From eminence to evidence and back to presence: lessons learned from the evolution of scientific information dissemination and the case of KJO

Abstract

The last 2 decades have witnessed an array of unprecedented developments in the publishing and managing scientific information and concomitantly to the oral health care practices. From the well-established model of evidence-based principles, which replaced the largely anecdotal evidence or simplified research approaches seen in our field in the 1970’s and 1980’s, we have gone into an era where the focus has been switched from evidence to highlighted and constant presence. The objective is now the bombardment of the practicing health care provider with information from many resources to maintain a constant interest: advertisement to lay persons to build a pressure for the use of specific appliances; organization of corporate symposia and pseudoscientific periodicals run by the industry; abundance of cases, materials, demonstration videos and statements on social media; paid speakers in symposia; key opinion specialists; the list in long... Despite its marketing and corporate advantages and profits, this practice may have unfavorable consequences for the outcome of treatment provided to patients, since it is based on the number and frequency of the repetition of a scientific information as opposed to quality reviewing. Unfortunately, democratization of the scientific information dissemination is not always valid and may have unpredictable sequalae. The ancient Greek proverb oὐκ ἐν τῷ πολλῷ τὸ εὖ (the good is not in the quantity) finds a suitable application in cases where everybody uses a therapeutic mode, appliance, device or method just because it has been applied in huge numbers, many people use it, and it seems logical; all these in the absence of evidence or even worse, in the presence of evidence questioning its efficiency. In the era of delirious pace of information generation from various resources and the social media, the clinician should rely on valid, independent and unbiased resource of evidence, which has been reviewed by journals, which adhere to excellent practices in handling scientific information. The Korean Journal of Orthodontics is a world renown periodical, hosting high quality articles adhering to excellence practices in dissemination of scientific information, and has achieved impressive ratings and impact factor already years ago. With an international outreach including the addition of Associate editors from 7 countries on 4 continents, its improved manuscript handling times, new features such as invited narrative reviews from experts, the KJO would pave the way for a stellar transformation of its profile. It is my intention to build on the long tradition and efforts of the previous Editor Prof. Hyoung-Seon Baik and associate editors who have brought a journal from its conception to a leading status in the field. The prespISSN 2234-7518 eISSN 2005-372X