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Chief
Editor -
Abdulrazak
Abyad
MD, MPH, MBA, AGSF, AFCHSE
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Editorial
Office -
Abyad Medical Center & Middle East Longevity
Institute
Azmi Street, Abdo Center,
PO BOX 618
Tripoli, Lebanon
Phone: (961) 6-443684
Fax: (961) 6-443685
Email:
aabyad@cyberia.net.lb
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Publisher
-
Lesley
Pocock
medi+WORLD International
572 Burwood Road,
Hawthorn 3122
AUSTRALIA
Phone: +61 (3) 9819 1224
Fax: +61 (3) 9819 3269
Email:
lesleypocock@mediworld.com.au
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Editorial
Enquiries -
abyad@cyberia.net.lb
.........................................................
Advertising
Enquiries -
lesleypocock@mediworld.com.au
.........................................................
While all
efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy
of the information in this journal, opinions
expressed are those of the authors and do not
necessarily reflect the views of The Publishers,
Editor or the Editorial Board. The publishers,
Editor and Editorial Board cannot be held responsible
for errors or any consequences arising from
the use of information contained in this journal;
or the views and opinions expressed. Publication
of any advertisements does not constitute any
endorsement by the Publishers and Editors of
the product advertised.
The contents
of this journal are copyright. Apart from any
fair dealing for purposes of private study,
research, criticism or review, as permitted
under the Australian Copyright Act, no part
of this program may be reproduced without the
permission of the publisher.
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| July
2009
- Volume 7, Issue 6 |
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A
Warm Welcome to The International Independent
Medical Index
.........................................................................................................................
Dr. Mohsen Rezaeian (PhD, Epidemiologist,
Associate Professor)
Social Medicine Department, Rafsanjan Medical
School, Rafsanjan, Iran.
Tel: +98 391 5234003
Fax: +98 391 5225209
Email: moeygmr2@yahoo.co.uk
Most recently it has
been announced that as from July 1, 2009, MEJFM,
ME-JAA, MEJN and ME-JIM abstracts will be indexed
in the new IMI (International Independent Medical
Index)(1). As a member of the MEJFM
and ME-JIM editorial boards I would like to
warmly welcome this announcement. In what follows
I will try to briefly point out why this announcement
is hugely important.
Medical Journals prepare a platform for distribution
of health and medical information. They do so
to produce new knowledge, which by itself might
transform into practice and policy(2-4).
However, in order to fulfill this aim thoroughly,
indexing and abstracting services are needed.
Indexing and abstracting services by themselves
prepare a platform for retrieval of literature
published based on a specific set of standards
such as topic, authorship, etc. They do so to
help the users of information to have a better
insight towards the topic, authorship, time
and place of a published document(5).
Evidence suggests that prestigious indexing
and abstracting services such as MEDLINE or
ISI select more specialty English journals that
are published in developed countries rather
than more general non-English journals that
are published in the developing world(6-9).
Unfortunately, this approach has generated at
the very leas,t two interrelated important consequences
as follows:
Firstly, those journals which are published
in the developing world, despite their important
roles, have become poorly visible and acknowledged
by the international scientific community. Secondly,
researchers within developing countries seek
to publish their findings, even related to local
problems, in journals which are published in
the developed world.
Under such circumstances, the developing of
an independent international indexing and abstracting
services as IMI could partially alleviate these
un-wanted side effects of existing prestigious
indexing and abstracting services.
- Pocock, L. Note to authors and readers
- Indexing of articles. Middle East J Family
Med 2009; 7(4) :22.
- Salager-Meyer F. Scientific publishing
in developing countries: Challenges for the
future. J Eng Acad Purposes. 2008; 7: 121-
132.
- Shetty P. Comment: The developing world
needs its own science journals. New Scientist.
2008, 20. 9.
- Ofori-Adjei D, Antes G, Tharyan P, Slade
E, Tamber PS. Have online international medical
journals made local journals obsolete? PLoS
Med. 2006; 3(8): e359. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0030359.
- Al-Shorbaji N. Index medicus for the Eastern
Mediterranean region. Emerg Themes Epidemiol.
2008; 5: 14.
- Garfield E. The diverse roles of citation
indexes in scientific research. Rev InveClin.
1998; 50(6):497-504.
- Waheed AA. Scientists turn to journals
in English. Scientific World Journal. 2001;
1:239-240.
- Loria A, Arroyo P. Language and country
preponderance trends in MEDLINE and its causes.
J Med Libr Assoc. 2005; 93:381-385.
- Fung ICh. Seek, and ye shall find: Accessing
the global epidemiological literature in different
languages. Emerg Themes Epidemiol. 2008; 5:
21.
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