Collaboration Among Endocrinology Publications in Asia

For JAFES in 2010, or even before that, the overwhelming concern was how to make this journal a worthy partner among Asian and international journals. The arena was already teeming with international, regional, and country-specific journals on endocrinology. What did JAFES have to offer to the Southeast Asian endocrinologist?

Early on, we understood the extra effort and attention to detail that would be required of JAFES if we wanted to succeed. We viewed our endeavors as a form of competition, not so much with other Endocrinology journals than with ourselves, and this guided the JAFES’ work over the last eight years. We were always on the lookout for best practices and innovations that can be particularly suited to our Southeast Asian contexts. We were learning by doing, how to adapt with technology to drive continual improvement, committing some mistakes in the process, and celebrating successes as they came.

Through AFES society support, we teamed together, braved the journey and remained true to our ideals of representing the voice of endocrinology in Southeast Asia, eventually becoming accepted for inclusion in Scopus in 2016.

JAFES was recently invited to present at the 6th Seoul International Congress of Endocrinology and Metabolism (SICEM 2018) at a special publication session entitled “Seeking for the United Collaboration among Asian Associations through Publication.” SICEM is the official scientific meeting of the Korean Endocrine Society which provides an opportunity for local and international scientists and clinicians “to share novel ideas and learn about the latest studies in the field of endocrinology and metabolism.”[1] The session aimed for the cooperative development of Asian endocrine journals and featured editors of EnM, Diabetes and Metabolism, Formosan Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, and JAFES. We shared our respective publication’s current status, successes and challenges, and future directions, and discussed, as a group, the possibility of moving forward together.

After learning much from our hands-on experience attempting to make JAFES more active and more relevant, we wish now to pay it forward. Our active participation in the Korea meeting signifies an evolution of our goals as a journal. JAFES is now a worthy partner in publication collaboration, at the national, regional, and international scenes. In an increasingly connected world, indeed collaboration in the form of mutual support to each journal’s specific objectives, provides the greatest potential to promote our own publication’s growth and development.

Reference:

[1] Kim D. Welcome message to SICEM 2018. Downloaded from http://www.sicem.kr/Contents.asp?LoadPage=WelcomeMessage. Accessed May 15, 2018.