A new Editorial Team for the Scandinavian Journal of Urology

I am happy to announce that I have been appointed new Editor-in-Chief for Scand J Urol as of January 1, 2021. First of all, I would like to thank the departing Editor-in-Chief Per-Uno Malmström, and his editorial team, for eight years of great service to the Journal. Scand J Urol is the official journal to the Scandinavian Association of Urology and Per-Uno made the Journal even more Scandinavian by recruiting urologists from Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden to the editorial board. In keeping with this initiative, the new editorial board consists of Peter Boström (Finland), Viktor Berge (Norway), Jørgen Bjerggaard Jensen (Denmark), and Ralph Peeker (Sweden), plus social media editor Stacy Loeb from New York, USA.

In order to invigorate and diversify the board I have reached out to its members, as well as to potential new board members in the area of uro-oncology and clinical cancer epidemiology, where in particular results from our unique Scandinavian clinical cancer registers are of interest [1–5]. Reviewers are the lifeblood of a scientific journal, and to avoid wearing down our loyal group we will engage additional reviewers. To support them, we plan to organise review training courses, including webinars and practical hands-on tutoring for young academic urologists.

The publication of a scientific journal is a complicated process. It is a truly multi -professional endeavour where a great deal of work is performed backstage. We are happy to collaborate with the excellent editorial team at Taylor& Francis including Maria Montzka, Portfolio Manager, Emma Leverton, Managing Editor, and Logeswari Jayachandran, Production Editor. A lot of change has already taken place in the way we as clinicians search for information and read articles, and online reading has quickly become the norm. It is only a matter of time before the paper journal will become history. As a first step to become more eco-friendly, the Journal will follow an initiative by Taylor & Francis to reduce unnecessary use of plastic. From now on, the journal will be distributed without a plastic wrap – so-called ‘naked’ mailing – and the cover will no longer be laminated.

The owner of the Journal is Acta Chirurgica Scandinavica, a trust instigated in 1919 by the late Einar Key, professor in surgery, with the mission to support research and training of Swedish surgeons. By extension that means supporting scientific publications in surgery and urology. The support from Acta is crucial for our Journal.

The new editorial board will strive to balance the goal of the owner, the needs of our speciality to disseminate clinically relevant original urological research, the need for Scandinavian academics to publish in high-standard peer-reviewed journals, and the expectation of authors for a swift review and high-quality publication process.