What is the purpose of launching the World Journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases?

Abstract

Launching of the World Journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases (WJCID) could have been possible due to efforts of the publisher, members of the editorial board, all the authors and definitely our readers. I congratulate everyone for making it possible. Pathogenic organisms of various origin cause infectious diseases often resulting in symptomatic illness. WJCID is an open access peer reviewed journal that will be published bimonthly. WJCID will primarily emphasize on topics relevant to infections affecting human and animal health yet articles from other diseases and relevant issues will also be encouraged. WJCID welcomes articles from either basic or applied research in different disciplines like Epidemiology of communicable and non-communicable infections, Immunology and Genetics. WJCID covers topics like Host-Parasites interactions, Vector biology, development of advanced tools for diagnosis, genetic susceptibility to diseases, and disease prevention and vector control. WJCID will work as an important resource of basic and applied research in the field of infections. It is widely recommended that clinical implementations of basic and applied research be encouraged for the benefit to each stream. So again I welcome everyone and assure that WJCID will be a great platform where you can feel free to share your valuable results, discuss new hypothesis and research problems and update yourself with the most recent advancements made in the field of infections.

Key Words: Infectious disease; Pathogen; Peer-reviewed; Open access; Journal

INTRODUCTION

I am Shyam Sundar, a Professor at Banaras Hindu University, India (Figure 1), together with Lihua Xiao, DVM, PhD, Senior Scientist, Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, United States, we will be co-Editor-in-Chief for the World Journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases (World J Clin Infect Dis, WJCID, online ISSN 2220-3176, DOI: 10.5495). It is a matter of great joy to introduce the WJCID as a new member of infectious disease series for discussing health related issues and new technologies. This will provide a new platform to exchange views related to clinical infectious diseases, to focus on obstacles and to overcome them to improve global health situation. I would like to congratulate all the contributors to support beginning of WJCID!

Figure 1 Editor-in-Chief of the World Journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases. Shyam Sundar, MD, FRCP (London), FAMS, FNASc, FASc, FNA, Professor, Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India.

I take this opportunity to formally announce that the first issue of the WJCID on which preparation was initiated on December 16, 2010, is officially published on December 30, 2011 and from now on will be published bimonthly. WJCID is a peer reviewed open access (OA) journal. The editorial Board of WJCID consists of 106 distinguished infectious disease experts from 35 countries. Being an OA journal WJCID delimits the problems of access to readers and lets them make maximum use of the data. I am sure the questions like the purpose of launching WJCID, its scope and the selection of content, every reader would have in their mind. In the next section I will try to address these issues.

Infectious diseases or communicable diseases comprise if clinically evident illness or symptoms of infections caused by various pathogenic agents in the host[1]. Further there could be infections that can spread directly or indirectly from one person to other or zoonotic diseases which are infectious diseases of animals which can cause disease when transmitted to humans. One way of proving that a given disease is “infectious”, is to satisfy Koch’s postulates (first proposed by Robert Koch), which demands that the infectious agent be identified only in patients and not in healthy controls, and that patients who contract the agent also develop the disease.

Pathogenic organisms can be of any origin like virus, bacteria, fungi, protozoan and other multicellular parasites and sometimes disease transmission can involve some vectors also which can be of both biological and non-biological origin. Establishment of infection depends on many factors like mode of transmission, Vectors, Immune status of Host, Host genetic factors, etc. While many infections can stay asymptomatic for most or complete course of illness other convert into symptomatic diseases and are fatal if left untreated. Disease is always an outcome of Immune pathogenesis of host pathogen interaction, which is decided largely by Immune potential of host system against causative agent[2]. Most of the infections are fatal if not taken care of and cause severe mortality worldwide[3].

My main area of research is visceral leishmaniasis. Leishmanises are a group of diseases commonly caused by obligate intracellular protozoan Leishmania[4]. Among many forms of disease visceral leishmaniasis is the most severe and is often fatal if left untreated. Only in Indian subcontinent about 200 million people are at risk[5]. It will definitely be very interesting to deal with a broader spectrum of infections and this will help us to develop a better understanding of infectious diseases.

CONTENTS OF PEER REVIEW

In order to guarantee the quality of articles published in the journal, WJCID 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.

SCOPE AND COLUMNS

WJCID will focus on a broad spectrum of topics on infectious diseases that will cover epidemiology, immuno-pathogenesis, genetic factors, host susceptibility to infection, vector control, novel approaches of treatment, molecular diagnostic and vaccines. It will provide a common stage to share our visions, new approaches, most advanced techniques, and to discuss research problems that will help everyone working in the field of various infections to exchange their views and to improve public health.

The journal publishes full length articles in basic and applied research showing original reports, invited reviews, Book reviews and mini reviews. Also it is open for brief case reports and short communications, commentaries, editorials and letters to Editor. WJCID will focus on broad range of infections like opportunistic infections, zoonotic infections, tropical and neglected tropical diseases, emerging infections, etc. and following topics related to these issues: (1) Causative agents discussing various pathogens; (2) Vectors and Mode of transmission; (3) Host -Pathogen Interaction and Immune-pathogenesis of the disease; (4) Epidemiology of the infection and vector control strategies; (5) Genetic factors covering both Host and pathogen; (6) Molecular diagnostic techniques vaccines; and (7) Recent advances in cell tissue culture, lab techniques, etc. Various other related fields like medical microbiology, pharmacology of herbs, bioinformatics, etc. will be included.

The columns in the issues of WJCID will include: (1) Editorial: To introduce and comment on the substantial advance and its importance in the fast-developing areas; (2) Frontier: To review the most representative achievements and comment on the current research status in the important fields, and propose directions for the future research; (3) Topic Highlight: This column consists of three formats, including (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 systemically 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 infectious diseases; (8) Brief Articles: To briefly report the novel and innovative findings in infectious diseases; (9) Case Report: To report a rare or atypical case; (10) Letters to the Editor: To discuss and make reply to the contributions published in WJCID, or to introduce and comment on a controversial issue of general interest; (11) Book Reviews: To introduce and comment on quality monographs of infectious diseases; and (12) Guidelines: To introduce consensuses and guidelines reached by international and national academic authorities worldwide on the research in infectious diseases.

So, once again I welcome you all who want to make a contribution to science. WJCID will make efforts to fills the gap between basic and clinical research so that fruitful implementations can take place by the crosstalk between the two streams. WJCID is a platform where you can feel free to share your results, raise your issues and problems and to let other take an advantage of learning from new developments in the field of infectious diseases and biomedical science.