Monthly Journal – International Orthopaedics

The year 2011 marks a new milestone in the 34-year existence of our journal as the moment that the impact factor surpasses 1.8 and the journal is to be published 12 times a year.

The first issue of International Orthopaedics appeared in 1977 with Robert Merle d’Aubigné as the Editor. The publication was and remains the Official Journal of the Société Intenationale de Chrurgie Orthopédque et de Traumatologie, SICOT, published by Springer. Originally, some articles were written in French, and it was published four times each year until 1992 when publication was increased to six issues through 2009 and then eight issues in 2010. Many famous names have appeared in the index.

From January 2011, International Orthopaedics will be published every month. Articles accepted for publication will appear on-line within three weeks of being accepted and will appear in the printed version approximately ten weeks later. The world of scientific journalism is changing all the time. International Orthopaedics, in association with Springer Verlag, is proud of its record of innovation in the field of orthopaedics and traumatology publication. We face a unique situation in our journal: As the official journal of SICOT we publish articles from around the world including articles from authors in developing countries. This creates a challenge in balancing the interests of our members, the authors and readers, with the maintainance of a high impact factor for the journal. Statistics help to explain the situation. Among the most requested articles from our journal last year are the first eight items cited in the list of references of this editorial [1–8], and the most cited articles with respect to the 2009 impact factor of the journal are the next eight [9–16]. Clearly these are two different groups, but both are very valuable for the speciality of orthopaedic surgery. Our intention is to continue to publish a full variety of articles, but only good papers will be accepted.

We will also continue to publish special issues of the journal, where one or two members of our editorial team, with an interest in a specialist branch of orthopaedics, are invited to assemble a selection of articles from experts around the world. In 2006 we published a tumour issue edited by Miklos Szendroi and the following year, a bone biology issue edited by Marko Pecina and Slobodan Vukicevic. Issue number 2 was published in February 2010 on the subject of “Osteotomy around the knee” edited by Thami Benzakour, who brought together experts from around the world to provide a comprehensive review of the subject. In February 2011 an issue on “Hip endoprostheses” is planned, edited by Jean-Pierre Courpied and Jacques Caton. The Editorial Board intends to improve the content of the journal and will accept only the best papers through stringent selection by reviewers. To achieve this we have increased the number of corresponding members of the Editorial Board and, in acknowledgement of their excellence and tremendous contribution, the names of our reviewers will be published in the February issue as they were last year.

A policy of constant development is essential in the world of modern, international, scientific publication and the Editorial team at International Orthopaedics will continue in their efforts to maintain our position in the forefront of this endeavour. In this sense we pose the question:

“I have some important new information about a problem in orthopaedics or traumatology. I think this information will interest many people and have an impact around the world. Where should I try to publish my work? Is there an orthopaedic journal that can publish my work within a few weeks and be distributed around the world?” and provide the answer:

The answer is very simple, “Yes, this is the Monthly Journal – International Orthopaedics!“