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We are very pleased to announce that the Journal of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the surgical component of the Journal of the Irish Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, have agreed to amalgamate and produce an intercollegiate surgical Journal. This new journal will be in colour, have a new format and style and be titled “The SURGEON, Journal of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Ireland.
To the best of our knowledge there is no equivalent titled journal in English language publications worldwide. It will initially be published bimonthly with the launch of the first edition in February 2003. This new intercollegiate journal (ICJ) has the full support of the Councils and Editorial Boards of both Colleges.
The aims of the ICJ are twofold. Firstly, to be a very tangible statement about the willingness of our respective Colleges to collaborate and enter into a productive partnership. Secondly, it is our intention to produce a high quality, attractive, interesting and informative journal addressing all aspects of the generality of surgery and its subspecialties. The journal will have a strong educational and CPE component and will be linked to aspects of SELECT and BEST produced by our respective colleges. Hopefully, the ICJ will be relevant and of interest not only to the surgical trainee but also to the established surgeon. It is our intention to publish high quality and authoritative review articles on the clinical practice and scientific basis of surgery.
Along with the printed journal we will continue to develop the e-journal. The popular HIDI articles provide an opportunity for using supplementary material (eg CD’s) on the Website. This will not only expand and enhance the written article but will also offer more educational and interesting opportunities for the reader.
The total readership of the ICJ will be at least 18,000, one of the highest in surgical publications, and distributed to more than 80 countries worldwide. We believe that the ICJ will be a great ambassador for UK-Irish surgery.
The collaboration will greatly strengthen the quality and educational content of the Journal. The impact factor (IF) of the Edinburgh Journal has been steadily increasing and it is our agreed policy to ensure that the IF of the ICJ continues to rise in the future. A new Editorial Board is being assembled with an Editor-in-Chief (Prof O Eremin) and Editor (Professor A Leahy).
The ICJ is a very important and exciting development; some readers of both journals may be sorry for a loss of identity (the JRCSEd is nearly half a century old!). We hope, however, that this new surgical journal will ensure that both journal traditions will continue in a more dynamic and productive way and that our expanded readership will find the ICJ a ‘good read’. We hope that our readers will give us feedback about The SURGEON in the coming months in 2003.
Professor A Leahy (Editor ICJ)
Editor of the Journal of the Irish Colleges of
Physicians and Surgeons
Professor O Eremin (Editor-in-Chief ICJ)
Editor of the Journal of the Royal College of
Surgeons of Edinburgh