The role of academic journals evolves with the times. Academic publishing is diversifying, shifting from traditional paper-based formats to broader dissemination through open access. In response to these developments-and to contribute to ongoing progress in medical education-Medical Education (Japan) has undertaken a comprehensive revision of its submission guidelines. As of January 17, 2025, all submissions, peer reviews, and editorial processes are being conducted in accordance with the updated guidelines.　The Editorial Board convened a round-table discussion to explore recent developments, beginning with the revision of the submission guidelines. This discussion elaborates on the journal's role and its relevance to the academic community, including society members, authors, and readers. It features statements from participating editorial committee members and highlights the key issues discussed, including the criteria each member uses to evaluate manuscripts. The aim is to offer insight into the journal's editorial stance and decision-making process.

Clinical case studies and reporting are important to the discovery of new disorders and the advancement of medical sciences. Both clinicians and basic scientists play equally important roles leading to treatment discoveries for both cures and symptoms. In the field of movement disorders, exceptional observation of patients from clinicians is imperative, not just for phenomenology but also for the variable occurrences of these disorders, along with other signs and symptoms, throughout the day and the disease course. The Movement Disorders in Asia Task Force (TF) was formed to help enhance and promote collaboration and research on movement disorders within the region. As a start, the TF has reviewed the original studies of the movement disorders that were preliminarily described in the region. These include nine disorders that were first described in Asia: Segawa disease, PARK-Parkin, X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism, dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy, Woodhouse-Sakati syndrome, benign adult familial myoclonic epilepsy, Kufor-Rakeb disease, tremulous dystonia associated with mutation of the calmodulin-binding transcription activator 2 gene, and paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia. We hope that the information provided will honor the original researchers and help us learn and understand how earlier neurologists and basic scientists together discovered new disorders and made advances in the field, which impact us all to this day.

Due to the importance of developing physicians' competencies to utilize information, science, and technology, the 2022 revision of the Model Core Curriculum for Medical Education newly established guidelines for qualities and competencies, which it refers to as "Competencies to utilize information, science, and technology." The Model Core Curriculum outlines these qualities as "understanding the ever-developing information society and practicing medical research and treatment while utilizing information, science and technology such as artificial intelligence." The guidelines are organized by the three perspectives of "ethical viewpoints and rules for dealing with information, science and technology," "principles of information, science and technology necessary for medicine and its surrounding society," and "utilization of information, science and technology in the medical field." The objectives of the course were set from the three perspectives of "ethics and rules for dealing with information, science and technology," "principles of information, science and technology necessary for medicine and the society surrounding it," and "utilization of information, science and technology in medical practice." We looked back on the process of formulating these qualities and competencies, which will become increasingly important, and discussed their future prospects.

In this revision, we have attempted to align the Model Core Curriculum for Medical Education competency, "problem-solving ability based on specialized knowledge," with the "Standards of National Examination for Medical Practitioners." The major diseases and syndromes in "Essential Fundamentals" correspond to the basic diseases in Table 1 of the Core Curriculum, symptoms, physical and laboratory examinations, and treatment in "General Medicine" correspond to the items in Table 2 of the Core Curriculum, and the diseases in "Medical Theory" correspond to the diseases in PS-02 of the Core Curriculum. The validity of the diseases in the Core Curriculum was verified using the evaluation results of the examination level classification of the "Research for Revision of National Examination Criteria." Approximately 690 diseases were conclusively selected. This revision mentions the number of diseases in the Core Curriculum for the first time. Hopefully, this will lead to a deeper examination of diseases that should be studied in medical schools in the future.

In the 2022 revision of the Model Core Curriculum, a new "Educational Strategies and Assessment" section was added as a further development in outcome-based education. By adding a chapter on strategies and evaluation, which is an important element of the curriculum, and linking it to qualities and abilities, we have devised a way for learners and instructors to make use of the Core Curriculum more easily. In addition, 11 example of strategy and assessment cases are included as Good Practice to encourage practical application. However, since these are only examples, we hope this chapter will be further developed as universities create strategies and evaluations that make the most of their unique characteristics.

Globally, there are currently three major competency models for healthcare professions education: CanMEDS 2015 in Canada, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Six-Competency model in the United States, and Tomorrow's Doctors in the United Kingdom. An investigation by the Revision Committee for the Japanese National Model Core Curriculum revealed that these competency models had been utilized in seven countries. In each country investigated for revision, medical schools were allowed to implement these major competency models flexibly. Although each university has a high degree of freedom in curriculum design and educational delivery, each country is regulated by a quality assurance system that requires accreditation by the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) and other organizations. The 2022 Revision of the Japanese National Model Core Curriculum has also been translated into English and released to the global audience in the field.

Background: The management of medical student examinations has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitating measures to prevent overcrowding at the entry/exit flow line of the examination room. Specifically, one method to mitigate congestion at the examination room exit is to allow students to leave early after completing their exams.Methods: This study utilized the regular final examination in emergency medicine for fourth-year medical students at Hirosaki University. Students were permitted to leave the room early, up until 20 minutes before the 60-minute examination period concluded. We included 130 participants in the study and conducted a multiple logistic regression analysis with the test score (higher (1) or lower (0) than the average score) as the dependent variable and the presence or absence of early withdrawal, gender, bachelor transfer status, and regional quota student status as independent variables.Results: Of the 130 fourth-year medical students included in the study, 14 (10.8%) left the exam room early. The multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that bachelor transfer students (odds ratio (OR) = 4.20, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.24-14.18) and female students (OR = 2.56, 95%CI 1.24-5.25) tended to achieve statistically significantly higher scores. However, early leavers (OR = 1.78, 95%CI 0.53-5.95) and regional quota students (OR = 1.72, 95%CI 0.78-3.78) did not exhibit a significant association with the highest scores.Discussion: We found that there is no significant association between early exit of medical students and exam scores in our emergency medicine examinations. Therefore, implementing early dismissal can be justified as a measure to ensure a smooth flow of students when leaving the room.