Journal of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery

JSPCCS was initially established in 1961 by a group of spirited pediatricians who were interested in child heart disease and hemodynamics. The first JSPCCS medical seminar was held in 1965 at Nagoya followed by Tokyo. After that, the seminar was held every year and included enthusiastic discussions. Finally, the JSPCCS official scientific conference took place in 1981. The first president of JSPCCS (1983–1988) was Professor Atsuyoshi Takao of the Tokyo Women’s Medical University. Scientific conferences have been held every year, and the 53rd conference took place in 2017. From the beginning, JSPCCS has been unique compared with other specialized medical societies in terms of intimate collaborations between pediatric cardiologists and pediatric cardiac surgeons. The board members knew that these two specialists had to work together to save small children with serious heart disease.

JSPCCS has expanded year by year, and as of May 2017, it has 2,756 official members (2,422 medical doctors including 2,060 pediatricians, 303 pediatric cardiac surgeons, 35 adult cardiologists, 19 anesthesiologists, and 5 obstetricians, and 334 nurses and technicians). We also have established good collaborations with pediatric cardiology societies overseas, such as the World Association of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, Asian Pacific Pediatric Cardiac Society, Association of European Pediatric Cardiology, American Heart Association, Korean Pediatric Heart Society, Chinese Pediatric Cardiology Society, and Taiwan Society of Pediatric Cardiology, etc. We now hold joint sessions with each other every year at the scientific conferences of foreign and international pediatric cardiology societies.

The official journal of JSPCCS, which was initially in Japanese, is entitled “Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery” and was first published in 1985. This journal has been published bimonthly for 32 years and is currently at volume 33 (Fig. 1). In 2015, the journal publication style was completely changed to an online one, where the contents of the journal could be read and retrieved from anywhere via the Internet. Finally, to promote scientific achievements and global development of JSPCCS, the official journal in English is currently inaugurated, which is entitled “Journal of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery (JPCCS).” The first issue consisted of several invited review articles on cutting-edge topics of pediatric cardiology and pediatric cardiac surgery as well as peer-reviewed original articles and case reports. The editorial committee would like to thank all of the authors who contributed to the outstanding articles in the first issue. For the time being, the editorial committee plans to publish the journal semiannually; however, we will increase the number of issues when outstanding manuscripts are consistently submitted to JCCPS.

Fig. 1 Front pages of the Journal of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery in 1981 (the first issue), 2002, 2010, and 2017

JPCCS content includes the diagnosis, management, and treatment of congenital heart disease, catheter intervention, cardiac surgery, fetal cardiology, pediatric cardiac intensive care, perioperative management, transition and problems, etiology and clinical manifestation of Kawasaki disease, acquired endocardial, myocardial, or pericardial diseases, cardiomyopathy, diagnosis and management of pediatric chronic heart failure, pediatric cardiac transplantation and ventricular assist devices, pediatric arrhythmias including drug and nondrug therapies, pediatric pulmonary hypertension, and other cardiovascular-related diseases in fetuses, neonates, infants, children, adolescents, and adults. This journal also deals with basic science such as anatomy, embryology, pathology, physiology, pharmacology, genetics, and regeneration medicine relevant to pediatric and congenital heart diseases. Article categories include original articles, review articles, case reports, images in pediatric cardiology, case challenges, and letters to the editors. Journal details are provided in the “Instructions to the Authors.”

The members of the editorial committee strongly hope that this new journal will be of great help to people who work for children with cardiovascular diseases not only in Japan but also in Asia, Oceania, Europe, North and South America, and Africa (Fig. 2). We are also planning to invite distinguished pediatric cardiologists and pediatric cardiac surgeons around the world to become associate editors and editorial board members of the journal. In the near future, we hope that this journal is authorized by and appears in PubMed. We encourage young pediatric cardiologists and pediatric cardiac surgeons to submit excellent manuscripts of their own experience or scientific studies to JPCCS.

Fig. 2 Global collaborations with pediatric cardiology societies