It is with great pleasure that we celebrate 2009, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the International Journal of Hyperthermia. I was fortunate to be in attendance at the inaugural dinner with Professors T. Sugahara, Stanley Field, Jens Overgaard and George Hahn when the concept of the Journal was finalized with the publisher, Taylor and Francis. The first senior editorial board consisted of each of these individuals, representing the three founding societies, the European Society of Hyperthermic Oncology (ESHO), the North American Hyperthermia Group (NAHG; the name is now changed to the Society for Thermal Medicine) and the Japanese Society of Hyperthermic Oncology. The Asian Society of Hyperthermic Oncology is now the sponsoring society from Asia.
Because hyperthermia research essentially emerged from radiation biology laboratories in the 1960s, the original membership of these societies and the focus of the Journal was in oncology, and specifically on combinations of hyperthermia with radiation and chemotherapy.
I was honored to follow in the footsteps of Professor Hahn, to assume the position of North American Editor in 1993. We grew in size, going from six to eight issues per year in 2004. In this coming year the page count has been increased another 10%, in anticipation to growing toward monthly publication. Importantly, the impact factor has increased quite significantly from a nadir of less than 1.0 when I assumed Dr Hahn's position to more than 2.7 this past year. What has been the reason for this success and what is the vision for the future?
There are several reasons for the increase in impact factor. In the summer of 2006 the Journal went online with full submission and review functions being available. The page size was modernized to 8.5” × 11” and a new cover design was inaugurated, which features images from each issue. The Editors’ Award was initiated to annually honor the best papers in the fields of Biology, Engineering/Physics and Medicine from young investigators. Coincident with the change to online submission and review, we reorganized the Editorial Board to have an Editor-in-Chief position and Senior Editors, to represent each of the founding societies. We have expanded the responsibilities for the Senior Editors in governing policy and directions for the Journal. The advent of online submission and review has doubled our submission rate. Accordingly, we have been able to raise the bar for acceptance of papers, ensuring that only the best are published in this Journal.
One of the largest successes of the Journal and that which has served to significantly increase the impact factor has been the initiation of the Special Issues concept. Since the inaugural Special Issue on Hyperthermia and Immune Function in 2002, the Journal has published a total of 11 special issues. We strived to focus on emerging science and technology, with issues related to such subjects as thermal ablation, nanotechnology and high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). We have expanded the editorial board to include experts in these fields, a move that has paid off in terms of increasing submissions of unsolicited manuscripts on these topics. One of our most highly cited issues was ‘Evolving connections between molecular chaperones and neuronal function’, an issue that introduced important basic biology on the role of heat shock proteins in neuronal function. This issue and the one on immune function represented a distinct expansion, away from heavy focus on cancer therapeutics toward other aspects of thermal biology.
Our plans for the future include a number of additional changes, which we believe will further strengthen our position as the premier journal focusing on thermal biology and therapeutics. This coming year we will re-publish classic papers from our field. These papers will be accompanied by commentaries by the authors and others, to bring modern perspectives to the subject. This starts this month, with re-publication of the most highly cited paper by William Dewey entitled ‘Arrhenius relationships from the molecule and cell to the clinic’. Several additional classics will be published this year, in celebration of the 25th anniversary, but this tradition will continue into the coming years. We are working with Informa to institute changes in the subject discipline designation, which has been listed on the Journal Webpage as ‘radiation oncology’ and ‘radiology’, to include other subjects that more clearly represent the spectrum of topics published by the Journal. The instructions to authors have been revised to correct several deficiencies. Through a generous gift from Mr. Itsuo Yamamoto of Osaka, Japan, we will be able to increase the monetary award for the Editors’ Awards. We truly believe that these changes will lead to a substantial increase in the diversity and number of manuscripts being published in the International Journal of Hyperthermia. We encourage everyone to join in continuing to build the momentum.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Senior Editors, Betsy Repasky, Olav Dahl and Yoshiaki Tanaka, for providing their expert guidance and advice during this past year. The changes to the Journal that are being initiated could not have been done without your help. Thanks to all of you who gave of your time to provide us with high quality reviews. Without the time and sacrifices that you make as reviewers, the Journal could not flourish. I also want to thank the managing editor, Nancy Dewhirst, for her unflagging devotion to the Journal and to her considerable efforts to network with authors and reviewers alike.
In conclusion, I have great optimism in what the future holds for the Journal. The first twenty-five years have been very successful, but I believe that the next twenty-five years will be even better. With your help and contributions we WILL continue to grow.