Open-Access Journal on Antibiotic Resistance and Infection Control is Launched

Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control (ARIC), a new peer-reviewed journal, will feature its first thematic issue. An online, open-access publication, ARIC is designed to offer a uniquely global forum for all researchers working in the fields related to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of healthcare-associated Infections (HAIs) and the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), in all healthcare settings and systems worldwide.

Published by BioMed Central, ARIC was created by a group of leading experts who are concerned about an alarming situation: while microorganisms are becoming increasingly resistant to the antibiotics available today, the pipeline of new drugs is becoming extremely dry, thereby increasing the importance of infection control to prevent transmission.

Many clinicians may soon face a therapeutic dead-end in the treatment of certain types of severe bacterial infections, harkening back to the pre-antibiotic era of the 1930s and early 1940s, warns Andreas Voss, editor-in chief at ARIC and professor of infection control in Nijmegen. We are convinced that addressing the problem of multidrug-resistant bacteria requires a concerted effort by healthcare stakeholders across the globe. Our goal is to make ARIC the online forum for sharing best practices and the latest research in the field with colleagues around the world.

A better understanding of factors contributing to the development and spread of multidrug-resistant pathogens, means to prevent transmission and infections, and insight into the differences between developed countries and those with limited resources are essential for finding solutions. ARIC offers a unique combination of state-of-the-art research, innovative technological advances and real-life experiences from both developed and developing countries.

At ARIC; we want to make sure that all scientists, researchers and clinicians have a forum for exchange, explains Jan Kluytmans, one of ARICs deputy editors and professor at the Free University of Amsterdam. Most journals focus on the best science but few cover advances from developing countries. The journals are dominated by data from clinical trials that are very costly to implement. There are many interesting best practices in low- and middle-income countries that cannot afford clinical trials and therefore do not get the exposure they merit in publications. These practices would be of great value to other countries, including developed nations.

ARIC has been created as an open-access journal to allow the transfer of knowledge and best practices to and from even remote, resource-limited settings. BioMed Central provides an automatic waiver to authors based in any countries classified by the World Bank as having low-income or lower-middle-income economies. Doe to the strong links with the International Conference of Prevention and Infection Control (ICPIC) - Didier Pittet, professor of medicine at the University of Geneva Hospitals, lead of The First Global Challenge of the WHO World Alliance for Patient Safety, and ARIC deputy editor, was the organizer of the first ICPIC a fund was created that allows to support submissions by authors from upper-middle income countries as well as young investigators.

The first edition of ARIC features an important recent initiative to address the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. Ready for a world without antibiotics? The Pensières Antibiotic Resistance Call to Action (PARCA), is authored by Jean Carlet, Vincent Jarlier, Stephan Harbarth, Andreas Voss, Herman Goossens, Didier Pittet; and the participants of the third edition of the World Healthcare-Associated Infections Forum. Seventy internationally recognized experts in medicine, infectious diseases, microbiology and epidemiology, from 33 countries, met for a two-day meeting organized by bioMérieux in June 2011 and endorsed a global call to action. In a thematic issue of ARIC, the authors summarize the important findings and conclusions from the World HAI Forum. They propose a hierarchy and structure for the measures reported in the recent literature and draw upon experiences from the many countries represented at the Forum.