Publications Committee

The Publications Committee has met twice during the year 2005, once in April, in Copenhagen, and then in September in Geneva. The September meeting was a meeting of the old Committee and the newly elected ones. We were sorry to say goodbye to Jean Michel de Bray and then welcomed Francesco Drudi to the Committee. Professors Dietrich and Pirhonen had been elected the previous day to the Committee but were unable to attend.

The Committee discussed at length the publication of the minimum training standards document which you will find as part of this Newsletter. The website causes a great deal of work for Gianna and is in constant need of updating and refreshing. As well as us linking the EFSUMB website to all the individual Member Societies websites it was felt it would be helpful if all the EFSUMB delegates provided a photograph of themselves and a short introduction to their Society which could be provided on the EFSUMB website.

The European Journal of Ultrasound is proving a great success for the Federation. New members to the Advisory Board, proposed following the Copenhagen meeting, have been accepted by Thieme. The number of papers in English, submitted to the Editorial Board, is growing and they were much encouraged by the fact that 65% of EFSUMB members receive the Journal and that the citation index continues to increase.

The whole new Committee are hoping to meet in the spring, in London, where we will incorporate the ideas of the new members in improving the Journal and the website in particular.

The Publications Committee would be unable to function without the hard work of Gianna Stanford, our long-suffering General Secretary, who uncomplainingly serves the Committee and tries to make sense of the Chairman's ideas.