Prioritizing Home

From the recently concluded 5th Annual Philippine Association of Medical Journal Editors (PAMJE) Meeting, what resonated with me was the discussion on how to prioritize local journals for publishing local research. This is particularly relevant for the PIDSP journal editors and editorial board as we've faced challenges in soliciting quality local research. The PIDSP Journal initiated a research contest years ago to build a pool of articles to support our goal of publishing two issues annually. However, this initiative sparked considerable debate among the society's members, particularly regarding the policy that grants the society ownership of submitted articles with the right of first refusal to publish. The editorial board advocated for this policy, as we believed it was essential for maintaining our bi-annual publication schedule. Nevertheless, we recognize that enhancing our journal's quality and aligning with international standards are crucial to attracting prospective authors. Being one of only 27 local journals indexed in the Western Pacific Region Index Medicus (WPRIM), we pride ourselves on being the sole pediatric subspecialty journal in the country. Our journal has an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), a digital object identifier assigned to each published article, and remains open access with no submission fees. We have solid editorial policies and a competent editorial board ably supported by peer reviewers who carry out a blinded review process. We are also transitioning to an online submission