Message From the New Editor-in-Chief: Advancing AGSurg Into a Leading International Surgical Journal

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca

A letter from Ken Shirabe, President of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery and third Editor-in-Chief of Annals of Gastroenterological Surgery (AGSurg), extends greetings to readers and thanks prior leadership for launching and developing the journal. It outlines AGSurg’s open-access mission to internationalize gastroenterological surgery, highlights early growth and citation metrics, and sets future goals to raise global standing through targeted submissions, editorial board expansion, and new initiatives while maintaining rigorous evidence-based original research.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

Message From the New Editor-in-Chief

Journal mission and internationalization

Background and growth metrics

Future initiatives and research priorities

Annals of Gastroenterological Surgery Message From the New Editor-In-Chief: Advancing AGSurg Into a Leading International Surgical Journal Ken Shirabe Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Department of General Surgical Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Gunma University, Maebashi, Japan Correspondence: Ken Shirabe ([kshirabe@gunma-u.ac.jp](kshirabe@gunma-u.ac.jp)) Received: 6 December 2025 | Accepted: 8 December 2025 As President of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery (JSGS) and the third Editor-in-Chief of Annals of Gastroenterological Surgery (AGSurg), I would like to extend my heartfelt greetings to all our readers. First, I wish to express my sincere gratitude and respect to everyone who has supported this journal to date—especially Dr. Masaki Mori, our founding Editor-in-Chief, who played a pivotal role in launching AGSurg and continues to guide us as Honorary Editor-in-Chief, and Dr. Yuko Kitagawa, our second Editor-inChief, who greatly contributed to the journal's development. AGSurg was established with the vision that creating an official English-language journal would enhance the international standing of our society and allow us to share our scientific insights more broadly with the global community. By raising international recognition of the high standard of gastroenterological surgery in Japan, we also aim to support the career development of Japanese surgeons. As an open-access journal available worldwide, AGSurg plays a vital role in the internationalization of JSGS. Although the importance of internationalization has long been emphasized within academic societies, it seems that in recent years many young gastroenterological surgeons have remained focused mainly on domestic matters. For this reason, the role AGSurg should play in promoting internationalization is becoming even more significant. The foundation for AGSurg was laid during Dr. Masaki Mori's presidency, and the journal was officially launched in 2017 under the leadership of Dr. Yasuyuki Seto. In its early stages, we invited leading experts in each field to contribute review articles, and many JSGS officers and members actively submitted high quality manuscripts. As a result, submissions increased rapidly, and numerous excellent original articles were published. Thanks to this strong growth, AGSurg achieved an impressive first impact factor of 5.164 in 2021, just 4 years after its launch (based on 2020 data) . Although the impact factor temporarily declined to 2.7, it has since recovered, reaching 3.3 last year. The journal's total citations have also steadily increased—from 864 in 2020 to 2062 in 2024 (Figure 1) . We believe this progress reflects the passion and dedication of all who have supported AGSurg. Looking ahead, our editorial team is united in its efforts to elevate AGSurg into one of the top journals in the field of surgery. Under the leadership of Dr. Koshi Mimori, Chair of the English Journal Committee, we are pursuing new initiatives such as publishing interviews with leading researchers and translating Japanese-language clinical guidelines from other societies into English. Even so, we believe our most important mission is to remain committed to a traditional and rigorous approach: publishing high-quality original research grounded in solid evidence. We firmly believe that the impact of a journal should ultimately reflect the impact of the individual articles it publishes. Until now, AGSurg has adopted a deliberate and focused strategy to achieve rapid growth—soliciting submissions primarily from leading institutions in Japan and drawing on the networks of JSGS members. To become a truly international surgical journal, however, we recognize that our efforts toward internationalization must now enter a new phase. It is time for AGSurg to move beyond being a journal centered on Japanese members and to attract outstanding manuscripts from around the world. We This is an open a

FAQs

Who wrote the message and what roles do they hold?

Ken Shirabe, President of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery (JSGS) and the third Editor-in-Chief of Annals of Gastroenterological Surgery (AGSurg), wrote the message.

Why does the journal emphasize internationalization?

AGSurg aims to enhance the international standing of the society, share scientific insights globally, support surgeons’ career development, and attract manuscripts beyond Japan.

What directions are planned for the journal’s future development?

The editorial team plans to publish interviews, translate Japanese clinical guidelines into English, welcome more young international researchers to editorial boards, and seek high-quality submissions worldwide while continuing to prioritize evidence-based original research.

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca