Editorial board

Dear Reader,

We are glad to welcome you to the pages of the first issue of the “Armenian Journal of Health & Medical Sciences” (AJHMS). The goal of the journal is to become a mirror of the reality of Armenian health care and medical science. The journal intends to promote the printing activity of medical scientific works among the departments of the National Institute of Health, and in Armenia in general, and will also serve as a reflection of the results of international scientific works. It is currently conceived as a peer-reviewed trilingual (Armenian, English, Russian) periodical.

The journal has many long-term goals, the most important of which is to become a globally recognized medical scientific journal. We are well aware of the difficult path we have chosen, the high bar that we have set, but striving for a high level of publication of scientific articles, we are convinced that we are doing what is very necessary for our Motherland. It is planned to use the online article distribution system to instill a high culture of impartial review in our scientific medicine. Articles will be DOI-encoded and intensive work will be done to ensure the presence of AJHMS on various indexing platforms.

The journal plans to publish different types of articles: literature reviews, original scientific papers, short articles, clinical cases, editorials, guidelines, opinions, etc. As the name of the journal suggests, the main focus of AJHMS is clinical medicine and healthcare. We are ready to publish experimental scientific works if they are examples of translation science and are of direct importance for clinical science.

Work is underway to attract international representatives of editorial boards and reviewers. We are glad to cooperate with leading Armenian and foreign specialists. At the same time, we invite everyone who has experience in publications and reviews in their professional field to help us ensure quality peer review of the articles received.

We inform future authors that the articles will be properly reviewed, which will contribute to a more complete presentation and discussion of the material, as well as the overall quality of the work that will appear on the pages.

As for the first issue of the journal, here we have collected a lot of rather interesting articles, which we will briefly summarize below.

Taking into account the global and local relevance of the COVID-19 epidemic, the reader has the opportunity to get acquainted with the vaccines against the COVID-19 epidemic available in Armenia through a review of the literature by H. Militonyan and co-authors. Prof. E. Hambartsoumian presents the problems and legal obstacles in Armenia in relation to the very important reproductive aspect of demography, successfully comparing them with international experience.

This issue also includes an important article by S. Khachatryan in collaboration with local and leading foreign co-authors, dedicated to the existing problems of sleep medicine in Armenia, their future solutions and development. This is a position-confirming article that serves as a summary of the international roundtable held in Armenia in 2019 and can also serve as a guide for the further development of sleep medicine in Armenia.

In the future, we will strive to provide the reader of this journal with guidelines and similar articles that are aimed at the development, organization and standardization of various fields of medicine and healthcare in Armenia.

A. Hovsepyan’s article refers to an interesting study by their research group, which shows that even during an epidemic, it is possible to reduce the contamination fear, which is accompanied by obsessive-compulsive disorder. T. Astvatsatryan and co-authors presented a unique clinical case of takotsubo cardiomyopathy, first discovered in their clinic. After reading the original article, you will learn what this unique Japanese word means.

Surgeons summarize their clinical experience. In particular, H. Yenokyan shares his own experience of using piezotherapy in rhinoplasty, and K. Petrosyan and co-authors present unique clinical cases of correcting deformities of the limbs and nose.

It should be noted that we have planned a special section in the journal dedicated to the historical and cultural aspects of Armenian medicine. This tradition is opened by an article reprinted in this issue by the founder of the National Institute of Health, Academician S.Kh. Avdalbekyan, dedicated to the complications of esophagofundoanastomosis surgery in cardiospasm. It should be noted that it was taken from the first edition of the proceedings of 1965 of the National Institutes of Health or the then State Institute for Advanced Training of Doctors. We are deeply convinced that by remembering and appreciating our great people, our past and historical facts, we will be able to better appreciate the present, outline steps towards the future.

We believe that this initiative will have a great future and will stimulate the strengthening and development of Armenian medical science. We wish you pleasant and useful reading.