Beijing Baishideng BioMed Scientific Co., Ltd was established on November 20, 2007. Its predecessor was The WJG Press, and its main task is to edit and publish biomedical journals. The predecessor to the currently published Shijie Huaren Xiaohua Zazhi (World Chinese Journal of Digestology) was the Xin Xiaohuabingxue Zazhi (New Journal of Gastroenterology), which was launched in Shanxi on January 15, 1993. The predecessor of the weekly publication World Journal of Gastroenterology was the China National Journal of New Gastroenterology, which was launched in Shanxi on October 1, 1995.

Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited (BPG) was registered in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on July 7, 2010. Its Beijing branch is Beijing Baishideng BioMed Scientific Co., Ltd, whose main task is to edit and publish all the journals owned by BPG. BPG is principally engaged in editing, publishing, distribution and advertising. BPG publishes a total of 41 peer-reviewed, open-access, online World series medical journals, which cover a wide range of topics including virology, medical imaging, infectious diseases, otorhinolaryngology, rheumatology, obstetrics and gynecology, respirology, psychiatry, neurology, anesthesiology, urology, immunology, diabetes, dermatology, biochemistry and molecular biology, surgery, critical care medicine, gastroenterology and hepatology, pediatrics, cardiology, hematology, dentistry and stomatology, ophthalmology, pharmacology, experimental medicine, transplantation, medical genetics, orthopedics, oncology, translational medicine, nephrology, and methodology. Of 41 journals (including one journal in Chinese and 40 journals in English) published by

BPG, 14 are included in PubMed Central, PubMed, Digital Object Identifier, and the Directory of Open Access Journals. The World Journal of Gastroenterology is included in Science the Citation Index Expanded, and its impact factor in 2010 is 2.240, ranking 35 among 71 international journals focusing on gastroenterology and hepatology. BPG’s dream is to publish one hundred outstanding World-series biomedical journals and to explore a way to success.

The biggest advantage of the OA model is that it provides free, full-text articles in PDF and other formats for experts and the public without registration, which eliminates the obstacle that traditional journals possess and usually delays the speed of the propagation and communication of scientific research results. The open access model has been proven to be a true approach that may achieve the ultimate goal of the journals, i.e. the maximization of the value to the readers, authors and society.

The role of academic journals is to exhibit the scientific levels of a country, a university, a center, a department, and even a scientist, and build an important bridge for communication between scientists and the public. As we all know, the significance of the publication of scientific articles lies not only in disseminating and communicating innovative scientific achievements and academic views, as well as promoting the application of scientific achievements, but also in formally recognizing the "priority" and "copyright" of innovative achievements published, as well as evaluating research performance and academic levels. So, to realize these desired attributes of world series journals and create a well-recognized journal, the following four types of personal benefits should be maximized. The maximization of personal benefits refers to the pursuit of the maximum personal benefits in a well-considered optimal manner without violation of the laws, ethical rules and the benefits of others. (1) Maximization of the benefits of editorial board members: The primary task of editorial board members is to give a peer review of an unpublished scientific article via online office system to evaluate its innovativeness, scientific and practical values and determine whether it should be published or not. During peer review, editorial board members can also obtain cutting-edge information in that field at first hand. As leaders in their field, they have priority to be invited to write articles and publish commentary articles. We will put peer reviewers’ names and affiliations along with the article they reviewed in the journal to acknowledge their contribution; (2) Maximization of the benefits of authors: Since world series journals is an open-access journal, readers around the world can immediately download and read, free of charge, high-quality, peer-reviewed articles from world series journals official website, thereby realizing the goals and significance of the communication between authors and peers as well as public reading; (3) Maximization of the benefits of readers: Readers can read or use, free of charge, high-quality peer-reviewed articles without any limits, and cite the arguments, viewpoints, concepts, theories, methods, results, conclusion or facts and data of pertinent literature so as to validate the innovativeness, scientific and practical values of their own research achievements, thus ensuring that their articles have novel arguments or viewpoints, solid evidence and correct conclusion; and (4) Maximization of the benefits of employees: It is an iron law that a first-class journal is unable to exist without first-class editors, and only first-class editors can create a first-class academic journal. We insist on strengthening our team cultivation and construction so that every employee, in an open, fair and transparent environment, could contribute their wisdom to edit and publish high-quality articles, thereby realizing the maximization of the personal benefits of editorial board members, authors and readers, and yielding the greatest social and economic benefits.

We sincerely look forward to your participation!

Lian-Sheng Ma, President and Editor-in-Chief
World Series Journals
Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited