Dear Colleagues,
“Journal of Contemporary Brachytherapy” enters a new era with the year 2014. In March 2009 first issue was published and during this first 5 years our Journal was published quarterly. Timely and current exchange of the most recent scientific information is critical for basic and clinical research. Therefore, the Editorial Board has decided on increasing the number of issues published from 4 to 6 per year from 2015. This should also meet the expectations of our readers who would like to have their papers not only evaluated professionally and competently, but also processed as quickly as possible. It is my great pleasure to inform the readers that the journal “Journal of Contemporary Brachytherapy” has increased its impact on the national and international flow of scientific information as reflected by the indexing in PubMed and PubMed Central. Efforts to incorporate our journal to the Philadelphia list continues. “Journal of Contemporary Brachytherapy” is and will stay an open access journal, which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
After discussion with our Co-Editors and Editorial Board, we have been starting remodeling the team directing the newspaper. Changes in Co-Editors and Editorial Team are already visible in this issue and will continue till the June issue. It is associated with an increasing number of articles and numerous responsibilities that fall on the shoulders of all the co-editors. Number of co-editors should be therefore increased. Thank you sincerely to all the existing members of the Editorial Board. Without you our newspaper would not have a chance to develop.
Due to increase brachytherapy possibilities all over the world and progressing knowledge in this field, we have created, supported by Nucletron, an Elekta Company, a new Educational section of “Journal of Contemporary Brachytherapy”. It is a special section in the Journal in which healthcare professionals (in brachytherapy) can publish articles (on their own initiative or per request) about their clinical experiences in relation to brachytherapy with the objective to share these with their peers. Of course, this section is open for all brachytherapy users. Clinical experts can independently submit content for this section. “Educational Activity” section will be open to papers submitted by customers from any vendor of brachytherapy products. The idea is to increase the brachytherapy awareness, and are convinced that tools to achieve this are, amongst others, showcasing current brachytherapy practitioners worldwide, focusing on clinical practice of brachytherapy, and providing tips and tricks. This should contribute to an increased adoption of brachytherapy and strengthening of the worldwide brachytherapy community. In details, the content of the education section will include: tips and tricks in brachytherapy clinical practice from the perspective of radiation oncologists, physicists, and nurses; interesting case reports, e.g. first case(s) covering treatments of new body sites and/or new techniques. The structure of the papers published in the education section will follow the guidelines for the structure of submitted manuscripts set out in the journal. Each article shall contain an acknowledgement of any specific support. We called this section “Educational Activity” – with a historical reference…
Please remember, we are really in the fire of growing competition…
It is also my special pleasure to invite you to attend CME accredited brachytherapy symposium in world-renowned Miami Beach in the heart of South Florida, USA (http://www.cvent.com/events/brachynext-working-together-to-shape-the-future-of-brachytherapy/event-summary-bc11932f5a2244fdbb79be113dc4f0e3.aspx).
Our meeting will be held at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, from May 30-31, 2014. Janusz Skowronek and Tim Williams are our Scientific Program Chairmen, and together with other Committee members are putting together a very enriching and stimulating program. With our experienced Scientific Planning Committee assembled, this symposium should truly be an event that all brachytherapy practitioners should attend. A wide variety of national and international speakers will be invited to present their data and to debate on controversial issues. The theme for this year’s meeting is “BrachyNext – Working Together to Shape the Future of Brachytherapy”. We propose two-days high-level educational and scientific meeting fulfilled with discussions and interactive sessions. Our goal is to cover more practical subjects and by designing an active and engaging learning experience. Our goals include identifying the next big steps forward needed to maintain the long-term relevance of brachytherapy, expanding what brachytherapy can offer to patients within the spectrum of radiotherapy, and provide access to more patients who can benefit from this treatment modality. We think that in areas of controversies or dilemma’s in state-of-the-art, brachytherapy can build consensus and develop ways forward. We hope that this conference can support providers in developing economies to reach state-of-the-art treatment quality, and to expand treatment indications according to their local needs. In addition to the learning during the conference, we want to derive enduring materials and promote professional network building to maintain educational and scientific progress of the community after the program. The moderators and speakers are leaders in their areas of science who will discuss issues of imaging, multidisciplinary consultations to determine the need for one or multiple treatment modalities, determination, and implications of treatment sequencing, outcomes (survival, relapse, risks), and the future of individualized, patient-based treatment (i.e. why put all patients through the risks of aggressive, multimodality treatment approaches if we can sub-select those most apt to benefit?). We believe that new or updated clinical trials outcomes, practice-changing research, the latest scientific findings, and new treatment techniques and technology, the foremost goal should be to translate this information to the best possible care of our individual patients.
There will be world-class keynote speakers (you can find them on their webpage), many panel discussions, 24 educational sessions, and continued expansion of the eContouring Learning Lab. We look forward to welcoming you for what promises to be an outstanding event for the brachytherapy community.
Sincerely yours,
Editor-in-Chief,
Janusz Skowronek, MD, PhD, Ass. Prof.
