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Newsletter
President's Message Anesthesia & Analgesia is the Official Journal of the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists "Doors in our lives open and close all the time, but sometimes we're too busy looking back at the one that closed to see the one that opened." — Helen Keller In 2002, the membership of Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists exceeded 7,000 and continues to grow. Most members know about our three first-rate annual meetings, our informative bi-monthly Newsletter, and our yearly educational monograph. However, few members realize that the official journal of the SCA is Anesthesia & Analgesia, although the SCA logo has been prominently displayed on its cover since 1994. Both the SCA and our partner in this endeavor, the International Anesthesia Research Society, are actively moving to increase awareness of our journal. In 1994, the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists realized a need for a journal to serve as an outlet for the publication of new research and the dissemination of new ideas. Although a difference of opinion existed within the SCA Board of Directors concerning whether we should have "our own" journal or utilize a section within an already existing journal, all agreed on the importance of having an SCA identifiable publication. The contract with IARS to use a section of Anesthesia & Analgesia, as our official journal, ends in January 2003, so this past year the SCA Executive Committee felt it was time to explore other avenues. Arguments for having our very own specialty journal included being able to have full editorial control, having full economic return from proceeds of the journal, and having the bragging rights with our own vehicle to represent the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists as a subspecialty of anesthesiology. Were we a big enough Society to pull this off? Certainly, with over 7000 members, size alone was not the major issue. However, would this be the best decision for our Society and for our members? The final decision, after much deliberation, was no! The SCA Board of Directors' decision to continue our affiliation with Anesthesia & Analgesia was directly related to one of the primary core values of our Society - to provide new information on advances in cardiac, pulmonary and vascular anesthesia to all anesthesiologists. It is our responsibility as a specialty Society to improve the care and safety of all patients, whether or not they are taken care of by members of our Society. This core value of improving patient safety and improving the quality of care could best be accomplished by being in a journal with a wide distribution and a high impact factor (impact factor is a way journals are rated based on how often the articles published in them are referenced in future journal articles). Anesthesia & Analgesia, our official journal, did fulfill these requirements for our Society. Since Anesthesia & Analgesia has a subscription rate of over 25,000 anesthesiologists and has the third highest impact factor of any anesthesia journal, the SCA message would reach a much wider audience than in a journal that only went out to the SCA's 7000 members. However, something was missing with our "journal within a journal". In spite of cardiac, vascular and pulmonary articles being published in Anesthesia & Analgesia under the SCA "section", the SCA had zero recognition as the major affiliate within this journal. Our recent contract negotiations were primarily oriented toward changing this! A series of thoughtful, intense, and productive negotiation occurred with the leadership of the International Anesthesia Research Society. From these negotiations David Bevan, MD; Adrian Gelb, MD; Ron Miller, MD; and Anne Maggorie have welcomed the SCA into having a greater role within Anesthesia & Analgesia. Starting next year, Anesthesia & Analgesia will have a new section defined by a title page identifying it as the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists Section. The title page will have our logo, and a listing of our editors, sub-editors, reviewers, and other contributors. In addition, based upon our new contract, the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiolo-gists will name our own section editor starting in 2003, and will be able to expand the SCA subsection of Anesthesia & Analgesia with new innovative educational endeavors. Such new expanded areas may include a number additions which our membership has indicated an interest, such as a Pro - Con Section, a new innovations section, a focused review section, and a variety of other features which will provide added value, not only to the members of the SCA, but to all anesthesiologists. The Board of Trustees of the IARS is to be commended for their far-sightedness in developing a stronger partnership with the SCA. I believe that all of us left the table after a difficult year of negotiations feeling that the contract was a "win-win" situation. I am personally excited about the prospect of the SCA having increased visibility within Anesthesia & Analgesia and the enhancements that are sure to come. Keep your eyes pealed on Anesthesia & Analgesia over the coming year as your official journal begins to bring increased value to our membership! Roger A. Moore, MD
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