Sexual Medicine: New Challenges.

Abstract

Sexual Medicine Open Access (SMOA) is part of a family of journals from the International Society of Sexual Medicine (ISSM) that includes the Journal of Sexual Medicine (JSM) and Sexual Medicine Reviews (SMR). SMOA is a peer-reviewed, Open Access, journal designed for the rapid dissemination of multidisciplinary clinical and basic research in all areas of sexual medicine. The journal particularly acts as a venue for topics of regional or subspecialty interest. Our aim is to serve the growing demand for authors to publish content free of access restrictions and to do so rapidly. In addition to continuing these policies, SMOA pursues initiatives to broaden the role of the journal as a venue for topics of regional and subspecialty interest from across the breadth of sexual medicine. Our Open Access approach at SMOA allows for rapid dissemination of multidisciplinary clinical and basic research in all areas of global sexual medicine free from pay wall barriers. For ISSM members and nonmembers alike, crucially, we are able to provide unencumbered access to content for those who cannot afford to purchase articles. For expedited publication and rigorous peer review, we have meticulously recruited distinguished editors from diverse subject areas, geographic locations, and gender to establish a new editorial board. Our board is undoubtedly composed of some of the brightest and best from the membership of ISSM. SMOA, it should be noted, shares a pool of reviewers with JSM. Between our enthusiastic and skilled editorial board and the tried and trusted pool of JSM reviewers, we are confident that we will be able to serve our readers' desire for the thorough vetting and proper validation of content we intend to publish. Only the best articles will be published under the ISSM imprint, of which SMOA is a new, but vital, component. Sexual medicine as a field needs a multidisciplinary approach to the study of both male and female sexual dysfunction. The scope of SMOA, therefore, considers all types of original clinical and basic research papers, including high-quality clinical, epidemiological, and healthcare policy papers related to sexual function and dysfunction. SMOA will also become a venue journal for topics of regional, subspecialty interest. To that end, the ISSM consists of 7 regional and affiliated societies. The topics of papers we will publish from our 7 societies will reflect our wide variety of interests. SMOA should, therefore, provide a great alternative for the members of the ISSM whose scientific projects could not be published elsewhere because of their regional or narrow focus of interest. To encourage publication in SMOA, an 80% discount off the publication fee will be offered to individual members of ISSM and members of the regional and affiliate societies (APSSM, ESSM, SLAMS, MESSM, SMSNA, SASSM, ISSWSH) in 2016. Last year, SMOA was accepted for inclusion in the Thomson Reuters Science Citation Index Expended (SCIE) and will receive its first Impact Factor in June 2016. Such recognition of the quality of our growing portfolio of articles was critical to the continued success of the journal and was achieved in no small part thanks to the tireless leadership of the founding Editor-in-Chief, Dr Alan Shindel. Fortunately, I was elected to replace Dr Shindel as the new Editor-in-Chief and started my editorship on October 1, 2015. On behalf of the entire Editorial Board of SMOA, and indeed the ISSM as a whole, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr Alan Shindel and the original team of Associate Editors, especially Dr Edgardo Becher, Dr Benjamin N. Breyer, Dr Wah Yun Low, Dr Eusebio Rubio-Aurioles, and Dr Rany Shamloul, who served with dedication as the journal's first editorial board. From January 2016, the publishing house for SMOA changed from Wiley to Elsevier Inc, adding our sexual medicine content to Elsevier's massive journal program and to its electronic platforms, and thus ensuring the highest level of readability and interactivity for our readers. The transition has been seamless and that is in no small thanks to Ms Sarah Pratta, our Elsevier publishing manager, and Ms Deborah Stone, our production manager. Moving a journal to a new publisher, especially one still in its nascent stages, is no small feat. The upcoming goal of the SMOA is to be indexed in Pubmed/MEDLINE, which will greatly enhance the profile and discoverability of articles we publish. As acceptance in MEDLINE is contingent on fulfilling a number of criteria that define what constitutes a quality publication, our eventual acceptance will represent recognition of our educational mission and our success at producing a quality publication. For this goal, the editorial team of SMOA will do our best to promote SMOA as one of the premier journals in the field. SMOA welcomes your clinical and basic research articles for rapid publication and easy dissemination to our global readers.