An evolving journal
This 4th print-issue of the journal again includes a variety of original and review articles in the area of cardiovascular medicine. Beginning with this issue we have further expanded our Art and Medicine series into an independent section. This is reflected by the inclusion of an associate art editor, enhanced display of the artwork on our website (1) and on Facebook. The newly launched Facebook page (2) will connect online users to our growing art/image archive. We hope that by incorporating social media to our journal we will extend the community of viewers and promote art and artists. The current issue includes original artwork by the Luxembourgish artist Denise Hansen entitled ‘European creativity and American experience’.
Three ‘Perspective’ articles describe evolving areas of medical care in different health care settings. The articles by Dr. Yuko-Jowi and Dr. Mocumbi describe experiences of humanitarian cardiovascular medicine in Kenya and Mozambique. Both articles are part of an established longitudinal topic (3). The article by Dr. Luo summarizes the development of pulmonary vascular medicine in China, and marks the start of a new longitudinal topic, focused on pulmonary vascular disease. In this issue it is accompanied by a review article by Dr. Chan discussing the role of micro RNA in pulmonary vascular disease, and an original articles by Dr. Jalal describing “Risk factors of prolonged mechanical ventilation following open heart surgery”.
Other review articles describe an innovative ex-vivo model for heart valve development (Paul Iaizzo: “Imaging in the context of heart valve development. The Visible Heart Model”), and the potential role of “Bone marrow-derived cell therapy in chagasic cardiac disease: a review of pre-clinical and clinical results” (Dr. Campos de Carvalho).
In the process of establishing a new medical journal it is important to address issues surrounding ethical standards of medical publishing. In this context, we re-print (with permission of the authors) an editorial by Drs. Ferris and Fletcher, which reflects the opinion of the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME, www.wame.org) (4). The paper comments on a policy statement of the organization, entitled ‘Conflict of Interest in Peer-Reviewed Medical Journals’ (5) and describes global standards of publishing.
These standards have evolved over decades and are heavily influenced by the experience with print-based journals, which continue to be popular in an otherwise increasingly digital world (6). For our journal, the digital version and website (1) is a major focus beside the print-version. The digital format appears more flexible, up-to-date, allowing early ‘ahead of print’ publication, ‘longitudinal topics’, discussion, distribution and commenting in a ‘social’, scientific network. However, it will be important to apply and if necessary adjust the standard of publishing to this digital format.
We anticipate that the journal will further evolve into an international platform for discussion and exchange of novel ideas related to cardiovascular medicine and ‘art-in-medicine’.
Acknowledgements
Disclosure: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
References
- Available online: www.thecdt.org
- Available online: www.facebook.com/pages/Art-and-Medicine-in-Cardiovascular-diagnosis-and-Therapy/325214327571943
- Schoenhagen P, Isma’eel H, Mocumbi AO. ‘Longitudinal’ topics in Cardiovascular Diagnosis and Therapy (CDT). Cardiovasc Diagn Ther 2012;2:83-4.
- Ferris LE, Fletcher RH. Conflict of interest in peerreviewed medical journals: the world association of medical editors position on a challenging problem. J Young Pharm 2010;2:113-5.
- Available online: http://www.wame.org/conflict-ofinterest- in-peer-reviewed-medical-journals
- Topol E. The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care. ISBN- 10: 0465025501 ISBN-13: 978-0465025503
