Letter from the Editor

There is good news for the subscribers to “The Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon”. They will have more to read in the near future!

Beginning in 2007, there will be officially eight instead of six issues per annum. There will also be more pages in every issue. In addition, the space for information from our Society in the “blue pages” will be extended.

This means a considerable increase in the number of published manuscripts. We had to take this step because, over the last years, the number of manuscript submissions has reached all time records. Without the extension of issues and more pages printed, it would have been unavoidable to reject more and more high quality manuscripts. Even today, over 50 % of the submitted contributions have to be rejected. We consider this high rejection rate as a considerable disadvantage and discouraging to all authors.

A second important aspect deals with the type of papers we would like to publish in our journal. We could, of course, restrict the spectrum and type of contributions by omitting all manuscripts dealing with thoracic or vascular surgery. We decided not to do this. In the beginning, 53 years ago, the original title of our journal was “Thoraxchirurgie” and I think that the intention of the founding editors deserves respect. In my opinion, a wide range of subjects makes our journal more attractive for our readers.

The same is true for “case reports”, “short communications” and “how to do” articles. Even though these contributions may be hazardous to the “impact factor” they will be published at the same rate as in previous years.

Increasing the quantity of printed pages and the number of published manuscripts must not impair the quality of the content of any issue and volume in the future. It will be the obligation of the authors and the editorial board to make the best of the additional printing space.