BASKET TO CHOOSE FROM
There are different types of articles one finds across various scientific journals. These give the author and the reader alike a range of publications to choose from, and creates a sense of heterogeneity in these scientific publications.
EDITORIAL-An editorial is an article written by or under the direction of the editor of a journal. Editorials give opinions on important problems and issues of the day and intend to persuade readers to agree to a particular point of view.An editorial is similar to an essay in that it focuses on a specific issue or topic, offers a thesis, and provides evidence and supporting arguments to convince its readers. The title clearly identifies the topic; the introductory statement includes the writer’s view on the issue; the body provides supporting evidence and examples; and the conclusion restates the writer’s view and provides a final appeal for the reader to agree to that view.
CLINICAL INVESTIGATIONS-These articles focus on various aspects of the medical speciality of anesthesiology: perioperative medicine, critical care medicine, pain medicine, various techniques of difficult airways or regional blocks. Although there is overlap, authors will choose one of these areas during the submission process. The investigation done should be new and innovative. These sections usually encompass comparison between two or more techniques or procedures either prospectively or retrospectively. Clinical investigation forms the crux of the research and publication in any technical field and thus for the basis of an evidence that later finds its place in routine practice. In the present era of Evidence based medicine, the level of research has been clearly quantified as Level 1, 2 and 3 based on their methodology, execution and inferences. Present day research is more oriented towards a beter level of evidence. From the perspective of a researcher it is imperative in orienting their work towards a clinical investigation of practical significance. The reader on the other hand is more interested in clinically and practically relevant articles.
REVIEW ARTICLES- Theyarealso published in many journals. They are comprehensive papers that synthesize older ideas and suggest new ones. They cover broad areas.they stand with new ideas against the old ones with evidences in hand to prove them.
SPECIAL ARTICLES-Articles that do not readily fall into the above categories may be published as Special Articles. These article lie in the purview of the Editor, and it is his duty to identify and give space to these special articles in the journal;which otherwise have not been classified and thus find hindrances in publication.
CASE REPORTS- New uncommon case specific reports are published in this section with special mention about the entire anesthetic conduct of the case. The author should be knowledgeable enough to identify rare case scenarios. This knowledge is often acquired by being in constant touch with journal publications. The wisdom of identifying and publishing these reports needs to be mentored by the seniors who have had experience in publishing.
LETTER TO EDITOR-In academic publishing, letters to the editor of an academic journal are usually open post-publication reviews of a paper, often critical of some aspect of the original paper. The authors of the original paper sometimes respond to these with a letter of their own. Controversial papers in mainstream journals often attract numerous letters to the editor.
IMPROVEMENT AND QUALITY CONTROL
The drawbacks in anesthesiology research can be improved drastically by training the post-graduate students in qualitative assessment along with quantitative and the clinical assessment during their tenure. The qualitative research has to be given due respect with support from a well-designed theoretical frame-work with practical feasibility. However, at no stage the qualitative and quantitative research methodology should be treated as separate. Both are two sides of the same coin with similar scientific basis; follow the same rules of theoretical research and scientific rigor with an emphasis on achieving reliable, valid and scientific answers to the pre-specified research hypothesis. The merit of qualitative research lies in the fact that it explores the research process in a flexible and creative manner based on the concepts of methodological plurality and theoretical plurality. Further, qualitative research incorporates scientific methods such as triangulation, respondent validation, purposeful sampling, transparency of research, reflexivity, and analytical methods into the research design.
So if we improve the research methodology and hence the publications in our journals of anesthesiolgy, be it national or international then that is going to bring a huge difference.
WHERE ARE WE HEADING?
The rapid growth of few journals such as Indian Journal of Anesthesia, Saudi Journal of Anesthesia, Journal of Anesthesiology Clinical Pharmacology, Anesthesia Essays, and Researches and many more speaks well of the giant strides being taken to promote this specialty among world's leading academic journals. The ranking is further expected to improve over the next few years. China, Japan, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and many other Asian countries are doing excellent academic progress, which is almost equivalent to few developed nations of the world. These trends will definitely help in establishing positive anesthesia trends in the clinical and the public health.
CONCLUSION
Authorship in a journal is of academic, social and financial benefit, but what every author must remember is that the responsibility that he or she bears while writing an article is almost everlasting. The work they provide essentially forms basis of many new horizons ahead.
Free exchange of health information is quintessential for good health, good research and patient benefit. The journals essentially focus on topics of importance to the practical fields of medicine. In developing countries like ours there should be an urgency in improving our standards of research not only to match but exceed that laid down by our developed counterparts. This is not the time for pessimism, it is essentially all of our duties to march ahead in this era of “Globalization of Health information”.