Abstract
Dear Colleagues,
I begin my tenure as the Editor-in-Chief of the Indian Journal of Rheumatology, the official publication of the Indian Rheumatology Association, for a period of three years starting January 2026, with a quote from Robert Browning. The journal began in 1994 as the Journal of the Indian Rheumatism Association, with Professor A. N. Chandrasekaran as its Editor-in-Chief, before it acquired its current name in 2006. Published by SAGE since 2024, with a professional and author-friendly manuscript submission system operational at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ijr, the journal is well- positioned for continued growth. At this stage, I express my gratitude to the previous Editors of the journal, specifically my predecessor Professor Aman Sharma, on the background of whose work I shall strive to make further progress.
The journal is a Diamond Open-Access journal. It is indexed in Scopus and the Web of Science: Emerging Sources Citation Index. As a result, it has a CiteScore and Journal Impact Factor (JIF). However, much progress is needed to improve these metrics. As with all my predecessors, the lodestone remains the indexing in PubMed Central or MEDLINE. Whenever this endeavour succeeds, it shall reflect the decades of effort put in by various editors. For this reason, we have to continually strive to improve the quality of articles published in the journal. Having been associated with the journal since 2016, I know that previous attempts at indexing in Pubmed Central/ MEDLINE have not been successful largely due to the quality of published articles. All stakeholders (authors, reviewers, and editors) must strive continually to improve this. An improvement in the quality of published articles and wider publicity of the published articles on social media channels should result in an ethical increase in the number of citations and improvements in the CiteScore/ JIF.
As of today, we receive a good number of original articles from India and abroad. My aim remains to implement strict quality checks on submitted original articles, particularly adherence to reporting standards from the EQUATOR network and strictness about issues related to informed consent and ethics approval. For this purpose, all articles submitted henceforth to the journal will be taken up for peer review only after these checks are met. Review articles considered by the journal shall largely be invited or commissioned; authors are welcome to discuss such proposals with me before submission. I have noted a knowledge gap among young authors related to scientific writing. To address this, we intend to bring out articles providing practical tips for young authors. In this context, the present issue includes an editorial on the IMRAD format of writing an original article. Depending upon the articles pending publication, we shall endeavour to publish articles on a single theme in an issue. The present issue comprises a series of articles on rheumatoid arthritis. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) in scientific writing is a contemporary issue. In this matter, we follow the guidance from SAGE and the International Committee of Medical Journals Editors that authors are accountable for the responsible use of AI in manuscripts for purposes such as language editing, with a transparent declaration to this effect. Please note that the use of LLMs to generate text and content for publication is controversial. Therefore, until consensus emerges about their use for these purposes, we shall not accept such content for publication. If detected after publication, such issues are liable to be investigated and may be subject to expressions of concern, errata, or retractions. Reviewers or editors are not permitted to use AI or LLMs for reviewing or critically analysing manuscripts.
My late father, Dr. Sasanka Sekhar Misra, would have been extremely proud to see this day. I conclude by seeking the blessings of my mother Dr. Prativa Mishra, the Almighty, and all colleagues from India and abroad to continue the growth of the journal with gratitude.