Journal as a Tool for Distance Education
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EDITORIAL
Journal as a Tool for Distance Education Surajit Bhattacharya 1 Accepted: 26 September 2020 / Published online: 2 October 2020 # Association of Surgeons of India 2020
Not since the invention of the printing press in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg has there been such a revolution in the methods of dissemination of knowledge as is now being seen in the electronic media. The time-honored printed journal is becoming obsolete, and open-access electronic journals and other technological innovations are rapidly reshaping the field of scientific publication. Today we should be taking the next logical step, making our journals interactive.
What Are the Shortcomings of a Printed or E-Journal? 1. They are usually one-way communication. Your interactions with the authors or editors are severely restrained, perhaps by a Letter to the Editor. 2. They come out at intervals and periodically saturate you with a lot of information, most of which you might not be interested in. That is the reason why journals are not read from cover to cover, but we pick and choose topics. 3. A printed matter, once read, has to be remembered, and to some extent imagined, to understand. This needs serious attention, but in the day and age of attention deficit, where people have an attention span less than that of a bee, we are asking a lot. Then again different people imagine differently and can carry home a message never intended by the author. 4. While students remain loyal to the journals, the practicing surgeons are very conscious about their time, and we have to give them the value for their time. If the journal does not give them inputs that they can directly take to their
practice to improve patient care, they are usually not interested. 5. The original contribution to journals depends on their impact factor, and the best authors only remain loyal to the top-line journals. Journals still trying to reach the top struggle to attract them. A journal today desperately needs a new lease of life, and they will get one only if they remain useful to all and not the pride badge of the elite few. They have to be an extended arm of our practice, something which will improve our skills and prepare us for newer challenges. That is exactly what an interactive journal will do. It will be a blend of video and audio inputs inform you, teach you, help you to sharpen your skills, pick up tips and tricks, and allow you to interact with the authors and quench your thirst for knowledge to your heart’s desire.
What Is an Interactive Journal? An interactive journal will not be a bimonthly, quarterly, or six-month affairs but a constant interaction between the editorial board and the readership. I propose we have 16 sections each with their Sectional Editorial team, and they can upload their contents at periodic intervals on the journal site. The journal will have a video evening every week for 90 min for this purpose. These sections are: 1.
* Surajit Bhattacharya [email protected] 1
Sr. Consultant, Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery, Sa
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