On March 9th, 1994, many people joined forces to launch the Korean Society for Medical Mycology and two years later, in December 1996, the first issue of the journal was published. It has been well past a quarter of a century since we took our first steps towards becoming a true academic society. I would like to express my gratitude to the enthusiasm and hard work of the executives, including the preceding chairman, who have made great efforts to develop this field even through difficult times. Currently, many medical scientists and researchers are leading the academic society to raise the standard of disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases through relations with researchers in various fields such as dermatology, infectious disease, diagnostic laboratory medicine, microbiology and even cooperating with the industry.
The society has continued to develop so far thanks to the consistently held academic conferences and workshops in efforts to strengthen the basics and clinical trials, even in the midst of the difficult domestic environment. With the passion for learning from many senior scholars, colleagues and juniors, the Journal of the Korean Society for Medical Mycology was promoted to a SCOPUS and KCI-registered academic journal and received recognition from the National Research Foundation of Korea. And from March 2018, the name of the journal was changed to Journal of Mycology and Infection (JMI) and began to be published in English academic journals. It has been expanded to include not only the field of mycology but also the field of infection. However, there is a long way left to go before becoming a journal listed on PubMed, so we are still in need of more interest and help from various members.
Because it is a society where members from various fields gather, the academic society will endeavor to communicate and work together smoothly with all members of the society, with the academic society at its center. And we plan to hold excellent annual academic conferences and put our utmost efforts into publishing and publicizing journals on a regular basis.
The Korean Society for Medical Mycology will develop into an academic society that contributes to the development of medical mycology in the Asia-Pacific region in line with the globalization era. The future of the Korean Society for Medical Mycology will be realized with the active participation and interest of all the members, working together as one.
Lastly, I hope that happiness and health will always be with you and your families.
My sincere appreciation.
September 2021.
Chairman of the Korean Society for Medical Mycology, Lee Ji-beom
