What is the purpose of launching the World Journal of Dermatology?

Abstract

Congratulations to the publisher, members of the editorial board of the journal, all the authors and readers for launching the World Journal of Dermatology (WJD) as a new member of the World series journal family! Scientific advances and important breakthroughs have been facilitated by well developed ideas, hypothesis and innovative techniques and any misleading findings and theories are exclusively attributable to certain methodological defects. Thus, the role of new and innovative investigations related to skin care, skin health, various cutaneous diseases and their preventive or treatment strategies and the need for inaugurating this new journal is self-evident. The WJD is a peer-reviewed open-access periodical centered in biomedical sciences but with multidisciplinary coverage. If the readers or investigators want to share any new investigations, clinical experience or improvement of such experiences, and any cutaneous research-related academic issues with your peers, you will find the WJD a good platform or media to publish your papers!

Key Words: Cutaneous research; Biomedical sciences; Peer-reviewed; Open-access; Journal

INTRODUCTION

I am Santosh K Katiyar (Figure 1), a full Professor of Dermatology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL, United States, and Birmingham VA Medical Center, Birmingham, AL, United States, and the Editor-in-Chief of the World Journal of Dermatology (World J Dermatol, WJD, online ISSN 2218-6190, DOI: 10.5314), on which preparation was initiated on December 4, 2010 and which is officially published on June 2, 2012. The WJD editorial board has now been established and consists of 110 distinguished experts from 34 countries. It is my great honor to introduce the WJD as a new viable forum for exchange of thoughts, ideas, experiences and investigations to solve the problems associated with maintenance of healthy skin and treatment of many skin-related disorders and diseases, including the risk of skin cancers. Congratulations to the publisher, members of editorial board of the journal, all the authors and readers for this memorable event.

Figure 1 Editor-in-Chief of the World Journal of Dermatology. Santosh K Katiyar, PhD, Professor, Department of Dermatology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL; and Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Birmingham, AL, United States.

AIMS AND SCOPE

The main objective of the WJD is to report and rapidly publish new ideas, investigations, methodology and techniques for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and nursing in the field of dermatology. The journal will cover fungal diseases, dermatitis and eczema, urticarial diseases, drug eruptions, pruritus, erythroderma desquamativum, connective tissue diseases, bullous skin diseases, vascular skin diseases, skin appendage diseases, pigmentary diseases, genetic diseases, nutritional and metabolic disorders, skin tumors/cancers, preventive approaches of skin cancers, including melanoma and nonmelanoma, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, traditional medicine, evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine, epidemiology and nursing. The WJD will also publish original articles and report on applied and basic research in the field of dermatology, such as cell biology, pharmacology immunology, genetics, epigenetics and pharmacology of Chinese herbs used in the prevention of skin diseases, including the risk of skin cancers.

CONTENTS OF PEER REVIEW

In order to guarantee the quality of articles published in the journal, the WJD usually invites three experts to comment on the submitted papers. The contents of peer review include: (1) whether the contents of the manuscript are of great importance and novelty; (2) whether the experiment is complete and described clearly; (3) whether the discussion and conclusion are justified; (4) whether the citations of references are necessary and reasonable; and (5) whether the presentation and use of tables and figures are correct and complete.

COLUMNS

The columns in the issues of the WJD will include: (1) Editorial: to introduce and comment on the advances and developments in the field; (2) Frontier: to review the most representative achievements and comment on the state of current research and propose directions for the future research; (3) Topic Highlight: this column will include three formats, (A) 10 invited review articles on a hot topic, (B) a commentary on common issues of this hot topic, and (C) a commentary on the 10 individual articles; (4) Observation: to update the development of old and new questions, highlight unsolved problems, and provide strategies on how to solve the questions; (5) Guidelines for Clinical Practice: to provide guidelines for clinical diagnosis and treatment; (6) Review: to systematically review the most representative progress and unsolved problems in the major scientific disciplines, comment on the current research status, and make suggestions on the future work; (7) Original Articles: to originally report the innovative and valuable findings in dermatology; (8) Brief Articles: to briefly report novel and innovative findings in dermatology; (9) Case Report: to report a rare or typical case; (10) Letters to the Editor: to discuss and make reply to the contributions published in the WJD, or to introduce and comment on a controversial issue of general interest; (11) Book Reviews: to introduce and comment on quality monographs of dermatology; and (12) Guidelines: to introduce consensuses and guidelines reached by international and national academic authorities worldwide on cutaneous investigations.

CONCLUSION

Together, investigators who want to share any new finding or investigations, clinical experience on the application or improvements of skin care or skin health in biomedical research, the WJD is a place you can feel at home!