Letter to the Editor

doi:10.4236/fmar.2013.14012

Paper Menu >>

Journal Menu >>

Vol.1, No.4, 63-63 (2013) Forensic Medicine and Anatomy Research

http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/fmar.2013.14012

Letter to the Editor

Geoffrey H. Sperber

Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; [email protected]

Received 27 May 2013; revised 14 July 2013; accepted 22 August 2013

which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The inauguration of a new venture always instills a

sense of excitement and anticipation with which I pen

this introductory editorial to the newly established jour-

nal of Forensic Medicine and Anat omy R esearch (FMAR ) .

The premier issue in January 2013 sported a spectacular

cover portraying a range of icons representing organic

molecules superimposed on the DNA helix transiting

through to the human skeleton, conveying the intended

contents of the journal. This peer reviewed open access

journal, to be published quarterly, provides a platform for

a variety of disciplines that interconnect with human

morphology in all its manifestations. The FMAR initiates

a new repository for reports on far-reaching fields of

anatomical sciences encompassing related disciplines of

anthropology, evolution, paleoanthropology, comparative

anatomy, forensic anatomy, pathological anatomy, em-

bryology, genetics, odontology, ethnicity and forensic

sciences. It is encouraging to note the interdisciplinary

nature of the anticipated content from a wide variety of

subjects to allow integration of diversity to a common

goal of insightful interpretations of interconnecting themes.

The opportunity to inform and report on meetings and

courses in the fields encompassed by FMAR presents

itself to a world-wide readership.

The current cornucopia of proliferating online publica-

tions opens a Pandora’s Box of both possibilities and

risks in unsolicited submissions of articles offered to

FMAR. The need for peer review of submitted articles is

of undoubted necessity, that, in itself invites assessment

of the reviewers, ranging from “pit bulls” to “pussy-

cats”. The reputation of this online journal will rest on

the quality of the peer review process, that, in turn, de ter-

mines its “impact factor”. The consequences of the im-

pact factor skewing research repor ts has been the su bject

of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assess-

ment (DORA) that aims to stop the use of the “journal

impact factor”, a measure of how often a journal’s arti-

cles is cited (Alberts, 2013). Impact factors do not ac-

curately reflect the value of the work published, that

must be taken into consideration in evaluating the con-

tributions to scientific knowledg e of articles published in

FMAR. Nonetheless, the aim of this new publication is

to provide readers insights that go beyond simple mor-

phological analyses and aids investigations into uncon-

ventional oddities and distortions of the human condi-

tion.

In my capacity as an Editorial Board member, I hope

to contribute to the success of FMAR’s expansion of

knowledge of science. G. H. Sperber

REFERENCE

[1] Alberts, B. (2013) Editorial: Impact factor distortions.

Science, 340, 787.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1240319