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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
Reviews
Full Version
Understanding the Essentials of Pharmacogenomics- The Potential Implications for the Future Pharmacotherapy
Correspondence Address :
P.Subish M. Pharm, Assistant Professor, Department of Hospital and Clinical Pharmacy / Pharmacology, Manipal Teaching Hospital/ Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Phulbari-11, Pokhara, Nepal. Email: subishpalaian@yahoo.co.in, Phone 00977-61-526420
The genetic makeup affects drug responses to a greater extend. Personalized medicine deals with the prescription of specific therapeutic agent best suited for an individual based on the pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomic information. By understanding the genetic variations in an individual, it becomes easy for a clinician to select the appropriate drug in an adequate dose. Genetic variations can influence drug action in many ways, the common ones being the drug metabolizing enzyme (CYP450), the site of drug action (receptors), and at the drug transporter levels (p-glycoprotein). Safety and efficacy of many commonly prescribed drugs like aspirin, isoniazid, omeprazole, warfarin, hydralazine etc are affected by the genetic makeup of individuals. Similarly, the pharmacotherapy of common diseases like asthma, hypertension, depression etc is also influenced by genetic variations. Pharmacogenomics can also offer benefits like proper determination of drug dosage, and production of better vaccines and can definitely reduce the healthcare costs and helps to enable drug safety by understanding the genetic profile of an individual. Integration of pharmacogenomic information into clinical practice will also require clinical trials to assess their clinical usefulness. The usefulness of pharmacogenomic data also depends upon the affordability, ease of application, and ease of interpreting the results etc.
Aspirin resistance, Human genome, Personalized medicine, Pharmacogenetics, Pharmacogenomics
It is well recognized that different patients respond differently to the same medication. Such differences in drug toxicity or drug efficacy are often much greater across a population of patients than between monozygotic twins. Interindividual variability in drug efficacy and toxicity is related to several factors such as age, sex, race and inherited differences in the genes that control drug disposition and effects in humans.(1) Pharmacogenomics refers to the entire spectrum of genes that determine drug safety and efficacy whereas pharmacogenetics refers to monogenetic variants that affect drug response.(2) Pharmacogenomics is a science that examines inherited variations in genes that dictate drug response and express the way these variations result in good response to a drug, a bad response to a drug, or no response at all. Pharmacogenomics holds the promise that drugs might be tailor made for individuals and adapted to each person’s genetic make-up which has been termed as ‘personalized medicine’. Personalized medicine means the prescription of specific therapeutic agents best suited for an individual based on pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomic information. (3)
In this article, the authors provide an overview regarding the importance of understanding the principles of pharmacogenomics and also provide some of the clinically significant examples of variation in drug response due to the differences in the genetic make up. The authors also highlight the future benefits, barriers and ethical considerations associated with pharmacogenomics.
Pharmacogenomics principles in personalized medicine: Effective pharmacotherapy results only when the drug reaches in sufficient amount at the target site or in the systemic circulation. Many factors can influence the patients’ response to drugs including gender, dietary habits, concurrent illness, concomitant drug use etc.(2) For many medications, these interindividual differences are due in part to polymorphisms in genes encoding drug metabolizing enzymes, drug transporters, and/or drug targets (e.g., receptors, enzymes)(4).
The recognition of the complexities involved in the gene and the advance of genetics into genomics led to the broader science of pharmacogenomics. This led to the vision of "personalized medicine," that is, making drug use more effective and safer by giving drugs that fit a person's genes.5 As the initial draft of human genome has revealed, there are over 1.4 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPS) in the human genome, with over 60,000 of these residing in the coding regions of human genes.(1)
Some of these SNPS have already been identified to affect metabolism or effects of drugs. For example, genes encoding cytochrome P450 enzymes, N-acetyl transferase etc. Genetic make up is thus one of the commonest factors affecting the drug response. These variations in the genetic make up of an individual can change the manner in which the patient responds to the drug. Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) are estimated to be one of the top ten causes of death and up to 50% of adverse reactions are possibly related to the genetic makeup of the susceptible individuals.(6) By understanding the variations in the genetic makeup of an individual, it becomes easy for a clinician to select the appropriate drug at the appropriate dose.
Genetic variations and drug response: The variations may be at the drug metabolizing enzyme (CYP450), at the site of drug action (receptors), or at the drug transporter levels (p-glycoprotein). The outcome of these variations may be lack of or decreased therapeutic efficacy or an increased risk of toxicity.
Genetic variations in genes of drug metabolizing enzymes (P450 genes): The cytochrome P450 system is a group of enzym
Many prescribed drugs either don’t produce the desired therapeutic effect or have extensive undesired effects. Since pharmacogenomics is linked to drug efficacy as well as drug toxicity, it would be desirous to have genetic screening while prescribing those drugs that are affected by the human genetic makeup. Prescribing drugs to the patients based on their genetic makeup will certainly improve the quality of health care and also reduce overall cost by decreasing the number of treatment failures and adverse drug reactions. The day is not far away when a clinician changes his/her decision about a drug considered for the patient because the patient’s genetic test indicate that he/she could suffer serious adverse effects to the medication. Pharmacogenomics will also transform the way the clinical trials are conducted by allowing for the selection of a more homogeneous study population, there by reducing the size and cost of clinical investigation. However, factors such as affordability, ease of application, and ease of interpreting the results play a vital role in extrapolating the pharmacogenomic data to personalized medicine.
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