Forging ahead with plans for sustainable growth

Teo EK
Correspondence: Prof Teo Eng Kiong, smj.editor-in-chief@sma.org.sg


SUMMARY
The year 2012 closed with a total of 1,331 new manuscripts submitted to the journal from 39 countries, with the  majority of submissions from Singapore and Asia. Despite our expanding international reach, some 32%  of manuscripts submitted (a 16% increase from 2011) and 46% of the articles published last year were from local authors. Thus, we were able to strike a healthy balance of international and local  content, retaining the distinctive local flavour of the Journal. The interest generated by some of our articles among the local media, especially those that directly impact the local population, attests  to the Journal being uniquely Singaporean. Some of the articles that caught media attention in 2012 were topics pertaining to palliative care in children, tuberculosis control in Singapore and addictions such as gambling and binge drinking, with the most recent being a commentary by lawyers Eric Tin and Kang Yixian on specified minimum suspension term for doctors and other healthcare professionals – a topic that, in my opinion, will continue to interest medical practitioners in Singapore.