Saudi Medical Journal (SMJ) is looking forward to enter the new century with a tone of optimism. In the last 20 years, the journal has evolved as one of the leading scientific educational journals in the kingdom and abroad. It was first published in July 1979 with 2 editions a year in London, united kingdom. Today, SMJ is published monthly, processed, edited and printed inside the Kingdom

Leadership. HRH Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz who is the Patron of the Journal has been a tremendous support to the Journal and the staff. General Abd El Hameed El Faraidi, the Founder of the Journal, opted to retire this year. He must feel proud of what he has achieved in the Journal. His vision and leadership allow the Journal to crawl, stand, walk and even run equipped with all the necessary foundations for continuity and excellence.

The leadership is assigned to General Ketab Al Otaibi who is not new to the Journal as he is the Consulting Editor and has already been involved in the major decisions of promoting the Journal While he was the Programme Director at the Riyadh Armed Forces Hospital (RAFH). His vision and leadership will guarantee the excellent continuing of the Journal

Editorial Staff. Previously, the Journal went through turmoils and even crises due to rapid changes in the editorial Staff. This was a nightmare for the Editors if they wanted to keep the high standard of the Journal. Now, we have not only enthusiastic and experienced staff, but an excellent database and infrastructure, which guarantees the continuity and copes with any changes in the Editorial Staff. The Staff and the existing system make the work of the Editors an enjoyable one.

Editorial Board. The role of the Editorial Board has been extended and they are asked to evaluate the Journal regularly. They are expected to write review articles or editorials. They will serve for 2 years initially and be extended to two terms for 2 years, for a maximum of 6 years. This will guarantee a mixture of continuity and renovation.

Reviewers. Peer-reviewers are the ghost editors who are behind the success of the Journal. We always review our database and keep those reviewers who are enthusiastic. Reviewers now are asked to inform the Editors about any conflict of interest in any reviewed materials sent to them.

Manuscripts. The Journal is published monthly with a turnover time (received to publish) shortened to 6 months. All articles are proofed by authors. Sixty-six percent of articles are published from the Kingdom, 9% from the Gulf countries, 21% from other Arab countries, and 4% from non-Arab countries. The rejection rate is that of 22%. This year, we published 256 articles and 1215 pages of English text with 21% increase from last year. Figures and Illustrations are much improved in production. Unnecessary figures like bar graphs and pie charts are transferred to tables. Case reports are not published unless they are of significant value and have appropriate figures or illustrations.

Quality Control. All published issues are critically assessed by the Editor’s, Editorial Staff and 2 members of the Editorial Board for correction and suggestion. Errata are only published in subsequent issues. Correspondence are encouraged and all published as they are only edited for language but not contents.

Subscribers. The Journal has still 10,000 subscribers. It used to be distributed free-of-charge and is not associated with any medical society, this makes it difficult for subscribers to accept the idea o paying even a nominal fee. We still believe that the Journal should balance the budget within 5 years, but this needs the support of the Editorial Board, Saudi Council for Health Specialties, leadership of universities, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Defense. A successful journal should cover at least half of its budget from the subscribers.

In 1999, a special supplementary issue was published in Arabic Language which included all the abstracts of all articles published in 1999. It has been widely distributed in the Kingdom and worldwide.