EDITIORAL

With the recent amendment of by-laws of the Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists, the Chief Editor will be open for nomination and election at the College ' s next Annual General Meeting. As chairman of the Publication Committee, the Chief Editor will become a Council Member and be closely involved in the operation and development of the Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists.

Positively speaking, the Chief Editor of the Hong Kong Journal of Psychiatry has been given even more recognition than before. Naturally it also mean that more time and attention to issues beyond the routine operation of this Journal will be demanded of him or her. Fortunately the Editorial Board has already established its own workflow in the last six years and requires less day-to-day coaching by the Chief Editor.

Maybe it is the right time to review the achievements and shortcomings of the Editorial Board in the last few years. Not including this present issue, we have published 5 volumes and 2 supplements (on Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychogeriatrics) since 1991. There are totally over 70 original articles, 30 of which are review articles, 22 are original researches and 5 case reports. Other articles include editorials, commentary, conference reports, history of psychiatry and letters to editor. Over 75 % are local articles and the rest from overseas and China. Feedback and comments so far are quite encouraging.

Financially speaking the Journal has all along depend on the support by various pharmaceutical companies in placing their advertisement. While their support has been generous and steadfast, fluctuation in accordance with the global economic atmosphere is inevitable. Therefore the Editorial Board has all along been trying very hard to reduce the production cost by various means, such as performing the desk-top publishing ourselves, looking out for alternative route of delivery. This is very successful as the cost per copy for Volume 5 is actually lower than that for our inaugural issue back in 1991 in dollar term! However, we are still trying to broaden our pool of advertisers to ensure adequate resources while keep a close watch on the rise of publication cost to keep the Journal financially healthy. The option of collecting subscription fee will also be considered in time.

One obvious shortcoming is the punctuality of publication. To improve this aspect, a more stringent system need to be established to keep track of the process of review and revision so that the time lag will not be unnecessarily prolonged. If we can have more articles in hand ready for publication, we don ' t need to wait for return by authors. We are trying to ' purchase ' some clerical support to relieve the burden on board members in editing and desk top publishing.

The Editorial Board has committed to published 2 issues per year starting with volume 6. in order to shorten the time of publication. This is certainly a welcome commitment for the readers and contributors, however the burden on the editorial board members and the expenditure will be inevitably raised. We have to further enhance our efficiency to achieve this target without any compromise in the standard of quality. Hopefully, with more submissions we can afford to be more critical and ask for more revision and improvement and still meet the deadline for publication. Further supplements can be issued in the future.

In broadening our readership, the Editorial Board is working steadily to get the Journal to be indexed by relevant medical and mental health database. So far, the Journal is being indexed and abstracted by Med-Informatics, HONGKONGIANA database of Hong Kong Polytechnic University Library and Mental Health Abstract. Further effort will be directed at this.

To catch up with the internet tide, the Editorial board has also successf ully launched an internet homepage for the Journal without any monetary resources via the generous support by Medinet (URL= http://www.medi.net.hk/~hkjpsych/). Readers can read the content and summaries of the latest issues of our Journal on the homepage and request for reprint. Feedback and comments by e-mail is available although not widely publicized. Hopef ully our Journal is made more accessible and will win more recognition and more article submissions with time. Do visit our homepage and send feedback and comment to the editorial board (e-mail to: hkjpsych@medi.net.hk).

Obviously the Journal will face many changes and the Editorial Board is ready to make the best out of these. At a time like this, we need your support more than any other time. Submit your original articles for publication. Send your comments and suggestions to us. Tell us whether you think the Journal should have Chinese abstracts or should charge for a subscription fee. Influence how this Journal is going to evolve and change to your satisfaction.

Work out the future with us as make this your Journal!

T.W. Fan
Deputy Chief Editor
Hong Kong Journal of Psychiatry

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