J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2003;125:S1
© 2003 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery
Editorials from The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery: Content, context, perception, and perspective
Andrew S. Wechsler, MD, Editor,
Pamela W. Fried, MBA, Managing Editor
From Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pa.
Address for reprints: Andrew S. Wechsler, MD, 245 North 15th St, MS 496, Philadelphia, PA 19102-1192.
The Journal has a number of resources that make it successful. Paramount to our ability to publish important studies in our specialty are our editorial board and our authors. Another important resource, drawn from a broad universe of contributors, is our editorialists. As specialization within our broad discipline increases, the ability of most cardiothoracic surgeons to stay current and knowledgeable in all aspects of our specialty decreases.
We are fortunate to be able to call upon experts who help us all by taking important articles, extracting the critical content, and then providing the background that places this information in an appropriate context. Beyond that, we routinely ask colleagues who write editorials to analyze the perception a reader may have after studying an article and to offer alternate concepts, affirm validity and applicability of the ideas expressed, and provide a perspective that may help readers better understand why a particular study was performed and why we chose to publish it.
Because it is hard enough to stay abreast in one's own area of focused interest, it is tempting to slowly allow the wealth of information available in other specialty areas to recede into the background. To some extent, it is possible to cheat a little by reading our editorials to keep up with some very important concepts. For students who are highly focused in a particular area of specialization, collations of thought, challenges to dogma, and aids to frame questions for the future are invaluable assets.
So, for the first time in its history, the Journal offers our readers a collection of this past year's wisdom, wit, and insight in the form of a collection of our editorials. We hope you find them valuable and encourage you to let us know your thoughts by contacting us at jtcvs@drexel.edu.
