The Korean Society of Hematology (KSH) was founded on June 16, 1958, at a time when our whole country still bore the scars from the Korean War (1950-1953). Incidentally, the American Society of Hematology was born in the same year. And meaningfully, the title of the very first conference was "Anemia in Korea," a title that reflects the poverty-stricken conditions at the time. Overcome by a "hungry spirit", Koreans worked very hard recovering from war-inflicted wounds. Students studied night and day, and workers toiled by the sweat of their brow even under poor circumstances. In the medical field, doctors cared for their patients with a passion even with the dearth of medical facilities and instruments. Some ambitious doctors studied abroad in developed countries like the USA and imbibed advanced medical knowledge in preparation for the future. The field of Hematology evolved and grew in Korea through the enthusiasm and frontier spirit of the founding members and senior hematologists who followed in their footsteps. Although still in the "anemic" stage, the first issue of the KJH was successfully published on July 1, 1966 by the KSH. It was indeed the first splendid step of baby KJH. Dr. Byung Hee Lee, a chairman of the KSH at the time, described the overwhelming moment vividly in the Editorial of the first issue:

"In publishing this first issue of the Korean Journal of Hematology, I am truly moved to tears by the researcher's dedication and professionalism. I celebrate and wish that this Journal would not end in the first issue but improve continuously in the future to become a brilliant floodlight in the field of hematology, and I desperately hope that our members and officials give unstinting support and promotion in the years to come." - KJH Vol. 1, No. 1, July 1966.

During the early period, the Journal, written in Korean interspersed with Chinese characters, was an annual publication. Thereafter, the growing number of submitted articles led to more frequent publication of the journal-biannually since 1971, three times a year since 1994, and quarterly since 2001. With the grown and evolution of Korean hematology, other subdivided hematology-related academic societies were subsequently established the Korean Society of Blood Transfusion in 1982, the Korean Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis (KSTH) in 1991, the Korean Society of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology (KSPHO) in 1993, and the Korean Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (KSBMT) in 1996. Since then, these societies have published their own journals. As part of its international academic activities, the KSH successfully hosted numerous international meetings, including the Asian-Pacific Regional Congress of the International Society of Hematology (ISH) in 1979, the Korean-Japanese Hematology Symposium in 1995, and the World Congress of the ISH in 2002.

The year 2005 was of great significance to the KJH, having attained the status of the unified official journal of four hematology-related societies-the KSH, KSBMT, KSPHO, and KSTH-which marked the basis for further advancement of the KJH. In the same year, the Online Submission and Review System was successfully launched, allowing authors, peer reviewers, and editors to send and receive all correspondence conveniently through this system. Starting 2007, all full-text articles from the first issue could be searched and downloaded in PDF format. Furthermore, this system is linked to KoreaMed, a service of the Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors (KAMJE), which provides access to articles published in Korean medical journals. It is also linked to KoreaMed Synapse, a digital archive and the reference linking platform of Korean medical journals, which adopted the PubMed Central (PMC) XML to display full-text articles.

At present, one of the most important missions of the KJH is the "globalization" of domestic hematology. We should not be lagging behind the advances in hematology, with scientific research in the field and medical practice progressing at breakneck pace. We should rise through continuous evolution. We are now equipped with a good online system, good peer reviewers, good journal contributors, and distinguished international Editorial Board members.

All these preparations should drive the KJH toward setting sail as an international journal. The time has come to make a commitment and take a passage at full sail to place the KJH on the list of SCI journals. To this end, authors should submit well-written manuscripts, while reviewers should carefully review them and offer constructive feedback for corrections and enhancements. It is also important that the accepted manuscripts be published in good style and format. To ensure this, the authors, reviewers, and editors must all work together aboard this ship-the KJH. In spite of sharing Odysseus' fate in being cornered by sea monsters like Scylla and Charybdis, we are off to sail over the horizon!