It is 23 years since the Turkish Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, the official journal of the Turkish Cardiovascular Surgery Society and Turkish Thoracic Surgery Society, was issued, which was first published in November 1991 under the leadership of Prof. Aydın Aytaç, MD., the president of the Turkish Cardiovascular Surgery Society and by Prof. Tayyar Sarıoğlu, MD., editor in-chief. As of the first issue, the journal has been published quarterly. Day by day, our journal has been gaining further strength in the national and international medical community as a result of its scientific content and independent philosophy.

It is a great honor to be the editor in-chief of the journal, since the Turkish Cardiovascular Surgery Society and Turkish Thoracic Surgery Society assigned me to this position this year. As it is well-known, re-assignments in each period may carry potential risks. To date, previous distinguished seven editors in-chief, have spent great effort to the current status of the journal despite severe difficulties. Past editors and the hardworking members of the editorial board can be deemed as fully responsible for the success of the journal with a growing number of manuscript submission and indexing the journal in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-Expanded). We, all with the members of the recently re-organized editorial board, appreciate the responsibility and pride of this honorable task, by following the contemporary publishing principles and sticking to our institutional policies. I also would like to express my gratitude to the past editors, members of the editorial board, reviewers, and all authors who submitted their manuscripts and contributed to our prestigious heritage.

On the date of 12^th June, 2015, we, including both editorial boards, convened to make a thorough evaluation of the journal and to identify further goals in the head office of the Turkish Cardiovascular Surgery Society. It was highly effective, as expected and I would like to introduce you the decisions and goals which were agreed upon during this meeting. Our first short-term goal is to increase the impact factor of the journal and to enable to be indexed in the PubMed. With the assistance of Dr. Suat Nail Ömeroğlu, editor, and Drs. Mehmet Kaplan and Atilla Gürses, administrative editors, we, therefore, are committed to make a full collaboration to achieve our goals.

Furthermore, I would like to express my thanks to all colleagues for their contributions to the journal for being indexed in the SCI-E. Of note, it is all our responsibility to sustain our success for SCI-E. Despite the high number of articles electronically downloaded, the number of citations, unfortunately, appears to be relatively low. Within this context, I would like distinguished members to highlight the importance of citation of the manuscripts published in our journal within the past two years in the international publications. I, in particular, advise using the official abbreviation of our journal, “Turk Gogus Kalp Dama” while referencing to a manuscript published in other journals.

One of the main principals of the board of the Turkish Cardiovascular Surgery Society and Turkish Thoracic Surgery Society is to maintain a homogenous administration for all tasks across the country. So far, we have spent great effort to establish the recent editorial board by prioritizing the efforts on our journals, considering the institutional dignity, and enabling regional representation. Furthermore, new national and international colleagues will be included in the editorial board according to the quality and the number of manuscripts evaluated as well as evaluation times.

Objectivity, ethic codes and confidentiality are the milestones for a peer-review process. We, as the member of the editorial board of the journal, are committed to follow these milestones. It is beyond any doubt that all colleagues' will to the full extent assist the editorial board working diligently.

Original research articles are the main type of papers in our journal. The manuscripts submitted are evaluated by three to five referees. Soon, the evaluation process will be shortened with a novel infrastructure and an option to recommend alternative reviewers. Unless the reviewer achieves his/her task, the final decision will be based upon the editor's discretion and the evaluation process will be shortened, if the number of evaluation is sufficient.

As a result of advances in science and technology, medicine is transforming. In this millennium, multidisciplinary approach for better health care is crucial. In parallel, the electronic journal of Cardiovascular Surgery and Interventions, which was first published in March 2014, has been rapidly extending its scope with new projects under the assistance of Dr. Şahin Şenay, editor, and the editorial board. E-CVSI aims to be the voice of multidisciplinary teams and will provide an active forum to advance our medical knowledge and creativity for our community as well as other disciplines. Fast dissemination of videos and podcasts on innovative surgical techniques and interventions and medical news will be provided. An interactive platform for relevant comments will soon be constituted. In addition, invited comment pages will be created. Android and Apple applications will be established to facilitate the access to our both journals.

I, also, would like to express my thanks to Bayçınar Tıbbi Yayıncılık for their diligent, timely, and high-quality works and Pleksus for their robust electronic infrastructure services and will be pleased to maintain our collaboration in the new period.

Finally, I would like to express my thanks to Prof. Anıl Z. Apaydın, MD. and the members of the board of directors for their great support and courage and to all for your efforts to establish and develop the journals within the hope of a sustainable commitment and interest.

Prof. A. Rüçhan Akar, MD.
Editor In-Chief,
Turkish Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
Cardiovascular Surgery and Interventions