It is my great honor and pleasure to serve as the sixth Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Dermatological Science (JDS), succeeding Professor Akimichi Morita. JDS is the official journal of the Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology (JSID), which now comprises more than 1350 dermatologists and skin researchers from Japan and other countries. Beginning in 2005, I served as the Secretary-General of JSID under Professor Shinji Shimada, and I worked to organize the International Investigative Dermatology (IID) 2008 held in Kyoto. After the IID, I assumed the President of JSID and worked for 3 years and 7 months with the two major tasks, the internationalization of the organization and the education of young researchers. I believe that the success of these events contributed to firmly establishing the status of JSID in the arena of international investigative dermatological societies. I have been thus deeply involved in JSID. This year is the year next to IID2008, and IID2013 will be held with many submitted abstracts in Edinburgh. In parallel with the success of JSID, JDS has developed as international dermatological journal. Since the term of the JDS Editor-in-Chief is 5 years, the change of the JDS office has recently been synchronized with the IID meetings.
JDS has increasingly upgraded its value among the dermatological journals. The journal's Impact Factor has consistently increased from 1.6 (2003), to 1.5 (2004), 2.0 (2005), 2.6 (2006), 2.5 (2007), 2.9 (2008), and 3.7 (2009). During Professor Morita's office-in-term, manuscript submissions have increased, pushing up the Impact Factor to 3.718 in 2011. The efforts of Professor Akimichi Morita and the section editors have made JDS the 6th highest rated journal among 58 dermatology journals. The number of submitted manuscript has been consistently increased to more than 500, but the mean interval between submission to the first decision step is less than 30 days. Manuscripts are being submitted not only from Japan, but currently also from 42 other countries, including other Asian countries, European countries, and the United States. JDS is becoming popular among dermatologists and cutaneous biologists all over the world. I would like to express my deep appreciation of the endeavors of former Editor-in-Chiefs and Section Editors.
The current JDS features include fast publication policy, free color publication, power point slides online, and free JDS subscription for JSID members. Over the next 5 years, we will maintain these features and add substantially attractive items to JDS. High quality editorial process is essential for JDS, and the system composed of 20 well-known Section Editors plays an essential role for a rapid but qualified review and decision-making process. The success of JDS thoroughly depends on your contribution and support. Your active participation is greatly appreciated. We are looking forward to receiving more of your interesting and high-quality research articles.
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© 2013 Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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