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Authors are the souls of any journal, and deserve much respect. To publish a journal manuscripts are needed from authors. Authors have a great responsibility for producing facts of their work in terms of number and results truthfully and an individual honesty is expected from authors in this regards. Both ways its true "No authors-No manuscripts-No journals" and "No journals–No manuscripts–No authors". Reviewing a manuscript is also a very responsible and important task of any peer-reviewed journal and to be taken seriously. It needs knowledge on the subject, sincerity, honesty and determination. Although the process of reviewing a manuscript is a time consuming task butit is expected to give one's best remarks within the time frame of the journal.
Salient features of the JCDR: It is a biomedical, multidisciplinary (including all medical and dental specialities), e-journal, with wide scope and extensive author support. At the same time, a free text of manuscript is available in HTML and PDF format. There is fast growing authorship and readership with JCDR as this can be judged by the number of articles published in it i e; in Feb 2007 of its first issue, it contained 5 articles only, and now in its recent volume published in April 2011, it contained 67 manuscripts. This e-journal is fulfilling the commitments and objectives sincerely, (as stated by Editor-in-chief in his preface to first edition) i e; to encourage physicians through the internet, especially from the developing countries who witness a spectrum of disease and acquire a wealth of knowledge to publish their experiences to benefit the medical community in patients care. I also feel that many of us have work of substance, newer ideas, adequate clinical materials but poor in medical writing and hesitation to submit the work and need help. JCDR provides authors help in this regards.
Timely publication of journal: Publication of manuscripts and bringing out the issue in time is one of the positive aspects of JCDR and is possible with strong support team in terms of peer reviewers, proof reading, language check, computer operators, etc. This is one of the great reasons for authors to submit their work with JCDR. Another best part of JCDR is "Online first Publications" facilities available for the authors. This facility not only provides the prompt publications of the manuscripts but at the same time also early availability of the manuscripts for the readers.
Indexation and online availability: Indexation transforms the journal in some sense from its local ownership to the worldwide professional community and to the public.JCDR is indexed with Embase & EMbiology, Google Scholar, Index Copernicus, Chemical Abstracts Service, Journal seek Database, Indian Science Abstracts, to name few of them. Manuscriptspublished in JCDR are available on major search engines ie; google, yahoo, msn.
In the era of fast growing newer technologies, and in computer and internet friendly environment the manuscripts preparation, submission, review, revision, etc and all can be done and checked with a click from all corer of the world, at any time. Of course there is always a scope for improvement in every field and none is perfect. To progress, one needs to identify the areas of one's weakness and to strengthen them.
It is well said that "happy beginning is half done" and it fits perfectly with JCDR. It has grown considerably and I feel it has already grown up from its infancy to adolescence, achieving the status of standard online e-journal form Indian continent since its inception in Feb 2007. This had been made possible due to the efforts and the hard work put in it. The way the JCDR is improving with every new volume, with good quality original manuscripts, makes it a quality journal for readers. I must thank and congratulate Dr Hemant Jain, Editor-in-Chief JCDR and his team for their sincere efforts, dedication, and determination for making JCDR a fast growing journal.
Every one of us: authors, reviewers, editors, and publisher are responsible for enhancing the stature of the journal. I wish for a great success for JCDR."
Thanking you
With sincere regards
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Ghritlaharey, M.S., M. Ch., FAIS
Associate Professor,
Department of Paediatric Surgery, Gandhi Medical College & Associated
Kamla Nehru & Hamidia Hospitals Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462 001 (India)
E-mail: drrajendrak1@rediffmail.com
On May 11,2011
Dr. Shankar P.R.
"On looking back through my Gmail archives after being requested by the journal to write a short editorial about my experiences of publishing with the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research (JCDR), I came across an e-mail from Dr. Hemant Jain, Editor, in March 2007, which introduced the new electronic journal. The main features of the journal which were outlined in the e-mail were extensive author support, cash rewards, the peer review process, and other salient features of the journal.
Over a span of over four years, we (I and my colleagues) have published around 25 articles in the journal. In this editorial, I plan to briefly discuss my experiences of publishing with JCDR and the strengths of the journal and to finally address the areas for improvement.
My experiences of publishing with JCDR: Overall, my experiences of publishing withJCDR have been positive. The best point about the journal is that it responds to queries from the author. This may seem to be simple and not too much to ask for, but unfortunately, many journals in the subcontinent and from many developing countries do not respond or they respond with a long delay to the queries from the authors 1. The reasons could be many, including lack of optimal secretarial and other support. Another problem with many journals is the slowness of the review process. Editorial processing and peer review can take anywhere between a year to two years with some journals. Also, some journals do not keep the contributors informed about the progress of the review process. Due to the long review process, the articles can lose their relevance and topicality. A major benefit with JCDR is the timeliness and promptness of its response. In Dr Jain's e-mail which was sent to me in 2007, before the introduction of the Pre-publishing system, he had stated that he had received my submission and that he would get back to me within seven days and he did!
Most of the manuscripts are published within 3 to 4 months of their submission if they are found to be suitable after the review process. JCDR is published bimonthly and the accepted articles were usually published in the next issue. Recently, due to the increased volume of the submissions, the review process has become slower and it ?? Section can take from 4 to 6 months for the articles to be reviewed. The journal has an extensive author support system and it has recently introduced a paid expedited review process. The journal also mentions the average time for processing the manuscript under different submission systems - regular submission and expedited review.
Strengths of the journal: The journal has an online first facility in which the accepted manuscripts may be published on the website before being included in a regular issue of the journal. This cuts down the time between their acceptance and the publication. The journal is indexed in many databases, though not in PubMed. The editorial board should now take steps to index the journal in PubMed. The journal has a system of notifying readers through e-mail when a new issue is released. Also, the articles are available in both the HTML and the PDF formats. I especially like the new and colorful page format of the journal. Also, the access statistics of the articles are available. The prepublication and the manuscript tracking system are also helpful for the authors.
Areas for improvement: In certain cases, I felt that the peer review process of the manuscripts was not up to international standards and that it should be strengthened. Also, the number of manuscripts in an issue is high and it may be difficult for readers to go through all of them. The journal can consider tightening of the peer review process and increasing the quality standards for the acceptance of the manuscripts. I faced occasional problems with the online manuscript submission (Pre-publishing) system, which have to be addressed.
Overall, the publishing process with JCDR has been smooth, quick and relatively hassle free and I can recommend other authors to consider the journal as an outlet for their work."
Dr. P. Ravi Shankar
KIST Medical College, P.O. Box 14142, Kathmandu, Nepal.
E-mail: ravi.dr.shankar@gmail.com
On April 2011 Anuradha
Dear team JCDR, I would like to thank you for the very professional and polite service provided by everyone at JCDR. While i have been in the field of writing and editing for sometime, this has been my first attempt in publishing a scientific paper.Thank you for hand-holding me through the process.
Dr. Anuradha
E-mail: anuradha2nittur@gmail.com
On Jan 2020
Images in Medicine
Giant Haematometrocolpos due to Postvaginoplasty Stenosis
TJ01-TJ02
Correspondence
Dr. Senthil Kumar Aiyappan,
Department of Radiodiagnosis, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Kattankulathur, Chengalpattu-603203, Tamil Nadu, India.
E-mail: asenthilkumarpgi@gmail.com
A 24-year-old nulliparous unmarried woman presented to the Gynaecological Department with complaints of abdominal pain for two years that has worsened over the past two days. The pain was dull aching with no aggravating or relieving factors. It was continuous in nature and was associated with a few episodes of vomiting. There was no history of fever or other constitutional symptoms. Vital signs were normal. The patient had primary amenorrhoea and cyclical abdominal pain, for which she was examined and diagnosed with vaginal atresia. Following this, she underwent neovaginoplasty 10 years ago, using the McIndoe vaginoplasty technique. However, the patient failed to undergo periodic vaginal dilatation.
On examination, the abdomen was distended and tense with the presence of a large abdominopelvic mass lesion extending from the pelvis to the epigastrium. On per speculum examination, the urethra was not clearly visualised and the vaginal orifice appeared narrowed. On pervaginal examination, the cervix was not delineated and a hard, tense bulging mass was noted, occupying the vagina. Laboratory investigations revealed a low haemoglobin value of 7 g/dL. The rest of the routine investigations were normal.
Clinically, a diagnosis of haematometrocolpos was made and the patient underwent ultrasound of the abdomen followed by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The ultrasonography revealed a large abdominopelvic cystic mass representing a grossly distended uterine cavity and vagina, which showed echogenic contents (Table/Fig 1)a,b. There was narrowing at the level of the vagina, which was confirmed on MRI, with the endometrial and vaginal cavities showing T2 iso to mildly hyperintense contents suggestive of blood products/proteinaceous contents. The size of the distended uterus and vagina measured approximately 35×18 cm (Table/Fig 1)c,d. Postoperative changes were noted in the vagina with the loss of normal vaginal contour. There was associated mild left hydroureteronephrosis due to obstruction of the left ureter by haematometrocolpos. The patient underwent ultrasound-guided haematometrocolpos drainage with cystoscopy. The patient was placed in a lithotomy position and the surgical site was painted and draped. Under general anaesthesia and aseptic conditions, an incision was made below the urethra and the plane was dissected with ultrasound guidance, following which 4.5 litres of altered tarry chocolate-coloured blood was drained. Postsurgery, a per rectal examination was done to ensure the patency of the rectal mucosa. Foley’s catheter (22G) was inserted through the septum for continuous drainage. The patient received packed red blood cell transfusion preoperatively and postoperatively to improve the haemoglobin level. The abdominal distension and pain significantly reduced after drainage (Table/Fig 2)a,b. Post-drainage ultrasound images showed an empty endometrial cavity and a bulky uterus with heterogeneous echotexture (Table/Fig 2)c,d. Furthermore, the patient was referred to the plastic surgery department for vaginal reconstruction.
Haematometrocolpos is the distension of the uterine cavity and vagina with blood due to anatomical mechanical obstruction to the evacuation of menstrual blood (1),(2). The common causes include imperforate hymen, transverse vaginal septum, vaginal atresia, vaginal hypoplasia and vaginal stenosis (2),(3),(4). In the present case, it was due to the failure of neovaginoplasty as the patient did not undergo periodic dilatation. The causes for patient non compliance with dilatation are that they are not comfortable, unpleasant and they often act as a constant reminder of the abnormality, as in the present case. Since the vaginoplasty technique used here was McIndoe and the patient does not engage in sexual intercourse, periodic vaginal dilatation is required for the rest of their life as it uses skin as a graft (1). Various other vaginoplasty techniques are available now which use peritoneal or intestinal grafts. Periodic vaginal dilatation is not required with these techniques (5). Ultrasound-guided drainage can be effective in patients with acute pain due to haematometrocolpos, as in the present case (3). Urinary retention and obstructive uropathy are also complications of haematometrocolpos (6). In the present case, there was mild left hydronephrosis due to ureteric obstruction by haematometrocolpos, which resolved after drainage. The present case highlights the importance of periodic vaginal dilatation in unmarried females undergoing McIndoe vaginoplasty.
