Present and Future of the ASEAN J Rehabil Med

Abstract

          It has been a great and fruitful 16 years since I took the responsibility as Editor-in-Chief of the journal. It has been my mission to improve the quality of the journal and increase its reach. One notable change was changing the journal title, from Journal of Thai Rehabilitation Medicine to ASEAN Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine. This leads to the subsequent expansion of the editorial board and reviewers from Thai only members to those from South East Asian region.  It is currently in tier 1 of the Thai Citation Index, using a full online journal submission, and made available in both electronic and print version. The electronic version enables readers from all around the world access the articles, which is published free of charge.

          In this last issue of my role as the Editor-in-chief, I would like to thank the associate editors, editorial board, external reviewers, English expert, copy/layout editor and journal manager who are instrumental in bringing this journal to this stage. I enjoyed learning and doing this together with all of you and treasured those memories.

          I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the new Editor-in-Chief of the Journal, Prof. Areerat Suputtitada, a Professor in Rehabilitation Medicine at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. The President of the Rehabilitation Medicine Association of Thailand, reiterates the journal aims to publish high quality and impactful articles in rehabilitation medicine and related issues, as well as becoming an international cited journal in the near future.  To achieve such aims, Prof.  Areerat Suputtitada, has invited young and active researchers from not only SEA region but also other parts of the world to join the editorial board.

          The new Editor-in-Chief and editorial board will start their roles in the beginning of the year 2023.  I sincerely hope the new team will make the Journal more attractive to authors, readers and reviewers from the SEA region and other parts of the world and eventually be accepted in an international journal citation index.

Apichana Kovindha, MD, FRCPhysiatrT

Editor-in-chief