A new volume of Acta Oncologica

The observant reader may already have observed that this first issue of 2011 belongs to volume 50 of Acta Oncologica. Intuitively, this would mean that it is time to celebrate. The development of Acta Oncologica has been substantial and we have much to celebrate. However, a few aspects raise the questions of whether the celebration should be a 50^th anniversary or a 25^th anniversary and, when exactly?

Acta Oncologica took off in 1987, i.e. almost 25 years ago, officially as a continuation of the old oncology series of Acta Radiologica, but, in reality, as a new and completely, independent journal. Acta Radiologica was founded back in 1921. In 1963, it added the post-fix “therapy, physics, biology”, i.e. for the first time, the journal title reflected that aspects of treatment should be included. Many articles during the past 40 years or so, have had therapy as the main topic. This year also saw the commencement of the present numbering of volumes. In 1978, the post-fix was altered to “oncology, radiation, physics, biology” and, in 1980, to pure and simple “oncology”. In 1986, it was decided to split Acta Radiologica, reflecting the growing clinical speciality oncology and its concomitant research area. Thus, the present Acta Oncologica took off in 1987, but no new numbering took place.

With an official start in 1963, volume 50 should not really be published in 2011 but rather in 2012. A control in the archives revealed that two volumes were published in 1966, the ordinary one (number 4) and a supplement (number 5). As a consequence, it is not really correct to state that the 50^th anniversary celebration should take place in 2011, as the volume number indicates, but rather in 2012 (or January 2013). It is as natural to celebrate the 25^th anniversary in that year (or January 2012). Thus, the year 2012 will be a year of celebration for Acta Oncologica.

Possible to read all articles in Acta Oncologica since volume 1 free on the net

All articles published in Acta Oncologica are freely available on the net six months after publication in an issue. Selected articles are immediately available. This is usually the case of articles in special issues where articles from Acta Oncologica supported symposia are published. During the past years, several such symposia have taken place. In addition, all articles published from the very first volume in 1963 have been digitalized and made publicly available on the net. Thus, it is possible to easily find and read articles published in Acta Oncologica almost 50 years ago. Today, it is usually easy to read an article on the net from any scientific periodical published recently, provided the department or the university has a subscription. This is usually the case for most relevant journals in the Western world, but is still a problem in other parts of the world. Thus, there is seldom a need to keep or even, subscribe to, a paper journal, which takes up room on a shelf in a library or in your own office. Many journals have not, as Acta Oncologica has, digitalized older volumes, which is why it is still relevant to store paper versions from past years. It is mentally strange but intellectually logical, to keep older volumes, where the need to look up articles is small, and throw away more recent ones, where the need in reality is much greater.

This paradox is similar to a finding, albeit retrospective, from a large randomized EORTC trial in rectal cancer. Patients with a primary rectal cancer belonging to the intermediate or “bad” category [1] were randomized in a 2 × 2 design to preoperative radiotherapy alone or with chemotherapy and to postoperative chemotherapy or not. Overall, there was no gain in overall survival from the chemotherapy [2]. However, patients who had a favorable T-stage (pT0-2), indicating a response to the preoperative treatment, had benefit from the chemotherapy addition, and a low risk of recurrence and death [3]. In contrast, patients with pT3-4 tumors had a much poorer prognosis and no benefit from the adjuvant chemotherapy. Thus, those who do not need the treatment so much gain an advantage, whereas those who need it do not. It should be added that retrospective analyses such as this may contain several biases and should be interpreted cautiously, but the findings have at any rate influenced clinical routines.

When reading the titles of articles published in Acta Oncologica from 1963 and 1987 and perusing the contents of some of them, many thoughts about developments in oncology have been generated. We intend to invite scientists, if possible previous authors, to write an article about the chosen topic during the past 25 or 50 years and as regards the future, and publish such an article in each issue of 2012 and, if needed, during 2013 as well.

Acta Oncologica Symposia

As stated above, the Acta Oncologica Foundation has supported several international symposia arranged in one of the Nordic countries. It has been a pleasure to summarize the past year's activities for several years. The main task of a scientific journal is to receive, evaluate and publish submitted articles, letters or other material. Or, as expressed on the emblem of the Royal Scientific Society in Uppsala, the oldest academy in Sweden, celebrating its 300^th anniversary in November 2010, Collecta refundit – to collect and give out, or, as interpreted in the academy, to collect knowledge, evaluate it and distribute it in a refined way. Since space is limited and, with an increasing number of submissions, many very good articles must be rejected. The projected number of submissions during 2010 (based upon numbers in early November) will be well above an all-time high of 600, with a rejection rate above 75%. To publish scientific articles is to contribute to dissemination of new information. The task of supporting symposia with the aim of publishing articles in a timely way, and becoming immediately available online is also to support the dissemination of new information to a wider public. Our plans for celebrating the anniversaries are to arrange a special Acta Oncologica Symposium in 2012.

In issue number 7, 2010, 41 articles from an Acta Oncologica Symposium about Biology-Guided Adaptive Radiotherapy (BIGART), arranged in connection with the Nordic Association for Clinical Physics (NACP) meeting in May 2010 in Århus, Denmark were published [4]. Two years previously in June 2008, an Acta Oncologica Symposium about Image-Guided and Adaptive Radiotherapy (IGRT) was co-organized with a NACP meeting. These meetings resulted in 34 articles published in issue number 7, 2008 [5] and in 22 articles published in issue number 2, 2009 [6]. Quantity is not an important parameter in science, but articles from the previously held NACP meetings are among the most downloaded and cited articles during recent years in Acta Oncologica. The number of citations is at least regarded as a quality parameter of good science. In April 2011, a symposium about particle therapy in radiation together with the NACP meeting will be held in Uppsala, Sweden, again supported by the Foundation.

Acta Oncologica has been the scientific periodical of the Nordic oncology associations and the Scandinavian Breast Cancer Group. It was a great honor when NACP recently asked Acta Oncologica to be their scientific periodical, a request immediately approved by the Board.

Improvements in cancer survival

Acta Oncologica has its base in the Nordic countries but is an international journal receiving most of the submissions from outside these countries. With the 9–10 digit personal identification numbers and several well organized and high-quality data registries [7], the possibilities for epidemiological research are particularly good in the Nordic countries. The results reflect the unselected populations and can be highly accurate, since missing and inaccurate information is at a very low level [8]. Incidence, survival and mortality from cancer in the five Nordic countries for all cancer sites were published in issue number 5 [9]. The analyses were based upon the NORDCAN database, a Nordic tool for cancer information, planning, quality control and research [10]. Reasons for the differences in outcome between the countries were discussed. Even if the differences seen for decades persist, they diminish. Cancer plans have been implemented in the countries with the worst survival, and may be responsible for the declining differences. However, their effects cannot yet fully be seen since the ultimate outcome, long-term survival, requires longer follow-up times. Maybe we in the future will be able to see similar survival figures in the different countries, or, a reverse situation compared with the past, since the official and structural efforts to continuously improve outcomes differ between the countries. Furthermore, several recent studies have shown that socioeconomic differences in staging, treatment and survival have been seen in the Nordic countries, all with a publicly available Health Care [11–14].

Not only support for radiation therapy research symposia

A State of Science Conference in Cancer Care – Identification of front-line research topics was another example of a very successful Acta Oncologica supported symposium held in Stockholm, Sweden [15–18]. In September 2010, the 8^th Acta Oncologica Symposium about Cancer Rehabilitation (NCRS) was organized. It attracted more than 350 participants. It is expected that almost 30 articles from the symposium will be published in the next issue this year.

Finally, the Foundation also supported a WHO symposium, International Consultation on Prostate Cancer, held in Stockholm, Sweden in September 2010. Approximately 20 articles will be published in a supplement early 2011.

Further attractiveness of Acta Oncologica

During the past several years, Acta Oncologica has witnessed a saw-toothed development in the journal impact factor (JIF). This will continue at least one more year, reaching a projected new top level well above 3 (2.739 in 2008 and 2.265 in 2009). I know that many, if not most scientists choose journals based upon the JIF. The marked increase in the number of submissions from about 200 some years ago to over 600 in 2010 is hopefully a reflection of this increased attractiveness. During 2010, two new individuals have joined the editorial board to broaden the scientific expertise, and meet new demands – Professor Ludvig Muren, Århus, Denmark, radiophysicist and Professor Mef Nilbert, Lund, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark, oncologist with an experimental profile, who have both already contributed substantially to the editorial work. We are thus better equipped to rapidly and accurately evaluate an expected increasing number of submissions.

Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the paper.