Indian Journal of Medicine 2011;1:1

Editorial
Indian Journal of Medicine: an open e-journal for physicians
Shivakumar S

Formerly Professor and Head, Department of Medicine, Stanley Medical College and Hospital, Chennai-600001,India

email: profshivakumar@googlemail.com

Published online on Feb 07th 2011

Copyright © 2011 Shivakumar S. This is an open-access article . The publisher and author permit unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

An important contribution to medical research in India has been done by the launch of DMRI
(Database of Medical Research in India). DMRI is a web-based resource of original research articles
published in India and at present it is prepared for the speciality of Internal medicine.

There has been a paucity of journals in Internal Medicine. It is observed that there are only three
indexed journals in medicine which are available online (Journal of Association of Physicians of India,
Journal of Postgraduate Medicine and National Medical Journal of India) and the rest are sub-
specialty journals. This is just not adequate for India with a population of 1.2 billion. DMRI has
therefore decided to launch its own official journal, the Indian Journal of Medicine (IJM). The Journal
will be an on-line open-access peer reviewed journal which focuses on research in the speciality of
internal medicine and relevant health care in India and developing countries in the Indian
subcontinent.

India has the largest number of medical doctors and medical colleges among developing countries in
the world, but the health indices are dismal. There are many reasons for the gloomy scenario and it
is essential that relevant medical research provides the solutions for many of these problems

The aim of medical research in India should be a) to provide data on epidemiology, clinical profile,
diagnosis and management of common communicable and non-communicable diseases from
various states of the country b) to evolve guidelines for management of common diseases in India
c) to suggest steps for improving health care and medical education in India d) to evaluate the status
of medical research in India and suggest steps to improve it e) to provide data on emerging and re-
emerging diseases in our country f) to assess the importance of preventive strategies and health
care ( primary, secondary and tertiary ) in the management of various non-communicable and
communicable disease g) to provide update on recent advances in medicine and their future
relevance to our country h) to highlight the achievement of Indian medical research and their
contribution to health care

I hope this journal would succeed in its endeavour to improve health care, medical education and
research in this country.

Conflict of Interest: Editor-in-chief of the Journal