The Annals of Pediatric Cardiology (APC) has made great strides in the past two decades since its launch. It remains among the few unique platforms covering all subspecialties of pediatric and congenital heart diseases. Over the years, APC has emerged as a leading voice not only for India but also for the rest of Asia and other low- and middle-income countries. APC has grown leaps and bounds in readership, submissions, citations, and impact factors, and has established itself as one of the leading journals in the field. It is perhaps fair to claim that the journal now has a truly global status. I place on record the pioneering efforts of the past editors, Dr. Bharat Dalvi, Dr. SS Kothari, Dr. R Krishnakumar, and Dr. KS Iyer for their vision, dedication, and untiring hard work, which enabled the journal’s meteoric rise. We also acknowledge the unstinting support of our authors, readers, reviewers, associate editors, the editorial board, and the governing council of the Pediatric Cardiac Society of India (PCSI). After completing 5 years as the editor-in-chief of APC, the time has come to say goodbye and hand over the reins to the incoming editor, Dr. Debasis Das. The last 5 years witnessed exponential growth in the journal, with the number of submissions and the diversity of contributions from all over the globe, necessitating an increase in publication frequency to 6 issues per year. Dr. Das brings unique qualities to the team. Not only is he a qualified and highly acclaimed congenital cardiac surgeon, trained at leading institutes in the country and Australia, but he also holds degrees in hospital management, healthcare management, and analytics from leading management institutions, including the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode. Having successfully served as the section editor of the Indian Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, we can look forward to the APC reaching even greater heights under his leadership. Dr. Debasis Das’s research contributions in pediatric cardiac care have been prolific, with more than 60 publications in national and international journals and sections in medical books on pediatric and neonatal cardiac surgery. He also established neonatal and challenging pediatric and congenital heart surgery in the eastern part of India, providing high-quality, equitable cardiac surgical care to a large number of deserving and needy children. In 2027, the APC will complete a challenging two-decadal journey. The journal faced significant challenges, initially in getting enough quality articles, then enough reviewers, readership, and citable articles. The journal has navigated major challenges to become a trusted platform for the pediatric cardiac community in resource-limited settings, where most affected children live. Decades of sustained hard work and the resolve to keep the journal as free to submit, free to print, and free to access, a rarity in today’s publishing world, helped in making it one of the leading forums for discussion of issues concerning children with heart disease who live in resource-limited settings. Dr. Debasis Das is perhaps in the best position to further overcome these challenges, and his dynamism and innovative thinking should infuse the journal with fresh energy. I hope that Dr. Das will strive to maintain, strengthen, and expand the efforts with support from the global pediatric cardiac community. In his able hands, the APC should scale even greater heights. I personally thank all the readers, authors, and reviewers for their trust and belief in APC and my team. My job wouldn’t have been possible without the untiring support of my associate and assistant editors, the entire editorial board, all PCSI members, and the governing council members. I also want to acknowledge the dedicated publishing team at Medknow/Wolters Kluwer, especially Mr. Hanumant Pawar, whose consistent support and careful attention have been invaluable. Their guidance in swiftly addressing challenges and overseeing the numerous facets of journal publishing is deeply appreciated. I wish Dr. Debasis Das the very best while taking over as the editor-in-chief of the APC. Happy reading!
Sivasubramanian Ramakrishnan (Thu,) studied this question.