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| EDITORIAL |
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| Year : 2014 | Volume
: 46
| Issue : 5 | Page : 473-474 |
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Four and half decades of Indian Journal of Pharmacology
Chetna Desai1, B Dinesh Kumar2
1 Chief Editor, Indian Pharmacological Society
2 President, Indian Pharmacological Society
| Date of Web Publication | 11-Sep-2014 |
Correspondence Address:
Chetna Desai
Chief Editor, Indian Pharmacological Society
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0253-7613.140566
How to cite this article:
Desai C, Kumar B D. Four and half decades of Indian Journal of Pharmacology
. Indian J Pharmacol 2014;46:473-4 |
Indian Journal of Pharmacology (IJP), the official publication of the Indian Pharmacological Society (IPS), is in its 45 th year of publication. Generations of pharmacologists across the world have benefited from the scientific and scholarly fare published by this bimonthly indexed journal. Its sustained impact on the scientific community can be gauged by various direct and indirect parameters, besides the conventional Impact Factor. On behalf of the Editorial Board of the Journal and the Executive Committee of Indian Pharmacological Society, we take this opportunity to appraise the readers, contributors and patrons about the progress of the journal.
During the past years the successive Editorial Boards have been earnestly trying to maintain and improve the visibility and impact of the journal. A change from Harvard style of referencing to the Vancouver format was made to meet the international requirements. IJP's indexing with Science Citation Index and PubMed were other major achievements. The penchant of the journal for quality and utmost scientific rigor and dedicated efforts of all the Editorial Boards so far have not only helped IJP maintain the quality consistently but also improved its visibility. The journal garnered an impact factor of 0.68. It indeed is a matter of pride that IJP has been rated high among the 340 plus publications listed by the prestigious Wolter Kluwers-Medknow Publications and is among the 20 that have an impact factor. It number of citations of the articles published in IJP has been the progressively increasing. The recent report of the 2000 documents considered for the h-index reveals that they are cited at least 38 times.
Similarly, the steady increase in the influx of manuscripts submitted to the journal indicate that IJP is preferred and popular among researchers, academics and scientists across the globe. Manuscript submissions have witnessed a four-fold increase since 2003 till date. Owing to the rigorous review process, the rejection rate has been healthy at 70-80%. In tune with the contemporary trends, the research submitted to the IJP includes a variety, including indigenous experimental research, clinical and educational research, translational research from within India and across the globe. A rising trend of publications is witnessed from diverse and emerging areas such as social pharmacology including pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacovigilance, pharmacoeconomics, KAP (Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice) assessment of health care professionals and consumers about different aspects of use of medicines, study of drugs in special populations, studies on pattern of use and interactions among medicines, quack-remedies, alternative medicines. Not considered as "pure research" by many, these studies nonetheless have their own significance and hence find a place in this journal.
The readership statistics too are encouraging. Being an open access journal, maximum reading hits are received for full text html and the Sword version. Predictably, maximum readers are from India, followed by U.S.A., Egypt, United Kingdom and China. About 66% of over 2 lakh visitors in 2013 were new, having accessed the website for the first time.
Considering the steep rise in printing costs and the fact that the journal is an open access one, the print copies are being delivered only to those readers who opt for the same. IJP therefore is becoming ecofriendly with lesser paper copies!
With a greater number of readers accessing journals from their palm top and mobile devices, an app for these devices is being planned in the near future.
The journal, an official publication of the IPS, supports and promotes the various initiatives taken by the Government of India in promoting safer use of medicines. The Suspected Adverse Drug Reaction Form and the Transfusion Reaction Reporting Form for Blood and Blood Products are published in all issues of the journal, to encourage and promote reporting of adverse reactions to medicines and blood products. It also publishes case reports of adverse drug reactions (ADR) in a dedicated section, the "Drug Watch". In view of the regulatory reforms in the country, IJP encourages, complies with and invites special updated information on ethical issues for conduct of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Clinical Research, ADR reporting etc. of the ICMR, CPCSEA, CDCSO, PCI, DBT, DST, CSIR and other Government agencies. Compliance to the relevant regulations and ethical considerations is a pre requisite for publishing research in IJP.
We also take this opportunity to share some noteworthy progress of the IPS. The South African Society for Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (SASBCP) successfully organized the World Congress of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (WCP-2014) with the theme "Pharmacology at the Cutting-Edge" on 13 th -18 th July, 2014 at Cape Town, South Africa. A well-attended conference, the scientific program consisted of an eclectic mix of topics in basic and clinical pharmacology, of contemporary interest. Dr Mathume Joseph "Joe" Phaahla, Deputy Minister of Health, South Africa and the Chief Guest at the inauguration shared his views on the importance of affirming the faith of the Civil Society in the beneficial effects of medicines. Dr. Douglas Oliver, in his presidential address cautioned against the challenges of millennium with reference to rapid changes in disease patterns and need for suitable drugs for emerging diseases. Dr. Robert Lefkowitz, Professor at Duke University Medical Center, Nobel Laureate of Chemistry in 2012, in his inaugural keynote address gave an insight into the discoveries in the field of G protein coupled receptors. The discoveries spanning three decades, were directed at the molecular properties and regulatory mechanisms that control the function of these receptors and the therapeutic potential of drugs that modulate this family of receptors.
It is a matter of pride that the INSA-ICSU (IUPHAR) has recognized the contributions of IPS and nominated a team of the Indian Delegation under the leadership of Prof. YK Gupta (former President-IPS), to participate in the WCP 2014. The delegation, in an exclusive meeting with the office bearers of the British Society of Pharmacology, identified the areas for collaborative programs to encourage intellectual and scientific exchange among youngsters researchers and scientists. The delegation also had a meeting with ASCEPT Australia and New Zealand, the Canadian Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, European Union of Pharmacologists and discussed avenues for establishing collaborations for development of pharmacology in India. We congratulate Dr. Bhagirath Patel, from India who has been elected as Counselor (Executive Member) for IUPHAR, 2014-2018.
The conference that concluded fittingly on the Nelson Mandela Day, was celebrated with a call for people everywhere-"to take responsibility for changing the world into a better place, one small step at a time", just as Mr. Mandela did. That is an apt challenge for us too. Let us take this message forward by contributing our mite, in one or more of our roles as researchers, academicians, regulators, consumers and the "common man". Let the societal concerns rule and guide us always in all our professional and personal endeavors.
On behalf of the editorial team and the Indian Pharmacological Society, we thank our members, readers, reviewers and contributors for reposing faith in us.
Keep walking with us; we will together achieve many more milestones!
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