Acta Orthopaedica et Traumatologica Turcica (AOTT) , which the Turkish Orthopedics and Traumatology family regarded as the apple of its eye, shall continue to be published as a joint journal of Turkish Orthopedics and Traumatology Association (TOTD) and Turkish Society of the Ortopedics and Traumatology (TSOT) form 2005 onwards. Doubtlessly, today we are at a point where our efforts are mainly focused on unifying the Turkish Orthopedics family under the same roof. Published in 1962 for the first time, our journal has continued to be published without any intervals since 1974 to date. In the beginning being published on a quarterly basis and later on a 5-issues-per-year cycle, the AOTT is included in the Index Medicus, since 2003. Moreover, as the articles published in our journal are accessible on-line in a full-text form both in Turkish and English, reference to and citation of the studies became relatively easier. Enabling many members of the Turkish Orthopedics family to publicize their scientific studies both nationwide and –later- worldwide the AOTT continued to be published thanks to the self-sacrificing efforts of the board of administrators of the TOTD and the executive staff of the journal.

Since the idea that the Turkish Orthopedics family should unite its efforts and -hence- strengthen itself started to prevail, the fortification of the central authority TSOT has been the top issue on the agenda. There are two major prerequisites for achieving this objective: (i) not participating in studies, which divide the power and opportunities and are independent of the central authority, (ii) unifying the existing efforts and opportunities. I believe that the following facts have been nothing but beneficial to the Turkish Orthopedics family: (a) Having supported the activities of TSOT for the past 30 years, TOTD took one more step and decided to share all its power and opportunities with TSOT, (b) TSOT, which was representing the Turkish Orthopedics family on the international arena, has acquired an internationally canonized journal. Through its cooperation with Ekin Medical Publishing services, especially in the last three years, our journal is maintaining its keen effort for elevating the publishing quality and following the Turkish grammar, punctuation and spelling rules fastidiously. After an article sent to our journal goes through a pre-evaluation by the technical board, it is examined thoroughly by the members of the evaluation board, comprised of almost 80 Turkish colleagues. The esteemed evaluators are working altruistically for the sake of a higher quality. In the near future, our journal will be a stronger one, after the addition of certain foreign colleagues into the evaluation board and shall take one more confident step towards entering the ISI-SCI index. We are sure that the fact that the study applications and the evaluations are being conducted via internet for the past 12 months will contribute in accelerating the necessary procedure. In compliance with a joint decision taken by the boards of the two associations, the editor of the journal is determined by the board of administrators of the TOTD, which hears the opinion of the TSOT, prior to a final decision. The members of the publishing board, on the other hand, are determined through a cooperative study conducted by the boards of administrators of the two associations. Hereby, I would like to thank to the boards of administrators of TOTD and TSOT, which assigned me to this valuable position for the next term. I will be happy to serve with your support in this new term.