Third Joint Meeting of the APAME and WPRIM and APAME Forum on Medical Journal Publishing

2011-03-09

Ha Noi, Viet Nam, 3 to 5 November 2010

A Third Joint Meeting of the Asia Pacific Association of Medical Journal Editors (APAME) and the Western Pacific Region Index Medicus (WPRIM) and the APAME Forum on Medical Journal Publishing were held in Ha Noi, Viet Nam from 3 to 5 November 2010. During the first day, presentations and discussions focused on the status of the WPRIM project and database, evaluation and approval of new candidate journals endorsed by the National Journal Selection Committees and updates on the current activities of APAME. A special session on information and communication technology (ICT) applications for eHealth development in the Region was also discussed on the first day. The last two days were devoted to a forum on medical journal publishing and presentations on the status of journal publishing in the Region, publishing resources and models and workshops on editing, writing and endnotes. There was also a plenary group report on editorship, peer review and ethics.

The objectives of the meeting and forum were:

(1) to enhance the WPRIM database, select new contents for the database and plan new APAME activities in the Region;

(2) to share lessons learnt and plan activities in the field of eHealth in the Region; and

(3) to improve the quality of scientific journal publications in the Region.

Significant outcomes of the meeting and forum included the following:

(1) 29 additional journals were approved for inclusion in WPRIM;

(2) proposal to create a network of WPRIM centre libraries to facilitate document delivery services;

(3) appointment of new APAME Board of Directors and Committee Chairs;

(4) amendment of the APAME constitution;

(5) decision to strengthen networking activities on ICT for eHealth in the Region; and

(6) sharing of knowledge and skills in medical journal publishing.

Several recommendations were proposed following the presentations and discussions of the meeting agenda.