Congratulations Golden Jubilee volume of JOGR—Memory of VIA (very important assignment)

Abstract

It was 37 years ago that I had the privilege of joining AOFOG. In 1987, when the late Professor Kuwabara became the editor-in-chief of the Asia Oceania Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, I was honored to be invited to join the editorial staff of the journal. That was my first encounter with AOFOG and I would like to look back on one of the editorial meetings at the time and offer a message of congratulations.

The editorial board was made up of young doctors who worked on the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and we had the opportunity to review two to three submitted papers every month. By reading papers submitted from member countries, I was able to gain insight into their practices and culture, as well as the diversity of approaches.

Editorial meetings were held in the library of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, once every 2 months. Attending an editorial meeting was a great opportunity to engage with colleagues from all around Japan. The meeting lasted from morning until late at night, as each member had to present the results of the peer review in detail. Professor Kuwabara asked us rather tough questions about the details of the peer review results, sometimes as if we were asking about a paper we had written by ourselves, and we had to open up the significance of the paper on behalf of the author.

However, despite these strict bimonthly editorial meetings, twice a year there was a dinner party for the members, where all the members got to know each other under Professor Kuwabara over a delicious meal and wine and had a lot of fun trying to produce a great journal with our own hands. A picture attached is the editorial board member after such dinner party.

One day, I was asked to peer review a submitted paper, which was a report of cervical cancer screening using visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA). In Japan, VIA was not used in clinical practice at all at the time as a meaningful screening method and we did not even have the opportunity to learn about it. Unfortunately, its consistency with conventional screening methods had not been scientifically stated the editorial board returned that paper to the author for revision.

I do not know whether that paper was subsequently resubmitted. However, it has left me with an unforgettable impact that I was able to gain as a member of the editorial board. It was later when I became involved in the Oncology Committee of AOFOG and visited AOFOG member countries that I realized the importance of VIA in cervical cancer screening and I saw many papers regarding VIA have been published since then. I have learned that there are their own methods that are based on regional characteristics and are suited to each region.

The author declares no conflict of interests for this article.