Ropanasuri [roopânâ soo–ree] is an ancient Javanese Hindi of Bahasa Sansekerta (Sanskrit, Indo–Europe) designating the healing knife, i.e., the scalpel. The scalpel is the symbol of the Indonesian Surgeons Association (IKABI) representing the noble which is also expressed in Sanskrit: sutiksna usada sudharma marga (Sanskrit: sutiksna means blade or knife; usada implies a condition of wellbeing; sudharma means prosperity, welfare; marga means people, human being); thus it means ‘the surgical blade for the prosperity of human being.’

The journal was launched in 2016 to publish surgical studies with specific Indonesian characteristics, which are dominated by late presentation and delays in management, advanced cases due to various factors, including cultural, geographic, and limited resources. Surgical care requires strategy in such cases and cannot necessarily implement international standards. However, the research and publications of these characteristics are too minimal. Thus, this journal provides a forum for young researchers and surgeons to publish studies with the characteristics described.

The New Ropanasuri Journal of Surgery was published by the Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, in 2016. This peer-reviewed academic open-access journal follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), accredited and indexed nationally and internationally. Formerly, the journal was published biannually, i.e., in April and October, and after 2019 it was changed to June and December.

[1] Sanskrit words in Sanskrit Sanskṛtabhāsa means perfect language. That is, the opposite of language Prakrit, or the language of the ordinary people (from Wikipedia)