To expand its regional and global outreach, JKMS publishes all issues in English and complements other local journals, particularly the Journal of Korean Medical Association (JKMA) that is published in Korean. The JKMA fulfills its mission by addressing Korean readership and publishing articles for continuing medical education. The articles in Korean are well read by busy Korean medics who seek guidance for their daily practice and professional development. This is the reason why the two journals of the Korean professional medical societies have chosen different language models. Both models have their advantages and limitations in view of the outreach and impact. Presumably, JKMS articles in English are less comprehensible for local medical doctors who are predominantly exposed to Korean literature and other didactic sources with ‘easily digestible’ messages.

To specifically address Korean audience, JKMS started publishing Korean abstracts in 2011.2 Additionally, JKMS took an important strategic decision to publish audiovisual files (podcasts), beginning from volume 36, issue 17, May 3rd, 2021.3 These podcasts are aimed to explore main points of published articles and correctly enrich the JKMS contents.

Importantly, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, JKMS has published more than 200 articles on this new disease.456 The JKMS authors now record their audiovisual files to supplement their articles with easily understandable summaries for lay Korean audience. The JKMS uploads edited audio and video files to primarily reach local health journalists, paramedics, and doctors and further expand societal impact of this Journal. The Journal audience can now access the files at the designated hub: https://jkms.org/index.php?main=author_summary. It is expected that audiovisual materials will help to distinguish practical messages of research articles and expand the Journal readership.