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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
Full Version
Clinical Image of Aphallia: A Rare Congenital Anomaly
Correspondence Address :
Dr. Aditya Sriharsha Pedaprolu,
Department of General Surgery, Shalinitai Meghe Super speciality Hospital, Sawangi (Meghe), Wardha-442001, Maharashtra, India.
E-mail: adi.sriharsha@gmail.com
A six-year-old boy with a karyotype of 46XY presented to the outpatient department with congenital absence of the penis, known as aphallia (Table/Fig 1). He was born from an uncomplicated pregnancy, with no family history of congenital anomalies or consanguinity. Upon further history-taking and physical examination, it was discovered that he was passing urine from an external urethral opening located in the perineum. A local examination revealed a total absence of the penis, and bilateral testes could not be palpated in the scrotum. Apart from this, there were no other identifiable external abnormalities. An abdominal and inguinoscrotal ultrasound showed left kidney pyelectasis, and the right testis was found to be undescended, located in the inguinal canal, while the left testis was present at the neck of the scrotum. Doppler ultrasound indicated internal vascularity in both testes. Due to these findings, the parents were counselled regarding the nature of the condition, and the patient was ultimately referred to a higher centre for further management by a specialist in Disorders of Sexual Differentiation (DSD) regarding the case of aphallia.
Aphallia, or complete penile agenesis, is defined as the congenital absence of the penis. It is an exceedingly rare condition, with a reported prevalence of just one in 10 to 30 million live births and fewer than 100 documented cases in the medical literature to date (1). The primary pathological cause of aphallia is the absence or impairment of genital tubercle development during the first four weeks of embryonic development. In instances where aphallia is associated with more severe malformations, the underlying issue may arise from defects in cloacal differentiation during early embryogenesis, specifically as a defect in blastogenesis. A diagnosis of aphallia is characterised by the absence of the phallus, a male karyotype, and a normally developed scrotum containing normal testes (2). It frequently occurs alongside other congenital anomalies, including kidney agenesis or cystic kidney, horseshoe kidney, urinary reflux, prostate agenesis, skeletal and neural disorders, annular pancreas, clubfoot, and cardiac problems, which can lead to life-threatening complications (3).
A notable genitourinary complication was reported in a case study by Malik MA et al., involving a nine-year-old boy who presented with fever, vomiting, drowsiness, aphallia, and uraemic urosepsis. He underwent bilateral percutaneous nephrostomy for severe hydronephrosis and was started on broad-spectrum antibiotics, leading to clinical improvement. However, despite recommendations for further surgical procedures, including appendico-vesicostomy and closure of vesico-rectal communication, the parents refused treatment and left the hospital without follow-up (4).
The treatment of this genetic abnormality requires a multistage and multidisciplinary approach involving paediatricians, paediatric surgeons, geneticists, endocrinologists, and psychologists. The primary management focuses on addressing life-threatening associated malformations, after which elective surgeries, such as gender reassignment or reconstructive surgeries, can be conducted.
A case report by Gupta A and Gupta H detailed the situation of a six-month-old boy diagnosed with this condition, emphasising the difficult decisions his parents faced regarding gender reassignment amid societal pressures. After receiving counselling on treatment options for their child with aphallia, the family considered two main approaches. The first option was female gender reassignment, which involved bilateral orchiectomy and urethral-perineal transposition, with plans for future feminising genital reconstruction. The second option, male phallic construction, was ultimately deemed less favourable due to the high failure rate in achieving erectile function and the potential for sexual difficulties later in life. Given these considerations, the family chose female gender reassignment, as it offered more favourable prospects for normal sexual function compared to the risks associated with male phallic construction (5). Early surgical intervention is crucial, and parents should receive thorough counselling on all treatment options, including their advantages and disadvantages, to make an informed decision.
Congenital abnormalities, Genitourinary system, Male genitalia, Paediatrics
DOI: 10.7860/JCDR/2024/74720.20308
Date of Submission: Aug 03, 2024
Date of Peer Review: Sep 18, 2024
Date of Acceptance: Sep 25, 2024
Date of Publishing: Nov 01, 2024
AUTHOR DECLARATION:
• Financial or Other Competing Interests: None
• Was informed consent obtained from the subjects involved in the study? Yes
• For any images presented appropriate consent has been obtained from the subjects. Yes
PLAGIARISM CHECKING METHODS:
• Plagiarism X-checker: Aug 04, 2024
• Manual Googling: Sep 18, 2024
• iThenticate Software: Sep 20, 2024 (08%)
ETYMOLOGY: Author Origin
EMENDATIONS: 5
- Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science, thomsonreuters)
- Index Copernicus ICV 2017: 134.54
- Academic Search Complete Database
- Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
- Embase
- EBSCOhost
- Google Scholar
- HINARI Access to Research in Health Programme
- Indian Science Abstracts (ISA)
- Journal seek Database
- Popline (reproductive health literature)
- www.omnimedicalsearch.com