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Celebrating 100 years of IJMR's existence
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This article was originally published by Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd and was migrated to Scientific Scholar after the change of Publisher.
The year 2013 will mark the completion of a centenary of the Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR). These 100 years also symbolize the fruition of science and research in India which was splashed with ink all over the pages of IJMR through these years. From July 2012, as we begin with year-long celebrations of this glorious centenary year for the most celebrated biomedical journal of the country, we take this opportunity to look back at the voluminous work done during the last 99 years and hope to continue forward with a rejuvenated momentum for another 100 years.
IJMR came in to the world of medical journals in July 1913 with its first issue brought out by Thacker Spink and Co., Calcutta ( now Kolkata) with 16 articles. The first issue carried an article by Lt. Col. C. Donovan on “Kala azar, its distribution and the probable modes of infection” and four articles on cholera by Maj. E D W Greig. IJMR was started as a quarterly journal under the authority of Director-General of Indian Medical Services, in collaboration with Public Health Commissioner with the Government of India, and the Director of Medical Research. The office of IJMR was opened in the Central Research Institute (CRI), Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, and the Directors of CRI used to be the editors of the IJMR. It was in 1949 that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) came into existence after being rechristened from Indian Research Fund Association (IRFA, established in 1911), and since then the IJMR is being published under the auspices of ICMR.
Till 1939, the IJMR was published quarterly but for a brief period in 1940 and then again from 1943 to 1946 it became half yearly with only two issues a year. The year 1964 breathed in a new air of periodicity in the life of IJMR and it became a monthly journal with 12 issues a year. Since 1977, the Journal is being brought out in 2 volumes, 12 issues a year. For a brief duration of five years (1989-1993) the IJMR was bifurcated into two Sections viz., Infectious Diseases (Section A) and Biomedical Research other than Infectious Diseases (Section B).
The IJMR has completed a long untiring journey of uninterrupted publication and is today at the top of Indian biomedical journals with current impact factor of 1.837. Thanks to our contributors, readers, reviewers, editorial team and Editorial Board members, the IJMR has been able to publish ‘good’ articles. Being the oldest journal of the country and still being at the top of its class adds another feather in the cap of this prestigious Journal. The 99 year old journey also symbolizes the transition of IJMR into electronic era with online editorial processing and an easy access to free of cost digitized archive across the globe.
IJMR being a general biomedical journal has maintained its basic orientation and kept pace with rapidly developing science. The centenary year celebrations will witness several new initiatives. Apart from being brought out with a new get up, the Journal will have a new section on “Clinical Images”, the first contribution under this section being published in this issue. Beginning with this issue, we also will be bringing out some centenary special state-of- art review articles which will provide a historical background of the topic as also the current scenario. Our intention is to publish information on some issues widely prevalent in India or first reported from India.
Browsing through the digitized content of 99 years of IJMR we were purely overwhelmed to witness several classic contributions of the stalwarts of yesteryears. These are not just momentous contributions to the world of medical science but also to the mankind with long lasting inferences on public health. One cannot move forward without recognizing the greatness and might of the past contributors and with this notion in our hearts and minds beginning with this issue as part of the centenary celebrations, IJMR classic articles will also be featured in each issue.
Though we all would agree that in earlier days man was equipped with meager means for dissemination of what has been published in print in one part of the globe to other, but in the current world of internet and e-journal publishing all these restrictions and boundaries have been broken. Acknowledging non-availability of hi-tech tools in the yesteryears that hampered widespread dissemination of publications, it has been decided to re-publish the most cited articles published in the IJMR in the last five decades. Thirteen such articles have been selected for publication in an ascending order during the centenary year (from July 2012 to July 2013). July 2013 issue of the IJMR will mark the end of centenary celebrations and will be the first issue of 101st year. This exercise of searching for classic articles and most cited articles also provided us an opportunity to see as to what was most significant published in the IJMR and what was considered most significant by others!
A journal is viewed as a mirror of time and in the years to come we intend to publish novel research, innovative reviews, and new discoveries in biomedical science to quench the thirst of educated minds of scientific community. The process of evolving ourselves towards being better and more efficient is an unceasing task and our target will remain to serve the needs of the scientific community. We would be happy to involve you with our centenary celebrations. Your valuable views and suggestions are welcome. Tell us how we can improve further. Share what you expect from us.
