From the chief editor

Emergency medicine （EM） with a multi-disciplinary nature has been developing rapidly in recent years. Not only clinical emergency services play an important role in improving the quality of medical care and reducing the disability of patients， but the status of EM reflects the welfare of the people as well as the levels of socio-economy and science and technology of a nation.

EM is different from general medicine that is patient-centered and aims to maintain or improve the health of individuals. General medicine provides individuals， families and communities with such services as disease prevention， health education， medical care， and rehabilitation. EM is also patient-centered， but it focuses on the life of the patient. In emergency services advanced facilities and methods are used to save the lives of critically ill patients by preventing major organs from failure or functional deterioration or to reduce the disability of patients. Other clinical departments seem to concentrate on a system， an organ， or a specific disease.

EM in China started in the 1980s as an independent discipline. Since then emergency departments have been established in hospitals at different levels and EM has witnessed a rapid growth particularly in recent years， which is marked by various national and international events including the 17th World Disasters and Emergency Medicine Conference successfully held in China in 2006. At the same time， a large pool of specialists involving in clinical practice， research and teaching has formed.

Very often my colleagues and I think about services， research， conferences， papers and journals， all of which are related to emergency medicine. There are 15 EM journals in Chinese in China， why not we publish one in English language？ This is not just an idea but a motive for launching a new journal in English for communication among EM clinicians and researchers around the world. Obviously this notion has won the support from our colleagues from other countries， leading to the publication of the World Journal of Emergency Medicine （WJEM）. We believe the journal is of significance in attracting research papers from both developed countries and developing countries， thereby enabling doctors to acquire or disseminate up-dated knowledge while judging their status in EM research and practice.

We define the WJEM as a journal covering pre-hospital and hospital emergency medicine and critical care. Its scope varies from clinical and basic research to education， including resuscitation， acute cardiology， acute pediatrics， acute orthopedics， major trauma， transplantation， anesthesiology， medical imaging， pre-hospital emergency services， critical or intensive care， toxicology， disasters， health policy and ethics， teaching， and reflection of clinical practice. Certainly the journal is aimed at clinicians， nurses， paramedics and ambulance staff.

Combining theory with practice， the journal will serve as a platform for exchange of experience in the field of emergency medicine with the help from members of the editorial committee， reviewers， contributors and readers from the different parts of the world. Undoubtedly we the editorial staff will contribute our part to the progress of emergency medicine， as the saying goes "Art is I， science is we."

Jian-an Wang， MD，PhD

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