Ali Samadikuchaksaraei

Consultant in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Consultant in General Medicine, Assistant Professor
Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Allied Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

What prompted you to submit an article?

People in academic jobs have to follow the rule of "publish or perish". But, this is not always the motive for academics writing papers. "Troubleshooting" can be the main aim of a lot of academic activities. As an academic, I am trying to address both needs i.e. I have submitted or prepared papers for the sake of publication per se — to increase my survival chance in the academic environment — and I have submitted or prepared papers to address a problem. The latter includes original work, or review or commentary. For example, I have noticed that a few research groups are forming in Iran to work on spinal cord tissue engineering. Obviously, these groups needed a sound "information infrastructure" of what has been done so far in this field. This necessitated availability of a concise and yet comprehensive source which was written in a language familiar to the members of these groups. I felt that such a source was not available to them and so prepared and submitted a review on spinal cord tissue engineering.

What was your assessment of the electronic submission and peer review process?

The submission was straightforward and the peer review process was thorough.

What do you think you gained from publishing in an open access journal?

The paper was highly accessed and I realized that my assessment of the existing need for such a review was correct. As “visibility” is very important for a review article, I think an open access journal is the best place for publication of a review. I have received messages of thanks and got connected to new scientists who work in the field. I feel, I would not establish these new connections if it was not an open access journal.

What is your full affiliation?

Assistant Professor
Department of Biotechnology
Cellular and Molecular Research Center
Iran University of Medical Sciences

What are you working on right now?

Engineering and regeneration of lung, skin, bone, and spinal cord High-tech medical education development.