The Annals of Hepatology (AH) has the notable distinction of being only the second peer-reviewed journal published in the Americas dedicated solely to liver disease. Founded in 20021 as the official journal of the Mexican Association of Hepatology (MAH), the inaugural issue of the AH received the endorsement of the late Dr. Andres T. Blei2 who, at the time, was the editor of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver and the Western Hemisphere’s first journal dedicated to liver disease. Since then, the AH has quickly established itself as both a vehicle to promote hepatology in Latin America and as a truly international journal with submissions from around the world. By its fifth anniversary, the AH became the Official Journal of the Latin-American Association for the Study of the Liver (LASL)3 and was indexed in all of the major journal databases.
In this issue, the AH welcomes the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver (CASL) as its third official affiliated society. We regard this as a very important partnership for the AH in order to maintain and improve the quality of papers and disseminate its published scientific information. CASL, the professional society of Canadian (as well as international) medical specialists and allied health care professionals with an interest in liver, has a long history that dates back to 1971 when the organization started as the Canadian Liver Club.4 In 1985, the organization changed to its current name and created its constitution as well as administrative structure. CASL has for many years, shared its official journal, the Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology, with the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology. This partnership remains a successful one but in this era of globalization and internationalization, CASL also welcomes the important idea articulated by Eric Yoshida and Kevork Peltekian, to utilize its new relationship with the Annals of Hepatology as an excellent opportunity, through the Annals of Hepatology, for starting a very productive relationship between CASL, LASL, and MAH. Indeed, prior to its official association with the AH, CASL and its members have, for sev-eral years, enjoyed an active unofficial association with the journal to mutual benefit. We note that the first Canadian to publish in the AH was Dr. Florence Wong5 of the University of Toronto fol-lowed closely, a few issues later, by Dr. Sam Lee of the University of Calgary.6 Both are considered to be superstars of Canadian Hepatology and where the superstars go, the rest follow! Currently the AH editorial staff has two Canadian Associate Editors and five Editorial Board Members and with the official affiliation, we anticipate more Canadian involvement in the future. The readers of the AH can be assured that editorial independence is an essential and fundamental principle that all professional organizations uphold within their official journals and CASL strongly upholds this ideal as is its current policy with the Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology.
The LASL, MAH, and Medica Sur Clinic & Foundation, which is responsible for publishing the journal, are very proud to welcome CASL. We are certain that, with CASL’s participation, Annals of Hepatology will soon become a stronger and more solid medical journal in the field of Hepatology.
The Editor-in-Chief, Nahum Méndez-Sánchez, is also very pleased with the outcome of the first meeting of the editorial board of Annals of Hepatology, held in Boston, MA, during the American Association for the Study of Liver Annual Meeting in 2012. Kevork Peltekian, together with other colleagues from different countries, was one of the most enthusiastic participants during the meeting. However, at that time we did not make any comment about this relationship involving CASL and Annals of Hepatology. Nevertheless, we will celebrate this important collaboration very soon.
