Dr. Aaysha Cader: Hello everyone. I'm Aaysha Cader. I'm an interventional cardiologist based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and a social media editor of the Journal of Asia Pacific Society of Cardiology, which is the official journal of the APSC. And we are coming to you live from the APSC Congress 2023 to chat a little bit about JAPSC. Today I have a very special guest. With me is Professor KW Park. He is an interventional cardiologist from Seoul National University Hospital and the deputy editor of JAPSC. Welcome Dr. Park. Hi.

Prof. KW Park: Hi Aaysha, it's a pleasure to be here and thank you for having me.

Dr. Aaysha Cader: I'd like to chat a little bit about JAPSC. As its deputy editor, could you tell us what sort of manuscripts are you looking to solicit in this journal?

Prof. KW Park: So, I think, you know, the purpose of the Journal of Asia Pacific Society of Cardiology is to be the forum, or the platform, where practicing cardiologists in the region can exchange ideas, exchange best practices, share research, et cetera. So, we're looking for any type of sound research from the region regarding cardiology in any field of cardiology, especially related to some of the practices that are going on specific to the region, epidemiology, some of the issues that we face in the Asia Pacific, et cetera.

Dr. Aaysha Cader: Thank you. It's great that we have a platform to submit regional research from the Asia Pacific too. And further on from that, could you tell us what are the future plans for JAPSC, and do we have any themed issues in the pipeline, et cetera?

Prof. KW Park: Yeah, I think the biggest purpose as of now is to try to be the forum where many of our cardiologists in the region recognize the Journal as the official journal of the Asia Pacific Society of Cardiology and are willing to share their good research data with the Journal. Hopefully, we can index the Journal and potentially have an impact factor sooner than later so that it can promote the research from the region more globally. I think regarding themed issues, we have several ideas ongoing. I think one issue that is of particular interest to us and that we will be soliciting soon will be issues regarding women and cardiovascular disease. It's a specific issue not only in the Asia Pacific but also globally. However, I think there are some very specific issues that deal with women in cardiology, especially in the Asia Pacific region. Maybe some other areas that we are currently exchanging ideas on are heart failure specific to the region and then also some epidemiology on the burden of cardiovascular disease in the Asia Pacific. As you know, we have some good data from western countries, from most of Europe and some parts of Asia. However, we still lack a lot of information and data on the real burden of disease in the region and I think it would be a great issue to have in the future, just as a reference point for our practicing cardiology. Some other areas include catheter-based therapies for structural heart disease in the region and then also anti-platelet and antithrombotic therapy specific to Asia Pacific because there is the concept of East Asian paradox.

Dr. Aaysha Cader: Thank you very much for your insights on the point of the fact that we do need region-specific data and the Journal of the Asia Pacific Society of Cardiology will be a perfect home for these types of articles and therefore we hope you submit your articles to the JAPSC soon. And thank you very much, Dr. Park, once again, for those insights and sharing them with us.

Prof. KW Park: Thank you, Aaysha, for having me and hopefully we welcome any submissions to the Journal and hopefully we will get a lot of submissions from our colleagues in the Asia Pacific. Thank you.