Dear Colleagues

I write to you today with mixed feelings. In 1989, I was asked by the then Editor-in-Chief, Professor Shoji Enomoto, to help as a reviewer with the newly established Asian Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. It was an exciting and unparalleled opportunity to learn and appreciate the literature at an early stage in my career.

In the year 2000, the officers of the Asian Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons asked me to take up the task of Chief Editor, an honour I gratefully accepted. The six years that followed were a whirlwind within my career as an academic oral and maxillofacial surgeon, not least because of the exacting but enjoyable demands and challenges of journal editorship. During that time, the Journal was changed to a quarterly publication and an attempt was made to increase the participation and contribution rates to involve as many Asian authors as possible. Alas, the time has come for me to relinquish this much loved pursuit.

The Journal is a mirror of our specialty in Asia, and as such, it must reflect not only the current standard of practice in the region, but also all of the potential that we have collectively within various aspects of the specialty. It is with this in mind that a new Editor-in-Chief has been appointed to take the Journal forward.

Professor Tetsu Takahashi

Professor Tetsu Takahashi, DDS, PhD of Kyushu Dental College, Kitakyushu, Japan, is an internationally respected colleague and an established clinical and scientific expert in the fields of temporomandibular disorders and distraction osteogenesis. We are very fortunate that he has agreed to take up the editorship of the Journal as of 2007. We look to him to upgrade the standard of the Journal and take it to the next stage of development.

The editorship is a great privilege which I will sorely miss. However, it is essential that a change in editorship occurs every few years to enable new directions and further progress. I would like to express my thanks to all the editors and reviewers for their generously given time and expertise in the course of the editorial process. I would also like to record my appreciation to the excellent publisher and managing editor for their unfailing support in the past six years. It has been a privilege and an honor to serve the authors who chose to submit their manuscripts to the Journal.

Nabil Samman
Editor-in-Chief
Asian Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Asian J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2006;18:235.