eJIAS: Editor's Welcome

As the founding Editor in Chief of eJIAS: eJournal of the International AIDS Society , it is with great pleasure that I introduce it here and participate in its official launch at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. (Published: 8 July 2004) doi:10.1186/1758-2652-6-3-58 Full text: BioMed Central: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1758-2652/content/6/3/58 PubMed Central: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2738664/

eJIAS was conceived and established in recognition of the fact that many of today's most crucial lessons about how to confront the HIV/AIDS pandemic will be learned best, if not exclusively, from those working on the front lines of HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, and care. It was also created in recognition of the challenges of publishing faced by investigators from developing countries, where conditions of urgent need and insufficient resources often afford little support for authors in the publication process. In this regard, the first purpose of this unique publication is to facilitate publication by HIV/AIDS scientists and physicians from developing countries.
Through the mechanism of the journal's Editorial Board and a rigorous yet supportive peer-review process, eJIAS will be proactive in the solicitation of papers and will strive to assist authors in adopting their papers to the highest of publishing standards. eJIAS will also encourage publication by frontline investigators whose contributions to HIV/AIDS medicine involve the local and siteand population-specific study of matters that have been similarly addressed and previously published in the North, and which may not meet the standards of originality and innovation maintained by existing top-tier medical journals.
In recognition of the fact that English is not the principal scientific language of many developing countries, eJIAS accepts submission of manuscripts in English, French, and Spanish. French-and Spanish-language articles that are accepted for publication will be translated and published in English (the official language of the journal) and will also be published in the original language in which they were submitted. Abstracts of all accepted articles will be published in English, French, and Spanish.
Our principal goal is to be responsive to the needs of physicians and scientists who work in developing countries. We will not, however, publish papers that have not passed high standards of peer review. To assure the scientific excellence of eJIAS, we have assembled a distinguished Editorial Board of international HIV/AIDS scientists, physicians, and public health experts. The founding eJIAS Editorial Board comprises regional representatives of the Governing Council of the IAS, as well as the past, present, and incoming Presidents of the Society. Other editors will be added in due course.
We are delighted and grateful that many of the publishing responsibilities for eJIAS have been undertaken by Medscape, the leading provider of medical information and education on the Internet and a pioneer of electronic biomedical publishing. As it is consistent with our objective of accessibility, we are especially pleased that our arrangement with Medscape will allow articles accepted by eJIAS, a fledgling journal, to be indexed for MEDLINE, as they are published as part of Medscape General Medicine www.MedGenMed.com, Medscape's fully electronic, peer-reviewed general-medicine journal. This would not be possible without the expert and creative guidance of George Lundberg, Editor in Chief of Medscape General Medicine.
Finally, we are grateful to the Secure the Future program of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation for providing a seed grant for the establishment of eJIAS. Senior officials at Secure the Future have been extremely helpful with respect to both the vision and development of this journal. We believe that eJIAS will remain as a legacy of Secure the Future, long after many of the projects that were funded by this unique and worthwhile initiative have been completed.
It is my sincere wish that by furthering the accessibility and exchange of information among researchers from a diversity of developing-country settings, eJIAS will contribute in a significant way to the advancement of HIV/ AIDS prevention, treatment, and care on a global scale.

Authors and Disclosures
Mark A. Wainberg, PhD, has disclosed that he has received grants for clinical research from GlaxoSmithKline and Bristol-Myers Squibb.