ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS

On March 15, 1939, the Mexican Society of Studies on Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases was founded at the Sanatorium of Tuberculosis Patients in Huipilco, now Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias Ismael Cosío Villegas (INER).^1,2 On Thursday, May 4, 1939, in the Miguel Jiménez classroom of the former School of Medicine, the second scientific session of the nascent association was held; in this session, Dr. Donato G Alarcón, first president of the Society, requested authorization for the publication of the first issue of a scientific journal, the official organ of the Society. In the scientific session of July 6 of the same year, Dr. Alarcón presented a budget of $500.00 for the printing of 1,000 copies of the journal, a cost that should be covered with the fees of the members of Mexico City. At the regulatory session held on August 10, 1939, Dr. Alarcón reported that Dr. Gustavo Baz, Rector of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), authorized the printing of the journal in the university's printing press with the costs covered by the Society. Finally, in the session of October 5, 1939, Dr. Alarcón officially presented the first issue of the Mexican Journal of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases (Revista Mexicana de Tuberculosis y Enfermedades del Aparato Respiratorio). This issue covered the period from July to August of 1939, Dr. Alarcón himself served as director of the journal and in his first editorial wrote:³

The creation of the Mexican Society of Tuberculosis Studies immediately imposed the need for a national publication to make our class aware of the work of the group of Mexican specialists who strive to place the country in one of the first places in this branch of medical science.

By approval of its General Assembly, on August 16, 1962, during the presidency of Dr. José Ramírez Gama, our association became the Sociedad Mexicana de Neumología y Cirugía de Tórax A. C. (SMNyCT). Since the first issue of that year, the journal has been called Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (Neumología y Cirugía de Tórax, NCT). In the year 2010, under the chairmanship of Dr. Andrés Palomar Lever, the general direction of INER by Dr. Rogelio Pérez Padilla and with the prior approval of the General Assembly of the Society, it was decided to merge the journal of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery with the journal of INER, which was published since July of 1988. Since the first issue of the year 2010 (volume 69), under the editorial direction of Dr. Patricio Santillán Doherty, the journal has been identified only as NCT. This strategic merge made it possible to join forces for greater financial, administrative, editorial and scientific support; at the same time, unfavorable competition between both was avoided and within the same scientific and professional community of our country.

After almost 83 years of existence and with this first issue of the volume 81, a new generation of NCT begins; it seeks to reach its final positioning in the national and international scientific community of the matter. This project includes a more rigorous editorial and scientific work system under international standards, as well as a more modern and user-friendly print edition and website. For the first time, a simultaneous digital version appears, completely in English; it seeks to bring NCT and its scientific contents, mainly of Mexican and Latin American respiratory medicine, to more international readers. All our appreciation to our medical specialities and the soundness attained by its highest institutions: SMNyCT and INER, of whom represents as the official organ. Likewise, to all its historical legacy product of the work carried out by its 28 editors (Table 1), its editorial teams and, of course, to all the authors who over more than eight decades have entrusted and shared their scientific contributions.

To express our wishes for this new generation of NCT, perhaps there are no better words than those written by Dr. Alarcón in the first issue of the journal:

At the beginning of the publication of this journal, we are full of optimism. This journal will be successful because it is needed in the country, because it has the backing of a large original publishable material and because the medical environment is conducive to its appearance. Our efforts will not be developed on sterile ground, but on the fertile soil already fertilized by the interest towards the years of past effort.

Congratulations to SMNyCT, INER and especially to its official organ: NCT.

REFERENCES

1. Pérez PJR. Nuestra historia. Neumol Cir Torax. 1993;52(3):38-45.

2. Vázquez GJC. La Sociedad Mexicana de Neumología y Cirugía de Tórax: de un gran pasado a un mejor futuro. Neumol Cir Torax. 2017;76(2):68-77.

3. Editorial. Revista Mexicana de Tuberculosis y Enfermedades Respiratorias. 1939;1:1-2