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The Annals of Clinical Microbiology (Ann Clin Microbiol, ACM) serves as the official journal of the Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology. It is dedicated to publishing research articles encompassing all facets of clinical microbiology, intending to disseminate research findings pertinent to scholarly endeavors within the realm of clinical microbiology for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of infections in humans. Clinical microbiology stands as a pivotal discipline for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases in modern society. The publication of articles within the domain of clinical microbiology assumes a significant role in the dissemination and progression of advanced medical technology and knowledge. It provides a platform for various issues such as the discovery and treatment of new infectious diseases and the problem of antibiotic resistance. In Korea, this journal stands as the sole academic publication primarily dedicated to clinical microbiology, garnering substantial recognition for its academic contributions in this arena.
The quality of articles featured in the ACM is on par with international journals. However, its visibility among overseas researchers is constrained and its international recognition is impeded because it is a Korean-English bilingual journal and it is not listed in international databases. Notably, certain KoreanEnglish journals have recently secured listings in PubMed Central (PMC) [1,2]. However, for articles to garner readership and citations from researchers worldwide as international journals, they must be in English. Consequently, the ACM will undergo a transition to an English-language journal in 2024 to evolve into an internationally recognized journal.
Additionally, in 2024, we plan to overhaul both our journal's homepage and submission system. The revamped homepage aims to streamline access to articles, enhance user convenience, improve search functionality, and bolster archive management. These enhancements are geared toward facilitating easier access to the ACM articles for researchers, thereby augmenting their visibility and citation opportunities. The submission system will transition to the widely utilized Editorial Manager platform, with the primary objective of elevating the submission and review processes to international standards.
With these initiatives, the ACM aims to secure indexed in the PMC by 2024. The PMC stands as a comprehensive database of full-text biomedical journal articles, managed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the US National Library of Medicine (NLM). The PMC is widely recognized as an effective platform for Korean biomedical journals to augment their citation rates [3]. Attaining indexing in the PMC not only enhances the journal's prestige and brand value but also allows the global dissemination of ACM articles. This can potentially result in heightened submissions from international authors and increased citations of ACM articles. Furthermore, inclusion in PMC lays the groundwork for subsequent indexing in Scopus and the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE).
For successful indexing in the PMC, it is crucial to maintain a substantial repository of high-quality articles. In recent years, the ACM has encountered a persistent article shortage, publishing only approximately 20 articles annually. Despite the ACM’s reputation as a high-quality journal, the scarcity of articles diminishes its standing and poses a potential threat to its sustainability. This year, the ACM editorial board aims to address this issue by actively seeking valuable review articles and curating content on specific topics such as “practical guidance for diagnosis of parasitic infections" for publication. These efforts are geared toward augmenting the journal's content repository. Furthermore, it is imperative for researchers to proactively submit articles to the ACM, thereby bolstering the journal's article pool and ensuring its continued relevance and viability.
The year 2024 is poised to be a watershed moment for the ACM. The editorial board, led by myself as the editor-in-chief, is fully committed to implementing our plans and achieving our goals.
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