I'd like to share with our readers that this year's first issue of the Korean Journal of Orthodontics (KJO) will have several important changes in light of the journal's history. Most significantly, its publication policy has been updated to adopt a full English edition to encourage international circulation as of the beginning of 2012. As the official publication of the Korean Association of Orthodontists (KAO), KJO has a long history of serving the orthodontic community close and far. Since its first issue was printed in 1970, its publication frequency has increased from yearly to biennially in 1981, triennially in 1989, and then quarterly in 1992 all in Korean language. Beginning in 1995, the journal has been published bimonthly to include at least one full issue in English in a given year depending on the submission volume of manuscripts. My personal view is that, from that point on, a motion was set for internationalization of the journal to go beyond a regional scope. Later in 2008, KJO has been indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) of the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI), which has served as a platform to become a global orthodontic journal. Subsequently, the plans and executive decisions to promote the journal's international circulation have eventually materialized as an orthodontic scientific publication limited to the English language as of 2012. When it comes to the quality of the articles, I am delighted to inform you that KJO ranks highly among the orthodontic journals. The purpose of KJO is to introduce significant clinical and scientific original research papers by publication and dissemination. In attempt to control the quality of the contents of the journal, all manuscripts submitted to KJO are scrutinized under the standardized peer review system, followed by revisions according to discriminating expert reviewer panels, before final acceptance. Among the means to measure the quality of scholarly scientific journals, the 'impact factor,' which is the indicator of the likelihood of a journal's article to be cited, may be the most widely accepted instrument. According to the 2010 Journal Citation Reports (JCR) KJO was given the impact factor of 0.824 in 2011. The figure is encouraging, especially given the short track record of the journal since enlisted in SCIE, and I am confident that it is a positive reflection of the right direction where KJO is headed. As our readers know, KJO announced its open access policy in 2008. What it means is that now all articles of the journal are available for free with minimum legal and technical limitations. Further, unrestricted distribution and reproduction of the articles are protected under the license terms so long as it is non-commercial use and the original work is properly cited (http://creativecommons.org/licences/by-nc/3.0/). I am certain that this wide window for access will aid in increasing the volume of global circulation of the journal, eventually elevating the number of citations received and the journal impact factors. Finally, I'd like to acknowledge that the Korean Association of Orthodontists has provided valuable financial support for the publication of KJO. KAO is a member-supported non-profit organization, which was founded in 1959 for the purpose of advancing scientific knowledge in the field and promoting open communications among orthodontists. Many of its members have been active in their research activities, contributing to the content of KJO and development of professional niche in regional scientific community. As an international orthodontic journal, now KJO invites them to embrace greater opportunities to communicate their visions and to continue the efforts to share their expertise with global scientific world.