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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
Original article / research
Full Version
Evaluation of the Awareness on Glaucoma in A Rural Eye Camp in North Karnataka,India
Correspondence Address :
Dr. Chaitra Pujar,
Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology,
S Nijalingappa Medical college, Navnagar,
Bagalkot, 587102, India.
Phone: 09980394289
E-mail: chaitrapujar@rediffmail.com
Purpose:
To assess the awareness on glaucoma in a rural eye camp in north Karnataka, India.
Materials and Methods:
A total of 100 subjects who were >20 years old, who attended an eye camp at Anwal village,in the Bagalkot district, north Karnataka,India, were enrolled into the study. The responses of the subjects (N=100) who completed a structured questionnaire regarding the awareness (heard of glaucoma) and the knowledge (understanding glaucoma) on glaucoma, formed the basis of this study.
Results:
The awareness on glaucoma was (n=13, 13%) poor in this rural eye camp. No significant difference was noted between the different age-groups (p=0.739) and between males and females (p=0.379). The awareness on glaucoma was significantly higher in the literates (p= 0.0061) and in the higher socio-economic groups (p=0.00003). A total of 5 subjects (n=5, 38.46%) knew that the visual loss due to glaucoma was permanent. The main sources of the awareness on glaucoma in this population were doctors for 5 patients (38.46%), TV/magazines/media for 4 (30.76%) patients, ophthalmologists for 2 (15.38%) patients and opticians for1 (7.69%) patients, followed by the information from a friend who suffered from this disease for 1 (7.69 %) patient.
Conclusion:
The awareness on glaucoma was poor in the rural area of the Anwal eye camp in Bagalkot district in north Karnataka, India. As compared to the previous studies, the awareness was better, due to improvement in the health care services over the years. Community based health education programmes go a long way in increasing the level of the awareness and the knowledge on glaucoma.
Glaucoma prevalence, Awareness, Population based epidemiological study
Introduction
Glaucoma is a chronic progressive optic neuropathy with a characteristic appearance of the optic disc and a specific pattern of the visual field defects, that is associated frequently but not invariably with the raised intra-ocular pressure (1). The magnitude of the global blindness is 45 million, out of which 9 million blind people are in India (1/5th of the total blind people in the world) (2). As per the national survey on blindness (1999-2001, Government of India. Report 2002) (3), glaucoma is responsible for 5.8% cases of blindness in the 50+ population and as per the RAAB (Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness) which was conducted in 2006-07, the corresponding figure is 4.4% (4). Failure of the early detection of the disease poses a management problem towards controlling the glaucomatous blindness. Glaucoma is considered as the “sneak thief of sight”; an early detection and treatment can prevent the progression of the disease. The implementation of health education programmes that encourage the people in the community to get an ocular examination may identify those who are otherwise unaware or not willing to seek an examination and treatment. The aim of this article was to assess the level of awareness regarding glaucoma in the rural population/eye camp at the Anwal village of the Bagalkot district in north Karnataka, India.
After obtaining the institutional ethical committee’s clearance, a total of 100 subjects who were above the age of 20 years, who attended the Anwal eye camp, were enrolled into the study. Anwal is a village which is situated 25kms from Bagalkot, (North Karnataka, India), with a population of 2000. The questionnaire was initially developed in English and it was translated into the local language, Kannada for the target population. Its reliability was tested among the field investigators for its administration (5). The subjects were asked whether they had heard of the eye disease, “glaucoma”. Further questions were asked about the particular eye disease, only if the subject responded positively. The awareness was defined as “having heard of glaucoma”. The knowledge was defined as “when the subject had some understanding of glaucoma”, for example “it is an increase in the pressure in the eye”, “it is a disease where the nerve of the eye becomes weak”, “it is an age related process which leads to a loss of the vision” and so on.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
The statistical analysis was done by using the open epi software. The Chi-square test was applied. There were no statistically significant differences in the different age-groups regarding the awareness of glaucoma (p=0.739), (Chi-square=1.257), (degree of freedom=3).Similarly, there were no statistically significant differences in the awareness of glaucoma between the males and females (p=0.379), (Chi-square=0.773),( degree of freedom =1). There was a statistically significant difference in the awareness of glaucoma with regards to the level of education , the people with a higher level of education being more aware as compared to those with a lower level of education. (p=0.0061),(Chi-square=10.19), (degree of freedom=2) (highly significant) Similarly, there was a statistically significant difference with regards to the awareness of glaucoma in the higher socioeconomic class of the population (p=0.000038), (Chi-square=25.58),(degree of freedom=4) (highly significant).
A total of 100 subjects from the Anwal eye camp (Bagalkot district, north Karnataka, India) participated in the study. The subjects who were older than 20 years responded to a structured questionnaire which was on the awareness of glaucoma. Among these, 58 were males and 42 were females. A total of 13 subjects were aware of glaucoma, there was no significant difference in the gender adjusted prevalence of the awareness of glaucoma (p=0.379) and similarly, in the different age-groups (p=0.739). The awareness on glaucoma was significantly higher in the literates (III) (p= 0.0061) and in the higher socio-economic groups (p=0.00003). The responses to the questionnaire on glaucoma have been presented in (Table/Fig 2). Of the 13 subjects who were aware of glaucoma, 2 felt that glaucoma was a high pressure in the eye, 3 felt that it was a weakening of the nerve of the eye, 3 felt that it was an ageing process which led to a loss of vision, and 5 had other opinions about it, like retinal disease, halos around the eye and pain in the eye. The sources of information for the awareness on glaucoma were: Doctors - 5 (38.46%) Ophthalmologists- 2 (15.38%) Opticians-1 (7.69%) TV/Magazines/Mass media - 4 (30.76%) Family members, relatives and friends who suffered from the disease- 1 (7.69 %) A total of 5 subjects said that the visual loss which was caused by glaucoma was permanent. A total of 2 subjects said that the visual loss was reversible. A total of 6 subjects said that they did not know whether the visual loss which was caused by glaucoma was permanent or reversible. (Table/Fig 3) compares the present study and the past studies which were done on glaucoma awareness.
Glaucoma is a sight threatening disease of the eye; it is one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness in the developing and the developed countries. Approximately 15% of all the blindness is due to glaucoma and it has been estimated that around 6, 00,000 people per year go blind due to glaucoma worldwide. The awareness on glaucoma in our study population was poor. This situation is significantly worse in India as compared to that in other countries (Table/Fig 3). Even among the rural people who were aware of glaucoma, the knowledge about it was poor. Adequate access to and the proper utilization of the eye care services can create a greater awareness and an exposure to the information about the various eye diseases, which include glaucoma. Education and the socio-economic status were found to play a significant role in the level of awareness on glaucoma in this rural population. While many complicated eye diseases can be treated in hospitals, the public awareness on the eye care issues remain low. An effective eye health education may influence individuals to consider eye screening and eye care. This may lead to an early detection of glaucoma and it may prevent blindness. Educating the rural community on the consequences of a delayed treatment of glaucoma will be an important component in the promotion of the preventive ophthalmic care. The mass media and word of mouth can be effective tools for generating an awareness on regular and timely eye check ups, particularly for those who are above 40 years of age and those who are the blood relatives of glaucoma patients. The strategy should be to increase the awareness on glaucoma in the selected high-risk target audience in the rural community.
Diabetic patients have a decreased cognition as compared to the non-diabetics. There is no correlation of age, sex, the duration of diabetes and the HbA1C values with the cognition impairment among the diabetics. The routine assessment of the diabetic complications should include the evaluation of the cognition status. By an early implementation of MMSE, we can detect even a mild cognitive impairment, so that the adequate treatment can be given, to prevent dementia.
The present study was conducted as a short term student research project by Mr. Karan, III year MBBS student of the 2009 batch, under the guidance of Dr.N.Shuba, Assistant Professor in Physiology, PSGIMS and R, Coimbatore. We acknowledge the financial grant from ICMR, New Delhi.
ID: JCDR/2012/4773:2443
Financial OR OTHER COMPETING INTERESTS:
None.
Date of Submission: Jun 28, 2012
Date of Peer Review: Jul 28, 2012
Date of Acceptance: Aug 17, 2012
Date of Publishing: Sep 30, 2012
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