Asia Pacific Allergy: a successful first year and the future.

Let's celebrate the first anniversary of Asia Pacific Allergy (AP Allergy), the official journal of the Asia Pacific Association of Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology (APAAACI)! Since the launching ceremony on November 6, 2010 and its inaugural issue release on April 30, 2011, AP Allergy had a very successful first year.

AP Allergy has published twenty three review articles which were recruited from Australia (3), India (3), Japan (2), Korea (7), Malaysia (1), Singapore (4), Sri Lanka (1), Sweden (1) and Thailand (1). A total of sixteen original articles from Australia (1), Indonesia (1), Iran (1), Japan (3), Korea (4), Philippines (4), Sri Lanka (1) and Thailand (1) have been published. Four case reports from Indonesia (1), Korea (2), and UK (1) have been published. After the launching of e-submission system, the submission of the original articles is increasing week by week.

AP Allergy is an open access journal and now indexed/tracked/covered by PubMed, PubMed Central, CAB Abstracts, Global Health, CrossRef and Google Scholar databases. Especially, it took just 6 months from the release of the inaugural issue to be indexed by PubMed and PubMed Central in November 2011.

Everything started when I received a phone call from professor Sang-il Lee, the founding editor and the Editor-in-Chief, in June 2010. Since then task force team was organized and we worked very hard on the launch of the journal.

This journal could be managed with many splendid and wonderful persons, especially professor Choon-Shil Lee from Sookmyung Women's University, Korea who is my mentor, Mr. Inkwon Hwang from Inkwon and Partners who designed this beautiful journal cover and layout, Ms. Jung-min Nam, the manuscript editor, Ms. Nan-Kyeong Woo, and Ms. Hye-sook Jang who worked enormously hard for the manuscript editing, the publication of printed copies, and the on-line publication. I'd like to thank the entire editorial team for their enormous efforts and contribution (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1

The editorial team with the inaugural issue of Asia Pacific Allergy in April 2011.

I must thank the executive committee members of APAAACI and the editorial board members who strongly supported this journal. I'd like to thank especially professor Hiok Hee Chng, professor Bee Wah Lee, professor Bernard Thong from Singapore, professor Ashok Shah from India, professor Connie H. Katelaris, A/professor Frank Thien from Australia, professor Pakit Vichyanond, Thailand, professor Donald Leung, USA, professor Jiu-Yao Wang, Taiwan, professor Akihiro Morikawa, professor Hirohisa Saito, professor Naoki Shimojo, professor Ruby Pawankar from Japan, professor Zakiudin Munasir, Indonesia, professor Shahd Abbas, Pakistan, professor Hee-Bom Moon, professor Kyu-Earn Kim, professor Sang-Heon Cho and professor Kangmo Ahn from Korea.

This issue of AP Allergy features important issues on allergic rhinitis in school going children [1], elderly asthma [2], the role of tiotropium in asthma management [3], and the management of urticaria [4] in review articles.

Readers of this journal will also find original articles on the effect of olopatadine ophthalmic solution in the conjunctivitis models [5], the impact of helminth infection on allergic diseases from Sri Lanka [6], the prevalence of allergic rhinitis in Filipino adults based on the national survey [7], and IgE binding reactivities of natural pollen grain extracts from grass species in the Philippines [8].

Readers may have a new idea how to set up a birth cohort: the methodology of the GUSTO Cohort Study from Singapore is revealed in this issue [9].

This issue contains a very interesting case report of food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis occurred only in a warm but not in a cold environment [10]. Readers will learn that the environmental factor played an essential role to induce anaphylaxis in the case.

AP Allergy sends the electronic table of contents (eTOCs) of each issue with e-mails to more than 2,000 doctors. It now became a 'recognized' journal in the field of allergy and clinical immunology. The editorial team received many e-mails from readers, especially from the Asia Pacific region, to say "thank you" for the eTOCs and for publishing this journal. The editorial team appreciates this supports from readers very much. Lastly I'd like to thank all the authors very much for their interest and contribution. AP Allergy will continue to publish articles of good quality to communicate with physicians and researchers in the field of allergy and clinical immunology. Looking forward to another successful year!