The hullabaloo over indexing

Journal of Ophthalmic Research and Practice (JORP) wishes its readers warm greetings for the ensuing festive season. I, on behalf of the editorial board and executive committee of the Ophthalmological Society of Assam (OSA), take immense pride in successfully completing a year’s journey with JORP. I want to extend my heartiest congratulations to all readers, contributors, and OSA members for their inspiring proactive role in the growth of JORP. As JORP has an ISSN, it has led to widespread visibility of the journal, not just in our country but also abroad. I was pleasantly surprised when we looked into the submission demography of the journal. Among the current manuscript, 64.2% of submissions are from pan India (10 states), 21.4% from Assam, and 14.2% from abroad (USA, UK, and Singapore). A question of genuine concern among potential contributors is the indexing and abstracting of the journal.

As we progress proudly into the 2^nd year of JORP, we are glad to announce that JORP is registered with abstracting partners such as Google Scholar, CrossRef, Portico, ProQuest, and ReadCube. So, what is the hullabaloo over-indexing? Indexing and abstracting is the method by which journals are enlisted with databases which are searchable by academicians all over the world.^[1] The stature of a journal depends on how many indexing and abstracting partners have collaborated with it. Indexing and abstracting is a service provided or sold by a publisher.^[2] It is a surrogate endpoint for the standard of a journal. However, as pointed out by Dr. M. Vanathi, “Indexing is not a one-time process.”^[3] The criteria for getting enlisted in relevant online sites are top-grade scientific content, on-time publication, and a lucid peer review process.^[4] Some of the popular citation indexing service providers are PubMed, Scopus, MEDLINE, Index Medicus, and Index Copernicus. These are the few indexing agencies which are recognized by the Medical Council of India while considering the promotion of teaching faculties in medical colleges.^[2] This could be a limiting factor to the number of submissions to JORP, especially from medical colleges. However, the wholehearted support of all members, principally the juniors, who are final-year postgraduate trainees and fresh pass-outs, will go a long way in achieving indexing in the favored agencies. I would request all new ophthalmologists who have passed in the past five years to consider JORP as your first choice to submit your thesis as an original article. Most indexed journals have a high rejection rate, which often makes the novice researcher apprehensive about submitting their work. JORP, on the other hand, has adopted a softer approach and tries to make the manuscript publication worthy by re-writing or editing parts of the paper.

Conforming to international publication standards, JORP has also adopted the “Ahead of print policy” from the commencement of this year. This enables the accepted articles to be made accessible freely online, which can be read, downloaded, or shared. Readers must be wondering as to when can we apply to indexing agencies. The journal must have two years of uninterrupted publication to begin with. The abstracting partners with which we have registered are portals, where the content of our journal articles is made available for wider dissemination of published articles globally. They add value to the journal and contribute significantly toward the academic growth of the journal. This journal was started with the main objective of providing a platform for clinicians to submit their research work. As indexing takes time, we have to keep ourselves motivated to publish quality articles until we can apply for the appropriate sites. Our collaboration with Scientific Scholar, a publisher of good repute, definitely helps.^[5]

OSA being an affiliated state society of All India Ophthalmological Society (AIOS), the logical approach would be to look up to our parent body. In this regard, when we look back into the journey of the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology (IJO), the official publication of AIOS, it teaches us the virtue of consistency, patience, and perseverance. IJO was launched way back in 1953^[6], and up till 2005, it was indexed with only Index Medicus.^[7] The official website of IJO commenced in 2005, and it was linked to PubMed.^[8] It was indexed in PubMed Central under the editorship of Dr Barun K Nayak between 2007 and 2010.^[9] We also take inspiration from some of the renowned state ophthalmological society journals, which have similar timelines as far as indexing is concerned. Delhi Journal of Ophthalmology (DJO), in its current Volume 34, began its journey in 1993, and the process of indexing started in 2010. DJO is currently indexed with Index Copernicus.^[10] TNOA (Tamil Nadu Ophthalmic Association) Journal of Ophthalmic Science and Research, now in Volume 62, has traversed a long route before making its debut in the online platform (2017).^[11] Later in 2020, it achieved a listing in the Directory of Open-Access Journals (DOAJ).^[12] Another popular state (Maharashtra) journal, Journal of Clinical Ophthalmology and Research, in Volume 12 is indexed in DOAJ since 2020, having started in 2013.^[13] Likewise, the Kerala Journal of Ophthalmology, with current Volume 36, is also indexed in DOAJ. Hence, the lesson learned from these regional ophthalmic journals is that we continue to publish authentic research work of scientific and clinical relevance and take JORP to greater heights. I conclude with an appeal to all prospective authors to consider JORP for publishing your research paper.