Thanks to the support of Fellows of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine (HKAM), the current Editorial Board is entering its third term of office.

We recently reviewed the mix of specialty backgrounds of Editorial Board members with reference to those of the manuscripts submitted to HKMJ. We then invited new blood among the fellowship of the Academy to serve on the Editorial Board. We are delighted to welcome the following new members: (in alphabetical order) Dr Gavin Jehim CHAN (Dermatology), Dr Wah CHEUK (Pathology), Dr Paul Cheung-lung CHOI (Pathology), Prof Ellis Kam-lun HON (Paediatrics), Dr Chor-yin LAM (Orthopaedics), Prof Keith Kwong-hung LAU (Paediatrics), Dr Pui-yau LAU (Orthopaedics), Dr Andrea On-yan LUK (Endocrinology), and Dr Arthur Dun-ping Mak (Psychiatry). Welcome on board!

Doctors Chun-bong Chow and Po-chor Tam left us after serving 10 years on the Board and Dr Ronald Ma left after 4 years of active contributions. Please join me in giving them a big THANK YOU for their dedication and past contributions!

Prof Martin Wong, who has been coordinating the Doctor for Society section since its inception, is now senior editor looking after that section as well as supporting Dr Albert Chui in managing the Case Reports. Responsibilities of other senior editors continue as before, with Dr TW Wong handling submissions to Medical Practice, Commentaries and Pictorial Medicine, Prof Michael Irwin focusing on Review Articles, and Prof PT Cheung managing the CME papers.

Two ‘soft’ sections have been introduced over the past two and a half years—Doctor for Society, and Reminiscence: Artefacts from The Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences. Both have been well received by readers and thanks are due to the medical students who helped with interviewing the doctors and writing the manuscripts for the former, and the Education and Research Committee of Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences Society for the latter. The Editorial Board has decided to continue these two sections.

Our Online First papers (original articles and reviews) have attracted much attention from readers: a hit rate approaching five thousand and more than two thousand full text downloads. It is reassuring that we are moving in the right direction.

The question has periodically been asked whether HKMJ should continue with a hard copy format when all papers are freely accessible on the HKMJ website. The June/July 2013 Readers Survey revealed that 71% of respondents read the print journal, compared with 11% who read the e-version.1 There are benefits for retaining the print version and we shall continue printing and distributing the hard copy for the time being.

From the beginning of this year, HKMJ has been offering its ‘mobile website’. This re-styled website is based on the ‘responsive web’ technology that can automatically adjust according to the device that is browsing the website, thus making the content user-friendly and easily accessible. It is hoped that provision of the full text of all HKMJ papers in print format, as well as a free file format compatible with many smartphones, e-readers, and tablets will reap most benefit for the journal.

Papers published in the HKMJ are attracting a lot of media attention and some local journalists use HKMJ as their prime source to identify new developments in medical practice in Hong Kong. We hope that papers published in the HKMJ will continue to benefit the general public when highlighted by the media, and not just be read by the medical community.

A number of colleges of the Academy have set requirements for trainees to publish papers in peer-reviewed journals before sitting the exit examinations. HKMJ should serve as a suitable vehicle to achieve this.

To assist novice authors, HKMJ has prepared some simple templates for submissions of different types of manuscript. Potential authors may find the following links handy:

• Template for Original Article: HKMJ-template-OA.docx

• Template for Review Article: HKMJ-template-RA.docx

• Template for Medical Practice paper: HKMJ-template-MP.docx

• Template for Case Report: HKMJ-template-CR.docx

• Template for Pictorial Medicine paper: HKMJ-template-PM.docx

The Editorial Board will continue to work hard over the next 2 years to ensure that the quality of papers published in HKMJ meet the highest standards and that new knowledge of medical developments in Hong Kong is disseminated efficiently. This will not be possible without the unstinting support from you, manuscript reviewers and authors, as well as Fellows of the HKAM, to ensure the continued success of your journal. Let us work together to bring HKMJ to a new stage!

1. HKMJ Editorial Board. Report on the 2013 Readers Survey. Hong Kong Med J 2013;19:374-6.