THE PASSING OF THE TORCH

Abstract

The latest issue of the Journal of Khyber College of Dentistry deserves a special mention as the last one I am privy to publish as its editor. Upon reaching the age of superannuation on 5th March 2015, I will say my farewell to Khyber College of Dentistry and also bid adieu to this fine journal.

There are but a few lucky people who dare to dream, work towards making that dream a reality, and then also get to see the materialization of their hard work and labour. I am one of those people who had a dream of starting a Journal for Khyber College of Dentistry after noting the research output of this prime institution, from the faculty down to TMO’s, House officers and even Final year students. Articles whose authorship and study settings comprised of KCD were widespread in several of the established and esteemed dental/medical journals of Pakistan. In essence the infrastructure of a sustainable journal was already there, it just needed to be given an official title and due recognition.

The journal grew by leaps and bounds and in five years it has blossomed into a PMDC recognised journal attracting authors from every sphere of Pakistan and Asia as well. This adulation and praise is well deserved and particularly directed to the Editorial board which comprises of eminent people who have shaped the dental landscape not only in our province but as well as in Pakistan. Under their guidance and supervision, the task of starting and maintaining the journal seemed all the more plausible and gave us the steadying hand we required when it was needed the most.

Starting a journal is much like the beginning of any venture, the spectre of anonymity and lack of awareness was amongst the biggest challenges we faced when the process of article collection began. In such times when the journal was not recognised, I recognised the people who really saw JKCD as akin to their own brainchild and sent articles for publication regardless of the status of the journal. Among those I give special thanks to Dr. Khalid Almas, Dr. Muslim Khan, Dr. Munizeh Khan, Dr. Basheer Rehman, Dr. Fahad Qiam and Dr. Bushra Mehboob for not only submitting their articles to us but also serving the cause of the journal in various unofficial capacities.

This note of thanks and appreciation would be remiss without a special mention of my able Managing editor, Dr. Basheer Rehman who despite his immeasurable responsibilities, gave his all for the cause of this journal and did everything he was asked of with aplomb and highest order of professionalism.I am also hugely indebted to Mr. Iftikhar ud Din for his whole hearted help in navigating us through the myriad of statistics involved in each paper. The thoroughness of results in our articles is all down to him. Turning this maze of word documents and figures into a published journal was no mean feat. For this I am heartily indebted to Mr. Ishfaq Mahmood whose combination of workhorse efforts and creative ingenuity ensured that a published copy of JKCD was something we could truly be proud of when it was all said and done.

As my parting note I pray that the fine traditions of excellence and competence that this journal has come to be associated with, are maintained and may long it continue.