Welcome to the Ipad generation

Abstract

Graefe’s Archive has a long tradition that is tightly connected with the history of German ophthalmology and ophthalmology at the Charite in Berlin. In 1853, Albrecht von Graefes was appointed teacher of ophthalmology at the university of Berlin and the Charite; in 1858, he became an Extraordinary Professor, and in 1866 an Ordinary Professor. Graefe contributed greatly to ophthalmological science, particularly by the establishment in 1855 of his Archiv fur Ophthalmologie, in which Carl Ferdinand von Arlt and Franciscus Donders collaborated. Graefe’s Archives is now returning to the Charite in Berlin and again will profit from a collaborative editorship—nowadays “worldwide” shared between Berlin and Hong Kong. With this, we hope to promote the excellence of the journal both in Europe and abroad. When reflecting that Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1445, he changed the lives of people in Europe. For the first time, books became affordable and education was no longer the preserve of the wealthy. The spread of knowledge eventually fueled the Renaissance. The advent of the Internet arguably has had an even greater impact on the way we live today. Like cheap books, the Internet has made information more accessible. In fact, many doctors and scientists receive complimentary online journals via their hospitals and universities. As a result, libraries are stopping subscriptions to paper copies. This in turn threatens the profitability of publishing. The lag time in publication means that many of us are reading the epub abstracts long before they appear in print, and when we do read, we are increasingly likely to do so using an Ipad or some other smart portable devices. The ease of using databases such as PubMed and Medline means that we are much more exhaustive in our literature searches. References and bibliographies are becoming longer. This has the effect of increasing citation, which in turn raises the impact factor of most medical journals. In fact, there are so many references that it has become “acceptable” to selective quote a chosen few. Even as little as 20 years ago, this would have been frowned upon as being unscholarly. Like carrying out Google searches, few of us these days are interested beyond the top 20 results. Some things, however, remain the same. When it comes to journal submission, the top ranking journal always attracts the best articles. The best articles are quoted often and the ranking of that goes up even higher. Quite simply, the rich gets richer. Under the editorship of Prof. Bernd Kirchhof, the impact factor of the journal has increased from 1.279 to 2.102 and the ranking from 21 to 19 over the last 6 years. This is due to one man’s hard work, dedication, and a keen editorial sense that could differentiate the newsworthy from the mundane. The new editors are A. Joussen Department of Ophthalmology, Charite, University Medicine Berlin, Virchowklinikum (CVK), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin Klinikum Steglitz (CBF) Hindenburgdamm 3