The Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand (J Med Assoc Thai)
Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand
In the year 2018, the Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand (NLM Title Abbreviation: J Med Assoc Thai; ISO Abbreviation: J Med Assoc Thai; and in original Thai: Chot Mai Het Thang Phaet) will celebrate its 100th Anniversary. It is the oldest academic journal ever established in Thailand and has been published without interruption since then. Today, it is still the only one monthly journal with highest numbers of annual regularly published and supplement articles among the 308 Thai biomedical journals listed in Thai-journal Citation Index Center for the years 2014-2016. These figures confirm that the J Med Assoc Thai is the most in-demand journal by Thai scientists and early career researchers to publish their research findings as academic contributions to global scientific community.The first issue of the Journal of Medical Association of Thailand was published in 1918 by the Siam Red Cross Society under the name of “the Medical Journal of the Red Cross Society of Siam”. A few years later, the management of the journal was transferred to the Medical Association of Thailand which was independent from any academic institute and became a non-profit medical organization whose members were doctors from all specialties. Since the journal had published scientific articles submitted by authors from various institutes and was subscribed by local and international libraries, the name of the journal was later changed to the “Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand” in 1941. It has published several national and international articles which were of exceptional clinical importance and urgency and local scientific findings to serve public policies and clinical practice guidelines of various tropical infections as well as non-infectious diseases. The journal is the wholly owned subsidiary of the Medical Association of Thailand.
In 1970, the journal joined the international class of reputable journals by indexing the journal and their contents in the international academic database: Medline, later became the Pub Med-indexed for Medline, so the academics in Thailand and international countries could search information published in the J Med Assoc Thai via Index Medicus. At present, when computer and internet are available, many international databases have been set up to make searching easier. The journal has been included in these databases, and also in Thai directory as:
- Index Medicus/Medline/Pub Med Journals List (up to issue June 2017 as our [NIH, NLM] resources allow)
- EMBASE/Excerpta Medica
- SciVerse Scopus
- Index Copernicus listed in 2008, JMAT was assessed 1CV as 6.96 in 2008-9, increased to 9.00 in 2010
- Google scholar in 2009 along with Index Copernicus
- Thomson Reuters (ISI) Master Journal List in 2010
- Thai-Journal Citation Index (TCI)
- ASEAN citation index in 2014 (ACI) [1st batch in October 27, 2014]
To be included in all important databases as listed above made the journal available to be searched in all databases, and also in TCI of Thailand, a proven success due to diligence on keeping up standard of good publication to distribute academic research and scholarship.
To strengthen the networking and collaborations of the international editorial boards from various Asian respected journals and maintain the quality of articles published in the journals, the Medical Association of Thailand and the Thai Society of Medical Journal Editors (ThaMJE) hosted the APAME 2016 Convention in Bangkok, Thailand from 27 to 28 August 2016 in collaboration with the libraries of the World Health Organization (WHO) South East Asia and Western Pacific Regional Offices, in order to make the quality of academic publications in Medicine and the Health Sciences in the Asia Pacific Region transparent and accountable. In addition, the editor-in-chief of the J Med Assoc Thai has (Professor Amorn Leelarasamee) been invited to be the Vice President for External Affairs of the APAME. The J Med Assoc Thai is also a member of the MASEAN Group of Journal and Professor Amorn Leelarasamee is elected as the first chairperson of the MASEAN Group of Journals (2016-2018).
Due to a long history of the J Med Assoc Thai publication, we are grateful to the former editor-in-chiefs and the editorial boards for their sacrifice to build up this journal not only for the Medical Association of Thailand (MAT), but eventually, to the national academic values. It is noticeable that the academic position of the editor-in-chiefs of the journal are mostly Professors who have visions of bringing up the published articles into the global standard and most importantly, J Med Assoc Thai is the main venue for the young Thai researchers to publish their research findings to be recognized internationally. The names of the editorial-in-chiefs of the journal from the start to present were as follow:-
Years Editor-in-chief
1918-1924 H.R.H. Prince Chai-Nart-Na-Rain-Torn
1925-1927 Lieutenant Colonel Laung Suvej Supkit (Sin Suvong)
1928-1935 Colonel Prince Valpakorn Vorawan
1935-1936 M.R. Tor Sanidvong
1937-1939 Professor Dr. Sawat Daengsawang
1940-1942 Professor Dr. Chalerm Burananond
1943-1944 Professor Dr. San Sripen
1945-1946 Professor Dr. Sawat Daengsawang
1947-1954 Professor Dr. Udom Posakrisana
1955-1956 Professor Dr. Sawat Sakulthai
1957-1959 Professor Dr. Vikit Viranuvatti
1960-1961 Professor Dr. Songkran Niyomsane
1962-1967 Professor Dr. Tongnan Vipatavanij
1968-1971 Professor Dr. Somchai Bovornkitti
1972-1987 Professor Dr. Prasert Thongcharoen
1988-1989 Group Captain Dr. Ouichai Praengprasit
1990-2003 Professor Dr. Prasert Thongcharoen
2004-2005 Professor Dr. Suthiporn Jitmittraparp
2006-2007 Professor Dr. Sukhit Pausawasdi
2008-2018 Professor Dr. Amorn Leelarasamee
In 2014, the journal has been made available online to the permanent members of the MAT and registered guests while still maintains print component. Guests who are not registered or newly invited to become temporary members can archive abstracts or full texts of the last 6-month issues. Our intention is to further develop the journal into a freely, open access to all. Although the journal is not a member of the DOAJ or Creative Commons Attribution, the distribution and copyright of all publication that belongs to the journal will be freely accessed to all under the following terms: may not use the material for commercial purposes and must give appropriate credit to the author, provide a link to the author, and indicate if changes were made in reasonable manner, but not in the way that suggests the author endorses you or your use.
It took another 4 years to fully develop the journal into a nearly freely, open-access e-journal for self-searching, in which authors themselves can make copy of their published articles available free for all or any registered guest can also reprint the published articles in the J Med Assoc Thai. The quality of published articles is ensured by the internationally standard peer review process employing checklists appropriate for each research design in order to help clarify the research manuscript, make it simple and transparent as of the international standard. By the international ethical standard, every author of submitted articles must state potential conflicts of interest and present the approval form for the research in human from the Ethics Committee of Universities and Ministry of Health or alike. High quality research papers from distinguished scientists are also invited to submit.
Plagiarism is prevented and every submitted articles are strictly checked using e-Tblast since the year 2008. If the content was found duplicated for more than 60% of other article, it is reported to the editor for comparison of the two articles and made judgment. Penalty is given to the first or corresponding authors by not accepting the article from the authors for at least five years. This report will be also passed on to the supervisor or commanders of the authors. Furthermore, the manuscript is forbidden for simultaneous submission to other journals for publication.
Our current aim is to promote medical education up to global standard by publishing the articles which reflect medical progress in Thailand and making their contents available for international researchers to share information with ease and lesser costs. Some previous reports might be the world first case report or epidemiology study of certain illness important to local situation. Beside the journal published on time, the contents are easy to understand and listed on the database of the important search engines to prove that the topics have been reported in the journal. The articles’ ownership rights remain with the Journal. The publishing rights will be shared between the journal and the authors for publishing activity and dissemination of the articles. Readers’ views expressed in the journal are preserved and do not necessarily reflect the view of the J Med Assoc Thai. All manuscript submission is performed through logging into the registered guest system or through the mail ID provided for submission of the manuscript. We strongly recommend all authors to follow the checklists and advice for good research reporting of the EQUATOR network. A regular review process may take 2-3 months but the article may be published pre-print if the contents were appropriate. All the editorial board members work voluntarily and also use the checklist according to the research design of the submitted article for peer review process which is double blind and follows stringent peer-review process giving the quality its first priority. We will introduce a new manuscript tracking system for better processing of the editorial manager system and for smooth running of the journal.
Finally, we believe that the J Med Assoc Thai is old only in its age but its brain is still fresh and the journal keeps moving in the global direction which is a freely opened access journal. We urge Thai authors as well as international authors to submit your research manuscripts. The journal follows guidelines on editorial independence produced by the World Association of Medical Editors and the code on good publication practice issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics. Authors can assess the current citation impact of articles in the journal by SCOPUS using SNIP and SJR. Once the articles are accepted for publication, a broader readership and global access for better recognition are ensured by our new policy on working as an open access journal. The article can be searched and retrieved by strict keyword provided by MeSH. The formatted abstract is provided in XML for easy search by anyone in developing countries like PubMed Central. In near future J Med Assoc Thai will format the whole manuscript as XML format to enhance information exchange and usage globally. Our new website also promptly provides correct citation in standard Vancouver format that are easy for users to cite our publications. We sincerely hope the authors of the published articles will enjoy their contributions in our journals by adding more information into the scientific community for the benefit of people in medical science.
MEDICAL ASSOCIATION OF THAILAND
Address: 4th Floor, Royal Golden Jubilee Building, 2 Soi Soonvijai, New Petchburi Road, Bangkok 10310, Thailand
Telephone: +662-716-6102, +662-716-6962 | Fax: +662-314-6305
WEB: http://www.jmatonline.com
ISSN: 0125-2208 (Print), ISSN: 2408-1981 (Online)
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