A time of change at Thrombosis Journal

  • PDF / 113,070 Bytes
  • 2 Pages / 595.28 x 793.7 pts Page_size
  • 104 Downloads / 197 Views

DOWNLOAD

REPORT


EDITORIAL

Open Access

A time of change at Thrombosis Journal Hugo ten Cate1* and Yukio Ozaki2 Abstract Thrombosis and hemostasis related disease have a heavy burden in cardiovascular disease and it is important to have a journal where research into this can be accessed by all. At the start of our Editorship we wanted to look back and reflect upon the journal’s successes to date, but it is also important to look forward! The future of Thrombosis Journal is taking shape and we would like to invite all members of the community to contribute to the further development of the journal to best suit the community’s needs. The mission statement of Thrombosis Journal was clearly stated by the founding Editor, Dr. Raul Altman, a highly respected and internationally known investigator in the area of thrombosis and haemostasis. On the journal’s website [1] he says: "Everyone should have equal access to medical literature. Thrombosis is the most significant cause of disability and death in the world. Thrombosis Journal, as an open access publication, makes it possible for anyone in the world to read high-quality research in this important area”. In a nutshell, this statement summarizes two important features. Firstly, open access is being increasingly recognised as a universal human right, in this particular case the right of clinicians and scientists to unrestricted access to new scientific data emerging from our field of interest. Secondly, the fact that thrombosis and hemostasis related diseases are the most important burden of cardiovascular disease and death worldwide [2,3]! Thrombosis (arterial or venous) is a global problem of major significance and while there are many related biomedical journals that either carry the topic as a main issue (e.g., Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis), or devote significant space to thrombosis and haemostasis (e.g., Blood), the “thrombosis” scope is so wide that there is ample need for additional forums. In short, our mission statement remains unchanged, we aim to support the community through * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 University Medical Center, UNS 50/box 8, PO Box 616, Maastricht, Limburg 6200 MD, Netherlands Full list of author information is available at the end of the article

the dissemination of the freely accessible original research articles published in the journal. We consider open access a critical element in the dissemination of knowledge and research data throughout the world. In the field of thrombosis (and hemostasis) many developments are relevant, not only for the developed world, but also for those in developing nations where access to subscription journals may be limited, mainly because of financial constraints. As Thrombosis Journal charges its authors to publish articles (discretionary waivers are considered on a case by case basis for authors unable to pay), the strength of the journal is that it can be accessed by anyone, anywhere, without charge. This makes it a highly competitive journal in terms of readership, throughout the world.