EUCORNEA launches a new online journal for members

EuCornea took another major step forward in its development with the news that a new online journal dedicated to the field of corneal research is set to be launched .

“I am excited to be able to announce  that we have received approval for the launch of our own journal very soon, which will be called j.eucornea and will serve a real need in the ophthalmological community,” Prof Harminder Singh Dua told delegates attending the official opening ceremony of the 6th EuCornea Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Prof Dua said that an editorial board has now been constituted and that the journal will be fully peer-reviewed and will be open-access.

“Over the last year the executive board of EuCornea has been deliberating starting a journal for the society. Elsevier has agreed to be our partner in this and to publish our journal. We have gone through extensive drafting and redrafting of the contract, which is now ready to be signed by the president and treasurer of EuCornea, and the executive board has also given its approval,” he said.

Prof Dua said the EuCornea board members felt that the time was right for the organisation to take the next step in its evolution.

“Once it gets going, i think we will be quite proud of what we might achieve in the years to come. A lot is happening in cornea in europe and we have seen that with lamellar keratoplasty, collagen crosslinking and many other innovations. I think it was befitting that this organisation took on the role of being the voice of european cornea in ophthalmology and would supplement that with a journal,” he said.

Prof Dua added that the journal will go live later this year and he urged all members to get behind the initiative and support it.

“The web portal will be open later this year and we will be inviting submissions. All members will receive an email to submit contributions and i have suggested that all editorial board members, and myself included as editor of the journal, will have to send at least one publication a year from their respective institutions to the new journal if they wish to retain their place on the editorial board. I am confident that we will receive the support necessary to make the journal a success,” he said.