century. Dr HPS Sachdev, the ninth editor of Indian Pediatrics is
the chief pilot, and we are the flight stewards to guide you through
this journey.
Indeed, the journey from 1995 to 2001 was speedy as
it was characterized by rapid advancements in technology, and tremendous
jump in the reputation and popularity of the journal. Dr Sachdev, till
date, is the longest serving editor of Indian Pediatrics. He
completed 13 months of remaining tenure of Dr RK Puri besides his two
terms of three years each; and published eighty-five issues of journal
under his editorship, an unmatched feat [1]. Being an avid researcher
and champion of evidence-based approach, he started his tenure with an
opinion poll published in January 1995 issue asking readers to suggest
desirable content for the journal. This poll complemented his efforts to
seek feedback from academicians during the national conference of the
same year. His aim was to make Indian Pediatrics a ‘reader’s
journal’ rather than a ‘recorder journal’ while retaining its scientific
rigor. His objectives were clearly evident from a quote in his first
editorial [2]: "the prime task of an editor is to produce a journal
that people will want to read. If the end product is mere units of
research, these could just as well be placed directly into databases.
Journals must explain, stimulate, provide a forum for discussion, and at
times, make readers angry!"
In his first editorial, editor acknowledged that the
journal has reached enviable status, and commented: "I am confident
that in due course of time, with God’s grace, your endorsement, the
contributors’ and reviewers’ assistance, and continued selfless devotion
of the Journal Committee members and National Advisers, Indian
Pediatrics will scale greater heights" [2]. Over a period of time,
Dr Sachdev introduced following important changes: rigorous
epidemiological cum statistical review of research articles, and
introduction of a variety of reader friendly sections such as
Immunization Dialogue, Readers’ Forum, Viewpoint, News in Brief,
Clippings, Selected Summaries, Personal Practice, Recommendations,
Reports, Clinicopathological Conferences and Images in Clinical
Practice. The guidelines for authors were published in the
January issue under a new name: ‘Style matters’. For the first time, the
guidelines mentioned uniform criteria for submission of manuscripts to
medical journals, and listed authorship criteria.
One of the components of opinion poll conducted by Dr
Sachdev was suggestions for relevant topics for ‘editorials’. Some
important editorials published in 1995 were: Child labor in India by Dr
SR Banerjee [3], Pediatric HIV infection by Dr Siddhartha Sen [4], short
course chemotherapy in tuberculosis by Dr Kamlesh Chopra [5], oral iron
chelators by Dr MB Agarwal [6], prevention of malnutrition by Dr Shanti
Ghosh [7], and zinc deficiency by Dr P Bhaskaram [8]. It is interesting
to find a letter entitled ‘Is INH alone enough for prophylaxis’ in
January 1995 issue [9]; if you have gone through the most recent (August
2013) issue of Indian Pediatrics when there is again a letter
entitled ‘Is INH waging a lonely losing battle’[10]; controversies do
not come with an expiry date. Going through March 1995 issue, one is
amused to find an advertisement about a correspondence course in
lactation management (Fig. 1); most experts in present era
will agree that it is akin to learning swimming by correspondence.
|
Fig. 1 Correspondence course in
lactation management.
|
Most changes introduced during Dr Sachdev’s tenure
were apparent from January 1996 issue. Abstracts for original articles
were structured, and case reports were published under a section
separate from research articles (previously these were published as
‘Brief reports’). ‘Images in clinical practice’ was introduced for the
first time in November 1996, and is now a regular feature of the
journal. There were regular updates on medical education system and
related innovations. Dr Sachdev’s keen interest in epidemiology was
reflected from the first issue he started editing. Articles dealing with
evaluation of research methods were categorized in a section ‘Clinical
Epidemiology.’ Later (May 1999 to July 2001), he published an excellent
12-article series on statistical methods by renowned statisticians Dr A
Indrayan and Dr L Satyanarayana. This series caught fancy of naïve
readers like me (DS), and helped to understand the basic concepts of
biomedical statistics. I still possess a spiral bound compilation of the
same in my cupboard, and use it for reference. Dr Sachdev took enough
pains to publish summaries of important health statistics and excerpts
from important guidelines published in international literature during
his tenure; most such information was published with anonymous
authorship.
By the end of his first term, Indian Pediatrics
had managed to raise resources to acquire its own office premises. In
his second term, Dr Sachdev and his team introduced changes in packaging
of journal, a laminated art card cover in place of art paper. Dr Sachdev
was always open to ideas and feedback for continued improvement of the
journal. In January 1999 issue, he stated: "The journal committee is
acutely aware of the fact that there is still considerable scope for
improving the quality of Indian Pediatrics. We, therefore, request our
valued readers to perpetually provide us the necessary impetus and the
relevant feed back in this context" [11]. I remember drafting ‘key
messages’ for one of the research paper co-authored by me, taking cues
from postgraduate review presentations during my residency at Maulana
Azad Medical College. He instantly liked this idea, and incorporated it
as an essential component for all original articles to be published in
Indian Pediatrics from year 2000 onwards.
Dr Sachdev always loved to experiment with
technology. Under Dr Sachdev’s leadership, Indian Pediatrics was
one of the earliest Indian medical journals to launch electronic edition
from the April 1998 issue. This not only enhanced the global visibility
and reputation of the Journal and the Academy but also resulted in
international contributions from reputed authors. In his January 2000
editorial entitled ‘Stepping into Y2K’ [12], Dr Sachdev visualized that
traditional paper periodicals may soon face annihilation or be relegated
to a poor second place if they do not upkeep with technology and
introduce their electronic versions. He also mentioned monitoring of
issues related to publication ethics such as ‘duplicate publication’,
‘gift authorship’ and ‘data falsification’ more stringently. For the
sake of transparency and for curbing gift authorship, he introduced the
policy of defining the specific role of each author at the end of the
manuscript and stating competing interests of the authors.
The quality of the research articles improved
tremendously. There was detailed reporting of methodology, including
sample size and statistical methods. Some highly cited research articles
published during Dr Sachdev’s tenure were: an observational study
assessing health needs of a rural population by Bang, et al.
[13], effect of zinc supplementation on lymphocyte subsets and cell
mediated immunity by Sazawal, et al. [14] and effects of tactile-kinesthetic
stimulation in preterms by Mathai, et al. [15]. Brief reviews on
newly introduced drugs (cisapride, ceftibuten, artemisinine derivatives,
imipenem, teicoplanin) relevant to pediatric practice were published
regularly. Consensus guidelines from various IAP chapters on management
of common pediatric disorders such as tuberculosis, neonatal cholestasis,
nephrotic syndrome, urinary tract infections were published during this
period making Indian Pediatrics a hugely popular reference
material for post graduate students and practitioners.
This journey over the years, with Dr HPS Sachdev at
the helm of affairs, was indeed a turning point for Indian Pediatrics.
He, being in the position of editor-in-chief of the journal for the
longest tenure, was a blessing. Indian Pediatrics is now a preferred
journal for researchers from Indian subcontinent with a wide outreach
through print and electronic media. Dr Sachdev not only was a good
editor and researcher but was also a great mentor as he imparted his
values and skills to people working with him which resulted in continued
positive trends in growth and reputation of the journal. In the next
issue, one of my colleagues will guide you to travel with Dr Panna
Choudhury, a close friend and colleague of Dr Sachdev, and the
subsequent Editor-in-Chief of Indian Pediatrics.
References
1. Sachdev HPS. Contributing to growth of Indian
Pediatrics. Indian Pediatr. 2013; 50:53-5.
2. Sachdev HPS. From the editor’s pen. Indian Pediatr.
1995;32:5-6.
3. Banerjee SR. Child labor in India: present status.
Indian Pediatr. 1995;32:403-8.
4. Sen S. Pediatric HIV infection: recent advances.
Indian Pediatr. 1995;32:519-27.
5. Chopra K. Short course chemotherapy in childhood
tuberculosis. Indian Pediatr. 1995;32:625-8.
6. Agarwal MB. Oral iron chelators. Indian Pediatr.
1995;32:847-51.
7. Ghosh S. Preventing malnutrition: the critical
period is 6 months to 2 years. Indian Pediatr. 1995;32:1057-9.
8. Bhaskaram P. Zinc deficiency. Indian Pediatr.
1995;32:1153-6.
9. Sanklecha MU, Raghavan K, Mehta MN. Is INH alone
enough for prophylaxis. Indian Pediatr. 1995;32:105.
10. Sanklecha M, Sundaresan S. Is INH waging a lonely
losing battle. Indian Pediatr. 2013;50:799.
11. Sachdev HPS. From the editor’s pen. Indian
Pediatr. 1999;36:9-10.
12. Sachdev HPS. From the editor’s pen: Stepping into
Y2K. Indian Pediatr. 2000;37:7.
13. Bang AT, Bang RA, Baitule S, Deshmukh M, Reddy
MH. Burden of morbidities and the unmet need for health care in rural
neonates—a prospective observational study in Gadchiroli, India. Indian
Pediatr. 2001;38:952-65.
14. Sazawal S, Jalla S, Mazumder S, Sinha A, Black
RE, Bhan MK. Effect of zinc supplementation on cell-mediated immunity
and lymphocyte subsets in preschool children. Indian Pediatr.
1997;34:589-97.
15. Mathai S, Fernandez A, Mondkar J, Kanbur W.
Effects of tactile-kinesthetic stimulation in preterms: a controlled
trial. Indian Pediatr. 2001;38:1091-8.