To write this editorial is what the two of us have been dreaming of and working for almost two years by now. The idea to have our Societies own their journal, rather than to run a journal for a publishing company on behalf of our Societies, was born many years ago and by previous Boards of either society. Timing is decisive in such issues however, and the time never seemed right – until the winter of 2019/20. Both organizations had grown to similar bodies of membership, with approximately 1500 individual members each and a much larger group of institutional members from the various national spine and neurosurgical Societies.
Following strategic Board meetings in the fall of 2019, where the issue of going independently from our previous publisher was raised, both of us reached out to each other to discuss a potential collaboration. We knew that this idea wouldn’t be met with unlimited enthusiasm by all individual members and official stakeholders. We were prepared. It happened that we had a common understanding of matters and reciprocal trust allowing the best of collaboration.
Most importantly, we felt backed by our organizations’ Boards. Also, many leading academic surgeons as well as young colleagues encouraged us to go forward and to develop a modern and jointly owned journal, which would reflect the common spirit of academic, educational and aesthetic modernism of both, EUROSPINE and the EANS.
We were well aware of the existing cultural differences between the two organizations, EANS being involved in all aspects of clinical neurosciences, and EUROSPINE being solely involved in all aspects of spine matters. However, when looking in the membership database, we found that on the grounds, and that is where people meet, many individual members were part of both associations already. Also, the rather strong separation existing in the past between the orthopedic and neurosurgical specialties is disappearing gradually, with goals and perceptions arising from our common fields of interest: the spine. Beyond that, and through current political needs and a multitude of educational activities, necessitating CME accreditation and certification, EUROSPINE and EANS had grown a lot closer to each other than initially thought by any of us.
Given the associated risk with the decision to separate from an established journal and publisher, we decided to hire temporarily Graham Lees, an external consultant with a long track record in publishing, to enlighten us on the various aspects and possibilities of the publishing science. Beside lengthy and cordial discussions between the presidents and boards of both societies, surveys were sent out to our individual members. The remarkable response rate with an overwhelming support in favor of the creation of a new, jointly owned, open access journal, was the necessary final push to confirm our decision.
Brain & Spine, the official journal of EUROSPINE, the Spine Society of Europe and EANS, the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies, was conceived. A peer reviewed, open access journal for scientific manuscripts for which we choose, after thorough assessment, Elsevier as publisher.
Brain & Spine may sound more generic than some of our readers may have expected. But it was our strict goal to include all aspects of our beloved specialties and subspecialties – from basic neuroscience and epidemiology to cranial and spinal and peripheral nerve surgery to bio-engineering and conservative therapy and education. The journal will include the full spectrum of what we and our peers are doing, and it shall provide an inspiring intellectual home for all of us who are constantly working in any of the related field or for those who want to rise within.
In the biomedical arena of structural brain and spinal disorders, the journal will offer authors of all relevant disciplines, the possibility to submit manuscripts, describing original scientific studies, systematic reviews and “rare” case illustrations with the goal to add value to brain and spine patients care in near future.
Hence, the journal will accept high quality papers from a wide variety of areas, concerned with research, education, pathophysiology, diagnostics, prevention, epidemiology, surgical and non-surgical interventions for structural pathological-anatomical alterations of the central and peripheral nervous system and axial skeleton. It will encourage to submit articles on basic science, translational research and clinical epidemiology through population health at a societal level. More specifically, the journal will publish papers that emphasize the fast-growing biomedical fields of genomics, molecular sciences, biomechanical engineering, computer navigation and 3-D reconstruction techniques, experimental clinical research, as well as papers from the growing public health fields of clinical epidemiology, medical decision analysis, psychology, bioethics and prediction modelling at a population level.
Wilco Peul for the EANS and Frank Kandziora for EUROSPINE have accepted to function as tandem co-Editors-in-Chief. They are eminent figures in European academic Brain & Spine surgery. Although both scientific societies have a European origin, they have selected a high-profile group of Section Editors from across the globe. Together, they will help launching the journal and bring it up to the accolades of clinical scientific journals.
The newly born journal is facing a lot of challenges. It must attract high quality submissions while, at the start, it has no impact factor to retribute the hard work needed to make a great paper. Not even a citation in PubMed during the first months of its journey. That is where the baby, like any baby, needs the strong support of the membership that encouraged its conception. Already, senior members of our Societies, not so much in need of high impact factors, have promised to submit their work to the journal.
Whether we like it or not, bibliometrics is of importance in current evaluation of the academic standing of young colleagues and of whole departments. That may change in the future. Surely, there are other ways to measure the scientific impact of persons than by the simple calculation of their cumulative impact and other bibliometric parameters. In the meantime, be assured that we are aiming to be visible through Medline within very short time and to attain an impact factor within a reasonable time-span, that is as early as three to four years following the launch of the journal. That takes a leap of faith from our peers, from all of you. Department heads are equally encouraged to have their teams sending their best manuscripts to Brain & Spine. We will not make any concession to the quality of the publications. Your submissions, if accepted, will be known as high-quality work. Citation index has a retroactive effect, hence, even the first published papers will be indexed after a few months.
All this cannot be achieved by the Editorial Board alone. Opinion leaders in the field have to accept the journal and have their own teams submit their best papers to Brain & Spine, because the new journal shall develop a meaning beyond sheer publication: It shall serve as our official organ and reflect the way of thinking and reasoning among our peers and of academic culture.
In the end, everything depends on commitment. On commitment to excellence and on loyalty to our mother societies and to our ideals. From our side, we will put tremendous efforts in creating an extraordinary environment for intuitive submission and rapid management of your manuscripts. The journal shall reflect this particular spirit of friendship and drive for excellence and humanity, which shall reign our actions as academic and non-academic brain, spine and nerve surgeons and researchers alike.
A long way lies ahead of us. Let’s go.
Excited to see how this new and joint adventure will evolve,
Everard Munting & Karl Schaller.