AIPM has come a long way but the journey is just beginning. The board of the journal has relentlessly pursued excellence not as a one time achievement but as a tradition. This edition is a culmination of many hours of brainstorming on the way forward. The board is always discussing innovations that will bring strength to the journal and improve the appearance and readability. We have been able to remain focused because from the very beginning a seven point agenda was set and by them we measured our progress and navigated our course.
The first point of the agenda was to have a journal that will serve UCH Consultants/Residents and medical practitioners in Oyo state as a source of current medical practice and a portal for dissemination of medical research. This first agenda has since been expanded to the vision of AIPM having a place on the table of every medical doctor in Nigeria. We have also realized that the quality of medical practice in Nigeria cannot rise above
the quality of Residency training. Thus the journal has placed medical training as one of her priority areas.
The second agenda was to clearly define the vision of the journal and to write it with burning passion on the heart ofevery board member. The vision has always been to publish regularly and timely the highest quality medical journal both nationally and internationally. This vision has not changed and steady progress is being made towards realizing it. Regardless of how long it takes we are determined to get there.
The third agenda was to have a strong base for the achievement of the above vision. An office was urgently needed and the board vigorously pursued the project of having an office. To the Glory of the Almighty God we have a state of the art office at the basement of the east wing of the Hospital, with state of the art equipment for desktop publishing. The office is very convenient for the degree of intellectual work needed to sustain a very high quality journal like the AIPM. The contributions of Prof Illesanmi (CMD UCH) and the hospital management towards the realization of this worthy goal cannot be over emphasized. The board is greatly indebted to them. Dr Adenipekun (CMAC), made tireless efforts towards the renovation of the office complex. The president of our association, Dr U O Eze, one time deputy EIC, is also worthy of praise. We are also very grateful to every member of ARD who made funds available for furnishing of the office and continue to make funds available for our operations- Dear colleagues, this is your journal! On behalf of all the board members I wish to say thank you to everybody that has contributed to our endless progress. We have in mind the words of our premier EIC, Dr W Balogun who said that someday AIPM will occupy a large building. We also have a plan to raise the capital base of the Journal by strategic commercialization, investments, and savings. We hope to have a journal that will be self sustaining financially. With our office, as it is now, in place the journal moved on to the next agenda.
The fourth agenda is to have an ever evolving journal and to realize that our strength lies in innovation. We have so far focused on ability to take initiative, originality, skill, innovativeness, and team spirit as essential qualities during interviews for board membership. This has paid off handsomely as we have always had a board that has members that are very innovative and that see only ways of improving the journal continually. Board members who see themselves as belonging to one family and are not interested in credit, fame, or personal gains. The board
has been so effective and efficient that life membership is conferred on every board member. We are interested in the academic and professional progress of board members above board duties. Someday our alumni will become our board of reviewers. We plan to have a short period between time of submission of articles and rejection or publication of the article. Ideally this should not be more than three weeks. One reason for delays has always been delays by reviewers. While we have had some excellent reviewers who do not delay articles, we can’t say the same for all. We have decided to groom our members and follow them all the way to their inaugural lectures as professors. The more of our members that reach the pinnacle of their chosen careers the stronger our board and proposed board of reviewers, and the faster we can achieved the planned rapid turn around time for submitted articles. I can assure all our authors and readers that this journal will only keep improving. This edition introduces two new segments, Medical differential diagnosis and disease review, and Medical procedure. The news segment has been titled Medical News. This also will become a regular feature. We have realized the strengths of innovation by following closely developments in the New England Journal of Medicine. The NEJM is a journal
we admire a lot.
The fifth agenda is to massively expand the distribution network of the journal. We have put mechanisms in place to obtain e-mail addresses of every practicing physician in the country. Our website is also undergoing rapid improvements that will make it more and more attractive and also enhance online accessibility. Once significant progress is made on this fifth agenda, the sixth agenda will automatically follow. The sixth agenda is to steadily gain in impact factor. This is the most important agenda set by the board. All the others are aimed at achieving this. We are set to achieve the highest possible impact factor. Medical journalism is too great a venture to toy
with. Our impact factor simply has to rise and must keep rising. This singular agenda is the focus of all the activities of the board.
The seventh agenda is to sustain all the gains achieved. We are strongly convinced that Information technology is the future of all forms of journalisms. We are poised to be at the cutting edge of IT at all times and to position the journal globally via this means. Presently we are looking beyond the internet. We are convinced that this is the only way to remain relevant and to sustain our all important sixth agenda. We plan to lay down solid principles that will be followed by Editors that will come after us for generations to come. Our dependence is absolutely on God, for divine laws and principles have never failed.