A new era of web-based publishing emerges for EFORT: EFORT Open Reviews

A new journal! We have so many! Why another one?

This is a legitimate question. However, even though orthopaedic publications abound, EFORT Open Reviews intends to fill a void. The fact is that the number of orthopaedic journals has doubled since 1997, from 37 to 73 journals listed in the Science Citation Index Expanded. ¹ According to Lee et al, ² more than 46 000 orthopaedic papers were published worldwide in the first decade of the 21st century. The annual growth is double-digit – over 10% – and this constitutes a huge mass of literature added yearly to the already considerable and constantly evolving orthopaedic knowledge base. This collected information is not readily accessible to busy practitioners or to harried juniors. Lee et al also note that on a per capita basis, 12 of the top 20 countries that publish orthopaedic articles are represented by EFORT member national societies. European orthopaedics therefore plays a large role in the production of science and knowledge.

It is in this spirit that EFORT has decided to offer a new format consisting of an open access journal, EFORT Open Reviews. This new journal will mainly include reviews of current knowledge pertaining to the specialty of orthopaedics and musculoskeletal traumatology. These reviews aim to bring state-of-the-art practical and theoretical information in a concise format to the reader, embracing all aspects of our speciality from patient assessment and surgical techniques to clinical and basic research topics. The focus of the reviews will vary considerably in spectrum, some being very broad while others will be detailed and concentrated on specifics. Since EFORT Open Reviews is a web-based publication, various formats may be used including text, illustrations, audio and video.

EFORT Open Reviews is the official educational publication of EFORT. It is a new joint venture between EFORT and The British Editorial Society of Bone & Joint Surgery (BESBJS). BESBJS is chaired by Rob Marshall with Peter Richardson as Managing Director. Amy Goggins is the Commissioning Editor of EFORT Open Reviews. On the EFORT side, Susan Davenport will be responsible for the publication, with CEO Adrian Ott ensuring supervision under the authority of the EFORT Board. The Editor-in-Chief is assisted by George Bentley, Scientific Editor, and Wolfhart Puhl is Emeritus Editor.

The success of EFORT Open Reviews is built upon a strong team of dedicated Associate Editors. The Associate Editors are the leading experts who help to identify potential authors and recommend publication after considering the opinions of peer reviewers. This team of recognized specialists and scientists are the backbone of EOR, and their timely decisions will shape the future of the journal. Mehmet Demirhan, Philippe Kopylov, Jacques Ménétrey, Hermes Miozzari, Luigi Zagra, Stephen Cannon, Dishan Singh, Manuel Cassiano Neves and Ulrich Stöckle have all agreed to act as Associate Editors for EFORT Open Reviews. An editorial board comprised of active clinicians and surgeons in the musculoskeletal field, along with a team of clinical and research scientists, has been selected from the galaxy of worldwide orthopaedics to guide the editorial team in the policies of publication.

It is the reviewers who provide the quality control of any journal, and EFORT Open Reviews is no exception. They are highly recognised experts in their field and provide an invaluable service to the readership through their constructive criticism (although, to paraphrase Churchill, ‘Peer reviewing is the worst form of quality control, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time’!). The editorial team of EFORT Open Reviews recognizes that peer reviewing is difficult and time-consuming and warmly thanks all those involved; it is the only way to ensure the consistent quality of publications.

The open access format has been chosen for EFORT Open Reviews so as to enable maximal dissemination of accurate and trustworthy information. All submissions will undergo rigorous peer review and scientific editing before publication. It is the aim of EFORT Open Reviews to provide quality material emanating from authors of high reputation in their field of expertise. It is expected that readers will react, and EFORTnet, ³ along with the e-letters functionality on our website, will provide the ideal web-based forum for discussions, criticism and feedback to occur. EFORT Open Reviews will be submitted to PubMed Central within the first few months of publication, aiming to secure inclusion in their database. Later, it will be submitted for indexing to Web of Science with a view to obtaining an Impact Factor. There will be an annual paper edition of EFORT Open Reviews and this will be the issue of the annual EFORT Congress, containing the instructional courses delivered at the Congress along with a number of other selected articles. The Congress participants will, as in the past, receive a print copy at the time of the EFORT Congress.

Finally, I would like to encourage you to submit a review article to the journal at our ScholarOne Manuscripts submission site. Article publication charges (APCs) are currently waived until January 2017. Your contributions will really help to ensure the growth and success of EFORT Open Reviews! I would also urge you to sign up for contents alerts at http://www.efortopenreviews.org/alerts to help you stay abreast of the latest updates across the whole field of orthopaedics and traumatology.