The 21st century has brought with it many changes to our contemporary society. These changes are expressed in different ways, including the way we communicate, our life style, climate conditions, and short and medium term concerns.

In today’s word, the Internet is our primary means of communication. Social media like Twitter are the fastest way to share the news: today, for example, the Mayor elect of Bogota (Colombia) twitted the names of his cabinet members (1). Young people use Facebook as the main way to communicate, and apps such as Skype, Hangouts or WhatsApp are growing in popularity because of their ease and versatility, considering that they can be used in tablets and smart phones (2). In the field of healthcare, patients are increasingly keen to find information about aspects of the treatment and prognosis for their health conditions. They search for sources of information on the Web and, therefore, play a more active role in decision-making regarding the management of their conditions. On the other hand, in the field of continuing medical education, on-line lectures are used with growing frequency instead of, or as complement to, conventional classroom lectures, given their potential to reach larger audiences and their ability to accomodate different time schedules and allow for varying degrees of interactivity (3).

As far as life styles are concerned, close to 5 % of the people in the United States identified themselves as vegetarian in 2012 (4). On the other hand, some studies suggest that activities in the Web as well as the apps for tablets and smart phones compete negatively with physical activity (5, 6). These patterns of low physical activity associated with time spent in front of a computer surfing the Internet or playing games are associated with poor dietary habits and excess weight gain (7).

Climate change affecting our planet is evident (8), and every day we learn about more effects on the plants (9), the oceans (10) and on human health. For example, there has been an increase in the areas affected by dengue and malaria infections, and there are already effects on the availability of drinking water throughout the world (11).

Therefore, there are new challenges to be dealth with: how to slow down climate change; how to increase physical activity among our youth; how to maintain the production of drinking water and reduce its contamination; how to sustain agricultural production efficiently and reduce greenhouse gases. Among other things, there is a need to define national and global policies for reducing pollutant gas emission and ensuring that all individuals and communities contribute their share towards reducing water contamination, preserving forests in order to protect water sources, and reducing energy consumption.

The printed press and the scientific journals are also facing challenges posed, for example, by the need to deal with the large volumes of information derived from modern research activites; provide the reader with current and simple information supported by good-quality evidence; find ways to reduce production costs; and adapt to the new information and communication technologies (3). Health science journals are evolving to the on-line version (12, 13, 14), which offers many more readership options for a larger audience, using different means and devices than the printed version. The new on-line format does not only allow readers to select the information of their own interest but also lowers production costs and is environmentally-friendly. The Colombian Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Revista Colombiana de Obstetricia y Ginecología) has migrated to the on- line version. With this change, we hope to reach a larger audience and use resources saved as a result of lower publishing costs to present the information in accordance with the current reporting requirements (15), in a simpler way and providing guidance to the readers on the validity of the results presented. We hope to continue to receive the manuscripts that report on the studies conducted by your groups.

Hernando Gaitán-Duarte, MD, MSc

Editor

REFERENCES

1. RCN radio. Secretario de Movilidad y gerentes de TM y UAESP, entre otros nuevos cargos, designa Enrique Peñalosa. [Accessed on Dec 10, 2015]. Available at: https://www.rcnradio.com/locales/bogota/asi-se-va-conformando-gabinete-enrique-penalosa/

2. Universia España. Tendencias tecnológicas de los estudiantes. 18 de marzo de 2014. [Accessed on Dec 10, 2015]. Available at: http://noticias.universia.es/ciencia-nn-tt/noticia/2014/03/18/1088517/tendencias-tecnologicas-estudiantes.html

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4. In US, 5% Consider Themselves Vegetarians. [Accessed on Dec 10, 2015]. Available at: http://www.gallup.com/poll/156215/consider-themselves-vegetarians.aspx.

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7. Spengler S, Mess F, Schmocker E, Woll A. Longitudinal associations of health-related behavior patterns in adolescence with change of weight status and self-rated health over a period of 6 years: results of the MoMo longitudinal study. BMC Pediatr. 2014;14:242. doi: 10.1186/1471-2431-14-242.

8. IPCC. Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report, Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. En: Pachauri RK, Meyer LA, editors. Core Writing Team. Geneva: IPCC; 2014. p. 151.

9. Robinet C, Laparie M, Rousselet J. Looking Beyond the Large Scale Effects of Global Change: Local Phenologies Can Result in Critical Heterogeneity in the Pine Processionary Moth. Front Physiol. 2015;6:334.eCollection 2015.

10. Caroselli E, Falini G, Goffredo S, Dubinsky Z, Levy O. Negative response of photosynthesis to natural and projected high seawater temperatures estimated by pulse amplitude modulation fluorometry in a temperate coral. Front Physiol. 2015;6:317.

11. Averting climate change’s health effects in Fiji. Bull World Health Organ. 2015;93:746-7.

12. JAMA. Multimedia. [Accessed on Dec 10 2015]. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/multimedia.aspx.

13. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology [on line]. [Accessed on Dec 10, 2015]. Available at: https://secure.jbs.elsevierhealth.com/action/activateClaim?code=ymob-site.

14. British Journal Obstetrics & Gynecol [on line]. [Accessed on Dec 10, 2015]. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291471-0528/issues.

15. Rubio-Romero JA. La Revista Colombiana de Obstetricia y Ginecología y los estándares internacionales de publicación en revistas científicas. Rev Colomb Obstet Ginecol. 2014;65:8-10.