The Journal of Perinatal Medicine (JPM) is celebrating its 50 years anniversary. The first issue was published in January 1973, making it the first scientific journal in the field of perinatal medicine. JPM was founded by Erich Saling of Berlin (Germany), the father of perinatal medicine, and Roberto Caldeyro Barcia of Uruguay, an expert in uterine contractility, Edward Hon from the USA, who pioneered electronic heart rate monitoring of the fetus, and Stanley James, one of the most outstanding neonatologists. Over the past 50 years, JPM has grown with the increasing number of annual submissions and readers, as well as increasing impact within the scientific community.
Since 1992, JPM has been the official journal of the World Association of Perinatal Medicine (WAPM), and in 2014 begun a cooperation with the International Academy of Perinatal Medicine (IAPM). As its official journal, JPM publishes the work of IAPM in the Corner of Academy.
The editors have always attached great importance to quality. Whenever the editors accept a paper for publication in JPM, they consider its value for elucidating the physiology and pathophysiology of pregnancy and the newborn and its potential to promote possible changes and improvements in practice in perinatal care of the mother and the child. The editors aspire to publish clinical and translational research, but none of this would be possible without the contributions of the many scientists involved with JPM. The editors and editorial staff are committed to providing a journal that publishes evidence-based, clinically relevant papers, scientifically and editorially independent and with integrity. We aim to communicate with the authors and readers and to realize rapid publication times. Last but not least, one of our the ongoing goals is to increase the impact factor of JPM, which has improved from 1.901 (2020) to 2.716 (2021) (Figure 1).
Development of the impact factor of the Journal of Perinatal Medicine from 2006 to 2021.
In addition to original research articles, reviews, congress reports, and WAPM abstract, JPM also publishes a variety of guidelines and expert opinions. It is surprising that some globally published guidelines that refer to the same evidence-based literature make different recommendations. The broad definitions used to make clinical recommendations and describe methodology can complicate practical use and are sometimes dangerous. The need for international collaboration in guideline development is evident.
Since 2011, the editorial process of all submitted manuscripts has included a similarity check (plagiarism check). Using this plagiarism tool, we aim to exclude manuscripts with a high similarity index. We are receiving many submissions with a similarity index higher than 50%, and we ask all authors to understand that we will continue to reject such papers in the future in the interest of scientific fairness.
In 2012, the editors and publisher of JPM started a new scientific journal, entitled Case Reports of Perinatal Medicine (CRPM). The aim of the new journal is to collect cases with uncommon diagnoses, descriptions of new diseases, innovative therapeutic methods and unusual side effects of therapy.
We would like to thank our authors (both scientists and clinicians), readers, editors, and the Managing Editor for their help and support. We also thank the Associate Editors for editing and reviewing the manuscripts. We thank our (peer) reviewers who kindly agree to evaluate the articles submitted to JPM. Their work is helpful to the editors and of great value to the scientific community.
I have solicited contributions from the members of the Editorial Board for this special Anniversary Issue, and I thank all authors for their contributions.
The editors and editorial staff welcome the feedback from our readers. This feedback will help us continue our mission as an important journal in the field of perinatal medicine.
© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
