From the Desk of Chief Editor

The MVSc and PhD programmes in Veterinary Surgery and Radiology are being offered by the most of the Veterinary Institutes in India. During MVSc and PhD programmes, in addition to advanced theoretical and practical education, a research component is added as essential requirement for the award of the degree. Huge efforts, time and resources are invested in MVSc and PhD thesis research and many times excellent findings are recorded, but a quantum of this thesis research remains within the cupboards of departmental libraries without publication in scientific journals. To take advantage of this research, the technologies developed out of thesis research need to be disseminated to the end user through extension activities, publication of the findings in relevant scientific journals, and organizing programmes on continuing education. In a highly specialized discipline like Veterinary Surgery, the end users are the veterinarians and not the farmers or para-veterinarians. So, the dissemination through extension activities may not be an effective method as most of the extension workers employed in the universities and Krishi Vigan Kendras are trained in agriculture and animal husbandry extension, and do not have adequate knowledge and expertise of the subject to take the developed technologies in veterinary surgery to their end users.

Therefore most of the thesis research remains unnoticed by the potential users. In the present scenario publishing research finding in the relevant scientific journals in the field of Veterinary Surgery could be a suitable way to disseminate the advances or technologies to the end users. Some of the fellow researchers may be lured by the high impact factor of some less relevant journals, where the finding may be published but may not go to the desirable end users in good number. It is thus advisable to send the thesis research findings in relevant journals of our subject. Our Heads of Department and senior faculty in different Institutes should take appropriate steps to make the publication of thesis research mandatory in more subject specific journals. Another suitable method for taking the developed technologies to practicing veterinarians and surgeons could be continuing education programmes in the field of Veterinary Surgery for the veterinarians working under field conditions. We should take initiatives on conducting training courses more frequently at the institute level and the Animal Husbandry departments of the country should be requested to include mandatory training in clinical subjects as part of the promotion policies for career advancement of their veterinarians. In this way we can improve the impact of the profession in the public and can increase the visibility of the subject in the society.

Amarpal