I am happy to note that the journal is publishing a special Golden Jubilee issue. The outstanding features of the journal in my time were the editorials which brought out the importance of social pediatrics.

Practically each volume of Indian Pediatrics had an editorial on the subject of social pediatrics. These themes included small family, parents and child, fertility and child survival, family health and its impact on child health, delivery of child health at periphery level, nutrition and infection, and child care in rural India, health and nutrition education of mothers, psychological factors, health planning, and adoption. Those editorials were highly appreciated even outside the country.

Another book that was published was on ‘Social Pediatrics’. The commemorative volume for the ‘International Year of the Child’ in 1979 had several eminent people contributing to it. A publication on ‘Drug therapy’ was published to help students, residents and the practicing clinicians.

A journal is dependent on the quality of articles it receives. The basic tools of research are the seven ‘C’s which stand for Competence, Confidence, Creativity, Co-operation, Collaboration and finally Communication. This is where the journal becomes an active participant. Communication is not only an art but also a science. While few of us have the skill to write well, majority may need training in this scientific art of communication. Despite the fact that there are many agencies which provide guidance on how to write scientific papers, most submitted papers put a great strain on the editorial staff of journal, and thus editors have a responsibility to help authors improve their communication skills.

‘The true scientist is the sage unattached of life and the fruits of action ever seeking truth wheresoever this quest might lead him. To tie him to a fixed anchorage, from with there is no moving is to give up that search and to become static in a dynamic work.’