Pune, 16 September 2020

 
The Armed Forces Medical College is all set to host the first ever completely online conference cum workshop IMPACT 2020 from 16-18 Sep 2020. It is a unique conference designed with the medical researcher in mind. The three day event will feature distinguished faculty from among authors, reviewers, and editors who will conduct interactive sessions on contemporary issues in medical publishing. It may be noted that the new guidelines for promotion of teachers in the medical profession mandates the publication of research articles in peer reviewed indexed journals.

The conference is organised by the Medical Journal Armed Forces India, a leading and one of the oldest multi speciality research journals of the country.  Published from the portals of AFMC, Pune, MJAFI is celebrating its 76th publishing volume this year.  Over the years, the journal has become a well indexed medical publication with researchers from all across the globe submitting articles. As part of IMPACT 2020, there will be multiple sessions including workshops on medical writing, peer review, biostatistics, ethics in research and so on. Contemporary topics like the challenges of plagiarism and predatory journals will be discussed.

The conference was inaugurated online by Lt Gen Anup Banerji, SM, PHS, Director General Armed Forces Medical Services and Sr Col Comdt AMC. The DGAFMS stressed upon the importance of learning the art of medical writing and reviewing specially when the recent guidelines for teachership has mandated basic minimum publications. The general officer also highlighted the virtues of adapting to an online platform especially in the prevailing environment when the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the conventional system of education. The inaugural of MJAFI-MOOCs, a treasure trove of knowledge for medical writing, reviewing and editing, is a step towards this which would be of immense use for all naive and seasoned medical professionals.

Lt Gen Nardeep Naithani, Director & Commandant, Armed Forces Medical College, welcomed and congratulated the delegates for showing such keen enthusiasm in participating in a whole new format. Apart from the importance of learning the skills of medical writing and editing, the director also emphasized on the ethics in publishing and how one should not fall in the traps of publishing in predatory journals. MJAFI-MOOCs would play a major role in this as it will also contain upto-date guidelines for all the issues related to medical writing.

Maj Gen RM Gupta, VSM Dean & Deputy Commandant, Armed Forces Medical College informed the virtual audience about the overwhelming response the conference has generated thereby cementing the leading role which MJAFI has been playing in imparting quality education on medical writing and editing to the medical world. He also encouraged the delegates to spread the message in their respective colleges so that the majority get benefit from MJAFI-MOOCs.

Around 100 delegates from around the country are attending the conference, apart from the faculty and students of AFMC. The attendees would include mainly budding authors, reviewers and editors who will contribute to successful publishing in the future. The tagline of the conference is  ‘Make Your Research Count…’ and focuses on providing impetus to the scientists in the field to effectively communicate their research across the world and for providing the scientific basis to change medical practice and policies.

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M.Iyengar -PIB Pune(Defence)/DR

 

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