Page 7 - MDJ 2022 Jan-Jun, Volume 45 Number 1

Malaysian Dental Journal Volume 45 Issue 1/2022
 2022 The Malaysian Dental Association
MALAYSIAN DENTAL JOURNAL

Editorial: Can the MDJ survive the onslaught of open
access journals?

The Malaysian Dental Journal is celebrating its 45th
Volume this year. It has gone through many changes since
its establishment, with the most significant being changes
in editors with their different styles of management, and
its presentation/lay out that followed changes in time.
From a print journal, it was published in digital version in
the early 2010s. The Malaysian Dental Association
members then received a CD instead of the usual hard
copies. Nowadays, members can read it online in the
MDA website, while non-members can access it via the
Dentistry in EBSCO catalogue.

Of course, with almost everything (where possible) being
online nowadays, it is undeniable that the MDJ needs to
evolve to stay relevant. The boom of open access journals
available to authors/researchers does not auger well for the
MDJ as all these journals also cater to the same groups of
authors/researchers. It does not help that the journal is no
longer indexed in PubMed or any other main indexing
database besides Dentistry in EBSCO and MyRA. This
new editorial team will look into the indexing issue again to improve its visibility and credibility. In addition,
we hope to provide early access/early publication soon instead given the speed information is disseminated
nowadays.

So, as the come-back Editor, the first question I asked myself is whether the MDJ is staying relevant? Can it
survive the onslaught of open access journals? I left the Editorial post almost 15 years ago, at the time when
there was no problem soliciting submissions, with experts being invited to give a brief review of selected themes,
and even an expert contributing a section entitled: CDE Self-assessment in Clinical Dentistry. I hope to revive
all these.

In addition, it is my hope to make this journal a MDC certified journal, where readers can claim some CPD
points on the Annual Practising Certificate after reading the issues and answering some of the questions
provided online. This is a common practice in the western world, and I believe it can work well if executed
properly. To achieve this, the next aim is thus to increase the number of review articles with experts being
invited to provide updates in selected areas of specialty.

The council of the MDA has invited some affiliate association members to adopt this journal as their official
publications. With this hopefully, it will reach wider audience of different specialties.

Professor Dr Wei Cheong NGEOW
Editor
Malaysian Dental Journal

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