The centennial of the medical journal CLUJUL MEDICAL

Celebrating the ancestors and their achievements is a duty to be fulfilled by all of us. We should always observe the important deeds of our forerunners even in the contemporary era [1]. In these conditions, it is our pleasure to announce and celebrate the anniversary of the first 100 years of our medical journal, Clujul Medical.

Indeed, the first issue was released one hundred years ago, by a group of enthusiastic teachers of the newly founded Faculty of Medicine of the King Ferdinand I University of Cluj. After the World War I the need of a Romanian University for Romanians who had no possibility to learn in Romanian language during the Austrian and later Austrian-Hungarian Empire, was obvious and urgent. Therefore, the university was established and started in the autumn of 1919, very early after the end of the war and even before the signing of the Trianon Treaty (which established the national boundaries between East-European countries). The university had four faculties, and one of them was the faculty of medicine.

Soon after the inauguration of the university, the teaching activity also started at the faculty of medicine, on 7 Nov 1919, with the course entitled “Catarrhal jaundice” (now acute hepatitis) by Iuliu Hatieganu [2].

Soon, the pioneers of the Romanian medical school in Cluj decided that a dedicated medical journal was absolutely necessary. This is why they decided to launch the medical journal Clujul Medical.

The first issue is displayed in figure 1. At that time the journal was monthly, which emphasizes the intense activity of the academic physicians during the founding years. It was well received by the medical readers (mainly academics, but also practitioners and students).

Figure 1.

The first issue of Clujul Medical (courtesy of the Valeriu Bologa Library of the Cluj University of Medicine and Pharmacy).

The editorial board included the best of the local medical scientists: Iuliu Hatieganu, Iacob Iacobovici, Gheorghe Bilasco, Ioan Nitescu, Iuliu Moldovan, Dimitrie Negru, Dimitrie Michail, etc. [3,4]. All of them became heads of school in their field in Cluj and in Transylvania.

The journal included articles authored by all prominent professors of the faculty. However, it published papers by international authors as well (Figure 2).

Figure 2.

Paper published in 1931 by Marcel Labbé, from the outstanding French clinic (courtesy of the Valeriu Bologa Library).

During the World War 2, the faculty was in refuge in Sibiu, but the journal continued to be published under the name Ardealul Medical, till the return to Cluj in 1945 and few years later (Figure 3). The issues were every two months.

Figure 3.

Cover of Ardealul Medical published in Sibiu during World War 2 and a few years later in Cluj (courtesy of the Valeriu Bologa Library).

The name Clujul Medical was restored starting with the fifties (Figure 4). However, during the Stalinist era, the publication of this journal was totally interrupted between 1949 and 1957. There is no explanation for this, except the fear of authorities to lose control and surveillance over uncensored texts. After the revival of 1957 it became, as now, a quarterly and this rhythm continued also until today.

Figure 4.

Cover with the name Clujul Medical from 1960 (courtesy of the Valeriu Bologa Library).

In 1990, after the fall of communism, the university changed its name to Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, still in use nowadays, but the journal preserved its name, although it underwent several changes over time.

In 2008 the journal became an online presence, entering the internet with its own web home and soon after, it was published in English only. Before, the language of the journal had been Romanian, with English abstracts.

Since 2014 the journal has been accepted in PubMed Central and subsequently indexed in PubMed, including all the back issues published in English.

In 2019, the change of the name to an international name was decided and since then the journal has been called Medicine and Pharmacy Reports [5].

It continues to be issued four times per year, with several supplements.

We trust that this outstanding history will encourage the editors and contributors (from Cluj, from Romania and from abroad) to proceed to necessary steps in order to increase the quality and dissemination of this journal.

Ad Multos Annos!