I am proud to introduce the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (OTO-HNS) section of The Medscape Journal of Medicine. This is the first exclusively online, open access, MEDLINE-indexed journal dedicated to otolaryngology-head and neck surgery. Not to be mislabeled as "just another Web site" or an "online textbook," the OTO-HNS section of The Medscape Journal of Medicine is a fully peer-reviewed, MEDLINE-indexed journal.
The OTO-HNS section will feature original articles, including clinical, basic and translational research and trials, critical reviews, editorials and commentaries, policy papers and public health issues, consensus reports, expert opinions, and controversies in the fields of general otolaryngology, otology-neurotology, head and neck oncology and surgery, rhinology, pediatric otolaryngology, facial plastics and reconstructive surgery, and head and neck endocrine (thyroid and parathyroid) surgery.
One may ask: Why is this different from the other OTO-HNS journals? This is an online-only publication, giving it inherent advantages. Recently, the International Journal of Medical Informatics found that even with a rejection rate over 60%, they had a backlog of high-quality accepted papers waiting for print publication.[1] Peer-reviewed online publishing provides the quality assurance without the potential boundaries of space limitation and page budgets. The omission of physical printing also shortens the publication process allowing for rapid turnaround time from acceptance to publication. Online publishing expands the reading audience of a journal. The subscription base of a few thousand is dwarfed by the total number of potential end users (more than 13 million) who have access to a journal through Web-based databases. Such a large potential audience could never have been reached with a print-only publication.[2] Online publishing holds the possibility of enhancing manuscripts with additional material that is not suited for printing. The opportunity to add high-quality images in color, 3-dimensional illustrations, video clips, data sets, computational models, questionnaires, data analyses, podcasts, Webcasts, and PowerPoint presentations immeasurable enhances medical publication.[1,2]
The OTO-HNS literature compares favorably to the literature of other surgical specialties, excelling in prospective studies and basic science research.[3] However, in a recent study Bhattacharyya and Shapiro found that the scholarly output (peer-reviewed publications) of young academic otolaryngologists is declining when compared with academic otolaryngologists graduating from prior generations.[4] Leong[5] encourages young otolaryngologists to not only read more but to respond to articles. This sharpens the scientific mind, facilitates discussion, and acts as a catalyst to further research and audit. Leong asks: "How else does one push the limits of medicine without questioning the facts?"[5]
It therefore appears timely to provide a fresh, unbiased, independent medium for young otolaryngologists-head and neck surgeons from all over the world to publish quality work in our field.
Review by Dr. Ramaz Mitaishvili
