9th Editor’s Café of the ACSE

The Asian Council of Science Editors organized an exclusive Editor’s Café in Chongqing, China, inviting 50 dynamic and experienced scholars and editors over a platform to discuss the challenges faced by the Asian scholarly publishing community due to persistent COVID prevalence. The event was hosted on the evening of September 18, 2020, connecting with each professional from different parts of the world through both offline and online mediums of communication.

Due to the travel restriction, some of the guests attended the valuable editor's café discussion via network and extensively contributed to this heated discussion. We would like to thank Muhammad Sarwar, Secretary & Treasurer of ACSE; Charley MIAO, Regional Director of ACSE, and Regional Director of TrendMD; Maryam Sayab, Professional Development Manager of ACSE; Ms. Xi PENG President of Chongqing Editor Society of S&T Periodicals; Bin LIU, Member of the ACSE's Education, Training and Networking Committee, and Deputy Director of the Chinese Medical Association Publishing House; Xiaoying CHU, Member of the ACSE's Membership Committee, and Director of International Academic Publishing Cooperation of Science/AAAS; Yuan Ll, Member of the ACSE's Education, Training and Networking Committee, and Director of the Editorial Office of Progress in Chemistry and Xiufeng ZHANG, Ambassador of the ACSE, and Director of the Editorial Office of Fudan University Journal of Medical Sciences who took out precious time from their busy schedule to connected with our guest and contribute in the event.

The content of the Editor's Café was outstanding as usual. To forward the great knowledge to our participants and those who can't attend the event, we are honored to share the highlights of the conference.

Highlights of the Conference

Theme: "The Chinese/Asian Journal Publishing under the COV/D-19"

•	The event proceeded with Ms. Xi PENG's, ambassador of the ACSE and President of Chongqing Editor Society of S&T Periodicals, inaugural address of the new ACSE Editor's Cafe in Chongqing
•	To Foster an ethos of participation, members engaged in an interactive session, introducing themselves and engaging in discussion
•	Advancing, Charley MIAO, Regional Director of ACSE, and Regional Director of TrendMD highlighted "The Obstacles facing Scientific and Medical Publishing in China"
•	Maryam Sayab followed by calling attention to "The central role of ACSE in Asian Scholarly Publishing Community"
•	Ms. Xi PENG further led the editor's café by acknowledging "The development status and challenges faced by the periodical press of the Chongqing University of Technology"
•	Mr. Bin LIU's vibrant speech about his exhilarating journey and rich experience in the management of more than 180 publishing journals was a true inspiration for many participants

In between the session, an online interview was conducted to address "the issue of Peer Review trust", talked over by Charley MIAO and three senior editors; Ms. Xi PPENG (Full Senior Editor from the Editorial Department of the Chongqing University of Technology), Mr. Xinghua TANG (Full Senior Editor from Editorial Department of Southwest University), and Ms. Vi GUO (Managing Editor from Editorial Office of "Digital Communications and Networks").

Moving to the end,10 participants concluded the session in a short and intense discussion. Each presented a set of problems they faced due to the current prevailing situation leading to a radical change in editorial's, organizing peer-review, launching issues online, as well as digital marketing.

The conference ended with a comprehensive closing statement from Charley MIAO, who welcomed the participants to join ACSE and attend next year's ACSE 2021 Annual Conference as a member in Dubai during August 30-31,2021.

Charley MIAO discussed three main problems of Peer Review journals:

•	Issues of trust among the Peer Review
•	Proactive approach and strategies to combat the problem of unethical practices
•	Stumbling blocks in the way of practicing exemplary peer review

Each interviewee contributed to the discussion extensively and explained in-depth solutions to the problems. For future reference, the discussion was recorded.

At the end of the event, self-reported questionnaires were distributed for honest feedbacks regarding each element of the conference. The questionnaire provided an assessment of the event based on organization, content, lecturers, and presentations. A total of 27 feedbacks were received with a positive response from two-third of the participants.

Interestingly, the participants showed interest in becoming a part of the ACSE member, in purchasing ACSE's related publishing tool, and in attending the next year's ACSE annual conference.