Goodbye 2011 and Hello New Science Year 2012: JIDC Postcards 2011- a Wrap-up

Good Bye 2011.  Hello New Science Year! Its 2012!  I hope everyone had a fabulous 2011 and rang in 2012 with a (big) bang!

There is so much a new year brings, especially in science. A new year with many possibilities. New conferences to attend (yeah!). Papers to publish. Exciting projects to start.  And new posts to write for the JIDC Blog!

To move forward in a guided direction I often feel we need to review the past.  What conferences were attended?  Were they beneficial? What papers were we able to publish last year? Were they well received? What are the stages of the current projects? Are they close to a publication? Are they close to completion?

And here at the JIDC Blog, what were the posts on the Blog over the last year?  Were they helpful to readers and authors? Did they promote scientific discussion? Were the Blog and the Blog Posts a good resource for research information? – This was my main goal when starting the JIDC Blog.  My hope was that the Blog would be useful to JIDC readers and authors alike as an information resource as well as a point for discussions.  I also hoped that it would be a valuable tool for non-JIDC members and help educate new people about JIDC.

So shall we review?

There is a blog tradition that I have only just learned about.  The tradition is that the first post of the New Year should be a listing of all the first sentences from the first post of every month from the previous year.

Below is a listing of all of the first Posts of every month in 2011 and the first sentences from each.  I have also added my personal notes from each post.

Here we go…

June 2011 — JIDC Postcards: The JIDC Blog

Hi, and welcome to JIDC’s blog. 

I was sooo excited…and nervous to introduce the Blog to the JIDC community and the world.  Would anyone read it? Would anyone like it?  Would it be a Blog that we could be proud of? Only you can answer these questions for me. 

 

July 2011 – Olga:  From Mozambique to Brazil

A Challenge!! An Opportunity!!

My name is Olga André Chichava, and I’m a young biologist fromMozambique!

I absolutely loved this post from Olga. Her story gave an incredible view into the life of a research student who is also a mother.  I was inspired to see her courage to move to a foreign country and her drive to build her masters project.   She shared her passion for research as well as life with us. This post was featured on the headlines of Microbiology Daily, I was so proud. Also, this post is the most popular post on the Blog.

 

August 2011 – Milliedes in Kashmir,India

Insects have been found in Marrhama, a village in Blok Trehgam in the District of Kupwara Jammu and Kashmir, India. The main water source used for drinking purposes is badly affected by the insects.

This post from Dr. Kadri highlighted problems that affect regional areas which can easily go unnoticed to the rest of the world.  I am so glad that he shared this experience so that more people can be aware of such difficulties that face communities. This is the second most popular post of all time on the Blog and I am happy that it has reached so many people!

 

September 2011 – The First Annual Conference on Drug Therapy in TB Infection

The Africa Health Research Organization, AHRO, presents the International Conference on Drug Therapy in TB Infection

What: First International Conference on Drug Therapy in TB Infection
When: 6-7 January 2012
Where: Edinburgh Scotland
Who: Presented by AHRO,Africa Health Research Organization

It was great to post about this conference.  Since the conference was just completed, I hope that everything went well and it was a successful event.  Also, I would love to hear a roundup of the conference by anyone who attended.  Please contact me if you are interested in writing a Blog Post describing this meeting.

 

October 2011 – And the winner is…! JIDC Open Access Week#4

And the winner is….I just couldn’t help it.  I have enjoyed Open Access Week and the JIDC T-shirt give-away that I could not just draw only 1 name.  So I picked 6!

Ooooo this was an exciting one.  I was incredibly happy to share JIDC and the JIDC T-shirts with readers and authors! If you are a winner and you haven’t contacted me and would still like at T-shirt, please let me know.

 

November 2011 – Publishing a Scientific Article in JIDC

How do I publish a scientific paper?…This question is asked by all young scientists. 

How do you write a scientific paper? There are so many directions one can take when putting their research together. I hope this helped authors organize themselves when preparing manuscripts for JIDC.  In addition to this Post, if you have other specific questions about writing a paper or you have a particular writing topic you would like to see a post about, please don’t hesitate to let me know.  I am currently preparing a post how I write a scientific paper to share with you.

 

December 2011 – ReR – MedToday!

Memento te hominem esse. – Remember that you are human.

What an important point that is! Remember you are human. We are all vulnerable and delicate aren’t we? I am so happy to have posted the special work of ReR-MedToday! The importance of support during times of ill health can’t be overstated. I am sure the families touched by this organization are forever grateful.

 

Thats a Wrap! 

So that’s the JIDC Blog for 2011.  I hope 2012 brings just as fabulous Posts and discussions as 2011 did.

I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the Posts and Discussion of the 2011 JIDC Blog!  In no particular order, BIG THANKS to:

IRIN and Jane Summ

Olga Andre Chichava

Prof. Jorg Heukelbach

Anna Carolina Ritter

Laboratory of Food Microbiology of the ICTA/UFRGS

Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul

Dr. Vinod Singh

USAID

David Dorherty

Joanne Wong

Dr. S.M. Kadri

Open Access and Open Access Week

SPARC

PLoS

Donna Okubo

Dr. Amber Farooqui

Jain et al., JIDC 2011

Dr. Abubaker Yaro

Annals of Tropical Medicine and Public Health

1^st International Conference on Drug Therapy in TB Infection

The Grandest Challenge

Dr. Abdallah S. Daar

Dr. Peter A. Singer

Sun et al., JIDC 2011

Amedei et al., JIDC 2011

Elios et al., JIDC 2011

Jeff Coombs

Tracy Zao

Ashish Chandra Shrestha

Sara Norris

Christopher Logue

Sunita Pareek

Marie Anne Chattaway

Chimwemwe Mandalasi

Jane-Francis Akoachere

University of Buea, Cameroon

Nikki Kelvin

Tribaldos et al., JIDC 2011

Dr. Lorelei Silverman

Dr. Rosalind Silverman

Models of Human Diseases

Loredana

University Hospital of Hue, Vietnam

University of Sassari

Dr. Le Van An

Dr. Tran

Prof. Piero Cappuccinelli

Remi Eryk Raitza

ReR-MedToday!

SmileKenya

Drake Current

Current Family

Dr. Myo Nyein Aung

School of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok

And a spceial thanks to Prof. Salvatore Rubino for his support of the Blog!

Reflecting on the 2011 Blog has shown me I have lots more science to cover! It has also spiked my curiosity.  What was your favorite Post of 2011?  What about your Favorite JIDC Postcard? Was there a topic that you enjoyed reading about or a Postcard that you could identify with? Let me know. I love to hear from you!

And it was a SUCCESS! — JIDC, OA Week Reception at Toronto General Hospital

To join in the Open Access Week festivities, we hosted an OA Week Reception in Toronto at the Toronto General Hospital.  The reception was held on Friday 28 October and focused on gaining knowledge and discussing points of Open Access and the role of JIDC.  AND it was FABULOUS!  Thanks to everyone who was involved and attended. And special thanks to Donna Okubo at PLoS for all her help!

I was thrilled by the people who came out and their interest in JIDC and Open Access publishing. 

I was so excited to have Dr. Lorelei Silverman and Dr. Rosalind Silverman, who established the Models of Human Disease Conference, attend the event.  The conference is annually held in Toronto, Canada.  The purpose of the conference is to serve as a forum for scientists from around the world to exchange their ideas on model organisms or cells to better understand various diseases.  Model organisms include the following: rodents, yeast, Drosophila, C. elegans, zebra fish, chicken, Dictyostelium, snail, crayfish, etc.  What an important concept to have a conference focusing on ”The Use of Animals Models to Improve the Investigation of Human Diseases”.  It is summed up by their tag line: “Better models for better drugs!”   Look for future posts on the Models of Human Diseases Conference and how JIDC will be working with this event.

Me with Lorelei and Rosalind

I had sent one of the students from the lab to this conference this summer and it was a great experience for him—it served as a springboard for him to develop his PhD project into a paper!

I was also pleased to have a JIDC author attend our reception.  It was great to congratulate him on his JIDC paper.  We also discussed the mentoring system, open access publishing and the frustrations of writing a paper and getting it published.

Me with a JIDC Author!

Thanks to everyone else who came out.  It was so great to meet all of you and hear your thoughts on Open Access and JIDC!

Alyson

THEY’RE HEEERREEE! The JIDC Ts!

Eeeeeee!  The JIDC T-shirts came in from the printers this week.  In the office we were all very excited.  And today I have just finished sending the shirts to some of the JIDC Open Access Week winners and JIDC Editors.  Can’t wait to everyone to receive the shirts!

Want to join the JIDC T-shirt wearing team? Send in a picture of you wearing your JIDC for posting on the Blog or feel free to post your picture to the JIDC Facebook page.

Here we are at JIDC Canada wearing our JIDC Ts proudly!

It's not too COLD in Canada to wear our JIDC T!

If you are interested in obtaining a JIDC T-shirt and you were not a winner in our T-shirt contest, please contact me at akelvin(at)jidc(dot)org.

Happy Friday Everyone!

The Birth of JIDC…A new kind of Journal

In the beginning . . . there was . . . an Idea . . . JIDC

There is an old saying that “Success has a thousand mothers and failure has none”. JIDC, I am proud to say, has thousands of mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. Truly, thousands. The success is of JIDC is the fruit of the dedication and hard work of editors, mentors, proofreaders, page setters, reviewers, web designers, web wizards, translators,  and of course the authors who contribute their precious work to JIDC.

Interestingly, I am frequently asked how JIDC began. In a way it began overlooking a mountain in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in May of 2006. A great number of my associates were attending a meeting—the first International Meeting of Infectious Disease in Central Asia, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. We had many intense discussions on the problems facing scientists from developing countries attempting to publish in predominantly western journals and from these discussions evolved the unorthodox idea of a journal that was dedicated to scientists and infectious disease in developing countries.

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan AdvanTours Photo

Many of us had long recognized that scientists and infectious disease science from developing countries were dramatically underrepresented in journals published in western countries. The underlying  science from infectious disease clinicians and scientists, we believed, was of a high calibre, but often the writing and presentation within manuscripts were not.  The solution, we summarized, in the majestic scenery of Bishkek, was to provide assistance in the writing and presentation of data for scientists’ draft JIDC manuscripts.  We thus added to JIDC a mentor system to guide and aid authors from developing countries with both writing skills and manuscript organization.

But alas, finances presented the greatest hurdle for scientists to publish and for the JIDC to function. Many journals require a payment of sorts to be made for accepted manuscripts to be published. The average going rate of $3,000 USD in western journals is manageable by western scientists, but the amount is simply out of the reach for many scientists and clinicians in developing countries. In fact, this may represent nearly one half a year’s wages in some developing countries. The JIDC, we declared, must be free of fees for those who cannot afford them. JIDC today is open access, free to submit, and the publication fee is waived for those who cannot afford the modest fee of 200 euros. The financial burden of maintaining JIDC is shouldered by volunteers of JIDC and grants from foundations and organizations such as the Foundation of Bank of Sardinia, Sardegna Ricerche, the University of Sassari, Shantou University Medical College, the Li Ka Shing Foundation, and the University Health Network in Toronto, Canada. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to these people and organizations.

Through the months and years that followed the Bishkek meeting, JIDC was able to attract the dedicated team that now manages submitted manuscripts, reviews manuscripts, edits manuscripts, and publishes papers. The success of JIDC is the success of the many people who have joined in this exciting and rewarding journey! As we look forward to our fifth an

niversary in 2012, the future is in our hands and it is a glorious sunrise.

Salvatore Rubino, Editor in Chief humble servant…..

JIDC Website:  http://www.jidc.org/index.php/journal

JIDC Editorial Meeting 2011 in Stintino, Sardinia

Thank You to Cameroon — Compliments on the JIDC Mentoring System

A couple of weeks ago, JIDC Editor-in-Chief Salvatore Rubino received a letter from a researcher in Cameroon.  The letter from Jane-Francis Akoachere of the University of Buea in Cameroon, described how the JIDC Mentoring System supports researchers in non-English speaking countries to communicate the research from their communities on an international level.

When the letter was received, everyone at JIDC especially E-in-C Salvatore Rubino was incredibly moved as the Mentoring is the HEART of JIDC.  The whole JIDC Editorial and Technical Staff wanted to show how important this letter was to us and say a big THANK YOU to Jane-Francis Akoachere.  It means more than can be expressed to have a reader communicating their gratitude.

So… Thank You Jane-Francis Akoachere and Cameroon from everyone at JIDC!

Here is  Dr. Jane-Francis Akoachere’s Letter:

Dear Dr Salvatore Rubino,

I was browsing through Scopus and came across JIDC for the first time. Out of curiosity, I did a Google search and got a write up (PDF document) on the mission and vision of JIDC. I salute the concern you and your team has shown  about scientists in developing countries and I earnestly thank you all for  drawing up such a project. Personally, I think I will benefit from the JIDC project because being linked to a mentor, will enable me polish up my writing skills and come up with good manuscripts.

Kindly extend my warm greetings, appreciation and best wishes to your entire team.

Jane-Francis Akoachere,
Coordinator for Microbiology Programme,
Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology,
Faculty of Science,
University of Buea,
Cameroon.