RIYADH, 9 October 2004 — Plans are under way to form an Association of Medical Editors in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) at the second regional conference on “Medical Journals Published in the Eastern Mediterranean Region” to be held at the Riyadh Armed Forces Hospital tomorrow.
“The primary objective of the proposed association is to promote education and training in publishing medical journals throughout the region,” a spokesman for the Saudi Medical Journal (SMJ) told Arab News.
Some 10 medical journals are being published in the Kingdom and the number stands between 25 and 30 within the region.
The three-day event will be hosted by the SMJ in collaboration with the World Health Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO), the King Abdul Aziz City for Science & Technology ( KACST) and Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization .
The conference will coincide with the 25th anniversary of the SMJ which is published by the Riyadh Armed Forces Hospital.
The conference will be preceded by a day’s orientation program on research on medical journals in the eastern Mediterranean region.
Topics of discussions at the scientific sessions include subjects such as editorship — duties and responsibilities, peer review, ethics, dissemination and networking.
“The course will be interactive, and short presentations will be followed by extended discussions on issues facing medical editors in this region”, SMJ Editor Professor Basim Yacoub said, adding that the course will also incorporate a four-hour dynamic workshop on statistics.
The international faculty includes Bruce Squires, founder of the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) in North America, Robert Daroff, former editor of one of the leading journals in the United States and Andrew Herxheimer, Emeritus Fellow, UK Cochrane Center.
The team of lecturers at the conference will include more than 50 speakers from the region and another 20 eminent scholars from the Kingdom .
The organizers have invited health and biomedical researchers, authors, publishers, scientists and academicians to the scientific symposium which will attract more than 250 participants from all parts of the Kingdom.
