Toward a new stage of Congenital Anomalies

Abstract

Congenital Anomalies, the Official Journal of the Japanese Teratology Society, has been published for 43 years. For the 40th commemorative anniversary edition (Vol. 41, no. 1, 2001), the researchers who attended founding meeting of the Japanese Teratology Society wrote review articles about the early developing stages of research on teratology and developmental abnormalities in Japan. From these articles, we can see the fiery spirit that participated in establishing the concept of congenital anomalies as an academic research field and the desire to promote research in this field. Congenital Anomalies presents articles dealing with the causes and initiating mechanisms of birth defects and abnormal development, and the diagnosis and treatment of these abnormalities. The ultimate goal of the field is to establish measures for the prevention or prophylaxis of congenital malformations in future generations. For that purpose, clinical and epidemiological studies of human populations are also important. During the past 40 years, studies of the molecular mechanisms of normal and abnormal development and human genetics have advanced markedly. Consequently, young researchers tend to be more devoted to pursuing these developing academic fields, instead of applying this knowledge and these measures to research on congenital malformations. The importance of macroscopic aspects should be emphasized in consideration of molecular and genetic mechanisms causing congenital malformations in organs and individuals. Since congenital malformations or birth defects continue to appear at a constant rate, we have to challenge ourselves to solve these issues regardless of the popular attraction of these new fields. Congenital Anomalies is one of the few journals in the world that specialize in the research field concerning congenital malformation described above. To make Congenital Anomalies more internationally oriented, we have changed the style of the journal to the standard international size and invited 10 foreign researchers onto the Editorial Board. The research articles have been registered with PubMed/Medline since 2001. From this issue (Vol. 44, no. 1), Congenital Anomalies will be published by Blackwell Publishing. Therefore, this journal is part of the international information network and will be sent to more than 1000 libraries throughout the world as an electric journal. I hope that Congenital Anomalies will become internationally recognized for its excellent articles.