History of the German-language ENT journals

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Archiv für Ohrenheilkunde (AfO), the Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences in Halle/Saale held an international conference from May 7–10 in 2014. The AfO is the world’s oldest journal devoted exclusively to an area of what would later be ear, nose and throat medicine and still exists today as the European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology and Head & Neck [3, 65].

As shown in Table 1 (Journal Nos. 1, 7, 11 and 12), the European Archives go back to three journals founded in the 19th century: Archiv für Ohrheilkunde (1864), Archiv für Augen- und Ohrenheilkunde (1869) and Archiv für Laryngologie und Rhinologie (1893). The latter two were merged in 1922 to form the Zeitschrift für Hals‑, Nasen- und Ohrenheilkunde (1922). The European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology and Head & Neck is one of the oldest ENT journals in the world. In 1864, the journal was founded as Archiv für Ohrenheilkunde (AfO) in Würzburg in the publishing house of Stahel’s book and art dealers. By following the numbering of the volumes, the history of the journal can be traced, including changes in publishing houses and assumption of publishing houses with their journals and book titles. After the title was moved to the Leipzig publishing house F. C. W. Vogel in 1873, the name was changed to Archiv für Ohren‑, Nasen- und Kehlkopfheilkunde in 1915, and in 1922 the Vogel Verlag was taken over by Springer Verlag. After various changes to the title of the journal, it is still published today as volume 277 by Springer Nature as the European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology and Head & Neck.

Over the years, further journals were absorbed by the AfO, mainly through the purchase of the publishing houses Bergmann, Wiesbaden and Hirschwald, Berlin by Springer Verlag. This can also be easily seen in Table 1 based on the volume count: The Archiv für Augen- und Ohrenheilkunde (Bergmann) founded in 1869 went through various title changes and splits, and was finally sold to the Springer Verlag in 1922. Likewise, the Archiv für Laryngologie und Rhinologie, first published by Hirschwald in Berlin in 1893, came to Springer through a publisher sale in 1922. Both titles were merged to form the Zeitschrift für Hals‑, Nasen- und Ohrenheilkunde (ZfHNO). At the end of the Second World War, the ZfHNO was included in the Archiv für Ohren‑, Nasen- und Kehlkopfheilkunde, the successor of which is today’s European Archives. Figure 1 shows the course of title changes and mergers in a flow chart. The respective title pages of the newly founded predecessor journals of the AfO are shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Most of the publishing houses known today emerged from bookshops with printing capacities in the 19th century. This is the case for the Stahel’sche Buch- und Kunsthandlung in Würzburg, which existed since 1753. For Anton von Tröltsch, a practicing ophthalmologist in Würzberg, who had recently completed his habilitation in the field of otology in 1861 [81] and the two other founding editors, Adam Politzer and Herrmann Schwartze, it was natural to found the Archiv für Ohrenheilkunde in collaboration with a local “publisher”. The establishment of the journal and the structure of its contents have already been reported elsewhere [62, 63]. The founding story is described in the same journal in 1890 by Schwartze in the obituary for Anton von Tröltsch and by Politzer on the 50th anniversary of the publication in 1914 as follows: “Das Interesse, welches durch die ersten Publikationen v. Tröltsch’s … für das bisher allgemein für unfruchtbar gehaltene Studium der Ohrenheilkunde erweckt war … führte zu der Idee der Begründung eines besonderen literarischen Organs, welches alles vereinigen sollte, was auf otologischem Gebiet gearbeitet wurde. Die erste Anregung ging (in einem Brief an v. Tröltsch vom 28. März 1863) von einem Augenarzte, Dr. Zander in Chemnitz aus …. Acht Monate später trat A. Politzer mit derselben Idee an v. Tröltsch heran” (The interest in the study of ear medicine, previously considered unprofitable, generated by Tröltsch’s first publications, … led to the idea of founding a special literary organ which would unite efforts in the otological field. The first suggestion came in a letter to von Tröltsch on March 28, 1863 from an ophthalmologist, Dr. Zander in Chemnitz …. Eight months later A. Politzer approached von Tröltsch with the same idea) [66, 81]. The first editors were Dr. Anton von Tröltsch from Würzburg, Dr. Adam Politzer from Vienna and Dr. Hermann Schwartze from Halle (Saale). Initially von Tröltsch had concerns about the viability of the journal. He feared insufficient staffing and a lack of customers. The journal foundation was only attempted after Hermann Schwartze committed to the project. Its success was later secured by the switch to the publishing house F. C. W. Vogel in Leipzig in 1873. When the journal was founded in 1864, all three editors were young men (von Tröltsch 35, Politzer 29 and Schwartze 27) with a great interest in ear medicine and were at the beginning of their medical and scientific careers. In the obituary for Anton von Tröltsch in 1890, Hermann Schwartze describes the difficult initial phase of the archive: “Die ersten Bände desselben folgten sich unregelmäßig und schleppend, und erst mit dem Übergang des Archivs in den Verlag von F. C. W. Vogel in Leipzig kam dasselbe in ein glattes Fahrwasser, als durch wachsende Zahl der Mitarbeiter die Beiträge reichlicher zuströmten und durch geregelten Geschäftsbetrieb des neuen Verlegers das schnellere Erscheinen der Arbeiten und die weitere Verbreitung des Archivs gesichert war” (The first volumes of the archive followed irregularly and slowly, and only with the transfer of the archive to the F. C. W. Vogel publishing house in Leipzig did it find its way into smooth waters. The growing number of employees made contributions more abundant and the regular business operations of the new publisher ensured the faster publication of the works and the wider distribution of the archive) (cf. Schwartze 1890, Mudry 2015 [62, 81]). In retrospect, it seems probable that the founders of the journal hoped for a wider distribution of the AfO in a large publishing company. The grandson of the publisher’s founder, Carl Victor Lampe-Vischer, had taken over the F. C. W. Vogel Verlag in 1862 and redirected the publishing program towards medicine (cf. Sarkowski, p. 312 [73]). Leipzig was Germany’s centre for books and publishing until World War II. The AfO was transferred in 1930, when the publisher F. C. W Vogel was sold to Springer. The journal volumes continue to follow the numbering as the English language European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology and Head & Neck under the editorship of Manuel Bernal-Sprekelsen, Roland Laszig and Marc Remacle.

In their 1869 editorial for the first issue of their newly founded journal Archiv für Augen- und Ohrheilkunde, Hermann Knapp (1832–1911), New York and Salomon Moos (1831–1895), Heidelberg, refer to the ground-breaking progress that came with the invention of the ophthalmoscope for the examination of the sensory organs, the eye and the ear. “Die nahe Verwandtschaft der Augen- und Ohrenheilkunde … fordert dazu auf, beide vereinigt zu betreiben” (the close relationship of ophthalmology and ear medicine … calls for both to be practiced together) [51]. Knapp, who completed his habilitation (postdoctoral lecturing qualification in Germany) under Helmholtz in Heidelberg in 1859, founded an eye clinic for inpatients and outpatients there in 1862. Because of the delay in the planned construction of his own university eye clinic in Heidelberg, Knapp emigrated to New York in 1868. In keeping with the American trend at the time, Knapp included the treatment of ear diseases when he founded his “New York Ophthalmic and Aural Institute” [54]. Together with Salomon Moos, associate professor for otology in Heidelberg since 1866, Knapp founded the journal Archiv für Augen- und Ohrenheilkunde/Archives of Ophthalmology and Otology in 1869, which was published in New York with William Wood in English and in Karlsruhe in German with Müller’sche Hofbuchhandlung. This connection between American and German medicine was not only due to the personal relationship between Moos and Knapp from their time together in Heidelberg, but was also an indication for the high regard for German speciality disciplines in the USA at that time because of their solid scientific foundations (cf. Koelbing 1979 [54]). The archive was continued in 1879 as the 8th volume of Zeitschrift für Ohrenheilkunde and Archiv für Augenheilkunde by Bergmann publishing.

The founding of new medical journals went hand in hand with the establishment of speciality medical societies. Between 1850 and 1914 alone, 65 medical and scientific societies were founded [68]. In 1892 the German Otological Society was founded, in 1894 the Association of South German Laryngologists and in 1905 the German Laryngological Society. It was therefore natural for corresponding journals to be founded at the same time. The takeover of Hirschwald Verlag by Springer in 1922 and the associated relocation of journals were mainly for family or business reasons. August Hirschwald opened a bookstore in Berlin in 1816 and started publishing in 1826. The publishing house August Hirschwald was very successful in the field of medicine early on, but at the turn of the century it faced very strong competition from the publishers F. C. W. Vogel, J. F. Bergmann, G. Fischer, S. Karger, G. Thieme and Urban & Schwarzenberg. After the First World War, Hirschwald publishing house was taken over by Springer [73]. Starting in 1922, the Archiv für Laryngologie und Rhinologie was continued as the Zeitschrift für Hals‑, Nasen- und Ohrenheilkunde, but with a new volume count.

The title history of HNO is quite straightforward. It was founded by Springer Verlag after World War II, with a focus on practical topics. The journal HNO/Organ der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hals- Nasen- Ohrenheilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie was founded by Springer Verlag in 1947 as a supplement to the Zeitschrift für Hals-Nasen- und Ohrenheilkunde. Although this journal had already been included in the Archiv für Ohren‑, Nasen- und Kehlkopfheilkunde, this addition can still be found on the cover. This is most likely due to the recommencement of the publishing activities after the World War II with initial licensing difficulties in the western occupation zones. In a letter from 1947, Ferdinand Springer complains about the denial of a license for the most important and best-known journals of his publishing house, including the Archiv für Ohren‑, Nasen- und Kehlkopfheilkunde (vereinigt mit Zeitschrift für Hals-Nasen-Ohrenheilkunde) by American authorities (cf. Götze, 1994, p. 4 [33]). In 1958 the addition to the name was dropped and the title HNO has since appeared as the publication organ of the German Society for Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery and later also the German Academy for Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery under the same name. In the first few years, the HNO also had the additional title “Wegweiser für die fachärztliche Praxis” (Guide for specialist medical practice), which suggests the more clinical–practical objectives of the publisher and the first editor Hermann Frenzel (1895–1967). Frenzel, who completed his habilitation in ear, nose and throat medicine under Wilhelm Brünings in Greifswald in 1925, was appointed to Göttingen as a full public professor in 1942. In his obituary for Hermann Frenzel in 1968, Minnigerode describes the relationship between the HNO and the Archiv in the post-war period as follows: “Nach dem Rücktritt Seiferts, mit dem er sich gemeinsam um das Wiedererscheinen und die Neuorganisation unserer Fachzeitschrift durch Teilung in das der klinischen und experimentellen Forschung dienende Archiv und den auf die Fachpraxis ausgerichteten HNO-Wegweiser bemüht hatte, übernahm Hermann Frenzel 1955 die Schriftleitung des Archivs für Hals-Nasen-Ohrenheilkunde, dessen geschäftsführender Herausgeber er bis zu seinem Tode war” (After Seifert’s resignation, with whom he worked together to relaunch and reorganize our journal by dividing it into the Archiv, which served clinical and experimental research, and the ENT guide, which was aimed at specialist practice, Hermann Frenzel took over the editorship of the Archiv for ear, nose and throat medicine in 1955, and was its managing editor until his death) [61]. From the start, HNO was the publication organ of the German Society for Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, the Swiss Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Neck and Facial Surgery (from 1977), and several regional ENT societies, including, interestingly, the East German medical societies for ENT medicine in Halle, Jena, Leipzig, Rostock and Greifswald until 1975. In 2008 HNO also became the new publication organ of the Austrian ENT Society. The common scientific and professional interests of the professional societies were influential in the development of ENT as a discipline in Europe [10]. Since 2016 HNO has been published not only in German, but also in English in a supplement volume that appears online twice a year. An exclusively English-language publication is also possible in exceptional cases. Table 2 lists the editors of HNO since 1947. Figure 6 shows the title page of the first volume of HNO from 1947/1948/1949.

The journal Laryngo-Rhino-Otologie: LRO, published today by Thieme Verlag Stuttgart, New York, NY, reached volume number 99 in 2020. It goes back to two journals founded around 1900: the Monatsschrift für Ohrenheilkunde and the Zeitschrift für Laryngologie, Rhinologie und ihre Grenzgebiete. If one follows the volume numbers, the first volume was founded in 1909 in Leipzig by C. Kabitzsch as the Zeitschrift für Laryngologie, Rhinologie und ihre Grenzgebiete. This journal was issued as Zeitschrift für Laryngologie, Rhinologie, Otologie und ihre Grenzgebiete: Organ d. Vereinigung Südwestdeutscher Hals‑, Nasen‑, Ohrenärzte after World War II by Thieme in Stuttgart up to volume 52 in 1973. The second foundation dates back to 1867. The Monatsschrift für Ohrenheilkunde sowie für Nasen‑, Rachen‑, Kehlkopf- und Luftröhrenkrankheiten, initially Monatsschrift für Ohrenheilkunde, was published until 1881 as Expedition der Allgemeinen Medizinischen Centralzeitung in Berlin and from 1882 as Monatsschrift für Ohrenheilkunde sowie für Kehlkopf‑, Nasen‑, Rachenkrankheiten: Organ d. Österreichischen Otologischen Gesellschaft u. d. Münchener Laryngo-Otologischen Gesellschaft, continued by Oscar Coblentz Verlag, Berlin. From volume 43 in 1909, the publishing house Urban & Schwarzenberg in Vienna published it as Monatsschrift für Ohrenheilkunde und Laryngo-Rhinologie: Organ der Österreichischen Oto-laryngologischen Gesellschaft und der Wiener Gesellschaft der Hals‑, Nasen‑, Ohren-Ärzte. The latter journal retained its independence up to volume 108 and was incorporated into the journal Laryngologie, Rhinologie, Otologie by Thieme in Stuttgart in 1974. Figure 7 shows the course of title changes and mergers in a flow chart. The respective title pages of the newly founded predecessor journals of the LRO are shown in Figs. 8 and 9.

Initially, Monatsschrift für Ohrenheilkunde was founded as an “Expedition” (shipping issue) of the Allgemeine Medizinische Central-Zeitung in 1867 in Berlin. This universal journal was published from 1832 to 1933 by the Berlin publishing house Hirschwald as the Berliner medicinische Central-Zeitung, then by the founder of the journal, Johann Jakob Sachs (1803–1846), and later by the Berlin publishing house Oskar Coblentz [70]. At the time of the foundation of the monthly publication, the publishing house of the Allgemeine Medizinische Central-Zeitung belonged to the widow of the first editor, Fanny Sachs. The first editors of the monthly were Rudolf Voltolini (1819–1889), Breslau, Josef Gruber (1827–1900), Vienna, Nikolaus Rüdinger (1832–1896), Munich and Friedrich Eugen Weber, Berlin, from 1873 Weber-Liel (1832–1891). Weber had added his mother’s maiden name to his name for personal reasons. Rüdinger worked as an anatomist in Munich. The three otologists had completed their habilitation in otology around the time the journal was founded: Voltolini in 1862, Gruber in 1863 and Weber in 1872. In the editorial to the first volume for the new journal, the editors describe three goals. Founded as a supplement to a classic universal journal, the paper was intended to give practicing physicians an insight into the speciality of otology through illustrated articles. Furthermore, original articles were to underscore the scientific character of the journal and finally, reviews of the latest literature from home and abroad were to be provided (cf. Weber 1867 [101]). In the further historical development of scientific journals, these three functions have often been realized in separate journals, some focusing on clinical trials, continuous medical education and journal reviews (“Zentralblätter”). In the present, current journals such as HNO and LRO contain rubrics like “original scientific research”, “preparation for the specialist examination”, “CME” (continuing medical education) and “update”. The content of the journal, which had hitherto been predominantly otological, was expanded in 1876 and “Nasen‑, Rachen‑, Kehlkopf- und Luftröhrenkrankenheiten” (nose, pharynx, larynx and trachea diseases) was added to the title. This reflected increased scientific and clinical recognition of the close relationships between the organs. In France, this fusion took place a year earlier. In 1875 the Annales des maladies de l’oreille et du larynx (otoscopie, laryngoscopie, rhinoscopie) was founded, covering the whole spectrum of ENT.

The introduction of a general index in 1934 was a highlight in the history of the “Monatsschrift”. In today’s digital age, one can hardly imagine the effort necessary to create the index by hand. Since the journal was initially published by other publishers, the Urban & Schwarzenberg publishing house decided to record the central index from volume 43 of 1909 to volume 67 of 1933. The index contained not only author names but also subjects (cf. Urbantschitsch 1934 [96]). Other journals, such as AfO, also kept extensive general indexes during this period [37]. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the “Monatsschrift” in 1966, Fremel commented on the important function of the journal as a unifying factor in multi-ethnic Austria-Hungary. The “Monatsschrift” was no longer able to fulfill this specifically Austrian role after the German Reich co-ordination in 1938 (cf. Fremel 1966 [31]). After the founding of the Austrian Otolaryngeological Society in 1945/46 under its President E. Urbantschitsch, the journal appeared again in its old form (cf. [31]). The “Monatsschrift” was continued under the title Monatsschrift für Ohrenheilkunde und Laryngo-Rhinologie up to volume 108, 1974, at the publishing house Urban & Schwarzenberg and from 1974 onwards it appeared in the journal Laryngologie, Rhinologie, Otologie of the Stuttgart-based Thieme Verlag. However, the official addition “… vereinigt mit Monatsschrift für Ohrenheilkunde” (… united with the monthly journal for otology) only appears in the LRO only in 1976 from volume 55. There are no references to the reasons for the absorption of “Monatsschrift” by LRO in the editorials of either journal at the time, nor is it reported in the publisher’s anniversary publications. It can be assumed that the transition of the “Monatsschrift” from Verlag Urban & Schwarzenberg to Thieme Verlag was for economic reasons. From 1909 to 1974 a total of 17 publishers successively directed the journal (Table 3).

The Zeitschrift für Laryngologie, Rhinologie und ihre Grenzgebiete was founded in 1909 by Curt Kabitzsch publishing house in Würzburg. A look at the numbering of the volumes shows that it is continued to this day (2020) with volume 99 as LRO at Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart. The founding editor was Felix Blumenfeld (1864–1947) from Wiesbaden. In the editorial to the first volume, the editor refers to the introduction of the laryngeal mirror by Türck and Czermak 50 years earlier. The importance of this innovation was highlighted at the first international laryngologist congress in Vienna in 1908. The introduction of laryngoscopy into clinical practice is recognized as a great achievement and as the beginning of scientific laryngology (cf. Blumenfeld 1909 [9]). The new journal helped to further expand this field and meet the needs of the practical ear, nose and throat doctor. For decades, Blumenfeld ran a large specialist medical practice in the spa town of Wiesbaden, and was well-known far beyond the borders of his home region for his extensive journalistic activities. He was co-editor of several textbooks on surgery, pathology and tuberculosis. Until the National Socialists revoked his editorial status in 1934, he was the uninterrupted editor of the Zeitschrift für Laryngologie, Rhinologie und ihre Grenzgebiete (cf. editor and publisher 1948 [80]). The only change was the addition of the term “Otologie” (otology) to the title of the journal in 1925, which mirrored the unification of the specialist field by then. The considerable reputation of Blumenfeld and the journal is recognizable in the collaboration of numerous professional representatives from home and abroad mentioned on the respective covers. Although it was not possible to find clear sources of information on the withdrawal of Felix Blumenfeld’s editorship and comments on this, it can be assumed that the international reputation of German ENT and that of the publisher clearly suffered as a result. The Curt Kabitzsch Verlag, which was taken over by the Leipzig-based publishing house J.A. Barth in 1917, changed the name of the journal to Folia oto-laryngologica under the editorship of Alexander Herrmann, Erfurt (1900–1981). The last pre-war volume was published in 1936 as number 26 part 1. After the war Zeitschrift für Laryngologie, Rhinologie Otologie und ihre Grenzgebiete appeared in the Thieme publishing house as a new foundation, initially as volume 1. Later, this volume was given the number 27, following the numbering of the earlier journal LRO [98]. This can be explained by the licensing procedures of occupation authorities in 1948. The first editors after the war were Hans Leicher (1898–1989), Stuttgart, Max Meyer (1890–1954), Würzburg, Richard Mittermaier (1897–1983), Marburg, Gerhard Theissing (1903–1987), Ludwigshafen/Erlangen and Walter Becker (1920–1990), Bonn. From volume 53 on, published in 1971, the editors were listed on the cover in addition to editorial board and advisory board. Long-time editors were Hans-Georg Boenninghaus (1921–2005), Heidelberg, Hans-Heinz Naumann (1919–2001), Munich, Kurt Burian (1921–1996), Vienna, Harald Feldmann (1926–), Münster, Ernst Kastenbauer (1937–2004), Munich, Heinz Stammberger (1946–2018), Graz, Heinrich Rudert (1935–), Kiel, Jan Helms (1937–), Würzburg, Gerhard Rettinger (1947–), Ulm and Orlando Guntinas-Lichius (1967–), Jena. The current editor in chief of LRO, Andreas Dietz (1962–), Leipzig, is supported by 3 further editors (Stefan Dazert (1963–), Bochum, Orlando Guntinas-Lichius, Jena, Gerd Rasp (1960–), Salzburg), 11 section editors, 29 editors, 11 editores emeriti and 8 advisory board members.

The history of HNO-Praxis is quite straightforward (Table 4). Founded in 1976 at VEB Georg Thieme Leipzig publishing house, the title Folia broncho-oesophagologica was added in 1980 (Fig. 10). After the reunification of Germany in 1990, the journal was absorbed in LRO.

Because of the increasing number of ENT specialists in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the growing scientific potential in the university clinics, a scientific ENT journal was established on behalf of the General Secretariat of the Medical Scientific Societies at the Ministry of Health of the GDR and at the request of the Society for Otorhinolaryngology and Cervico-Facial surgery of the GDR in 1976. In 2000, Scholz described the special situation of medicine in the GDR at that time as follows: “Die Maßnahmen für eine Stärkung der DDR mit ständig steigender Abgrenzung gegenüber der Bundesrepublik sollten mit einer parallel angestrebten internationalen Anerkennung einhergehen. Die wissenschaftspolitischen Folgen für die Medizin waren der von der SED [Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschland] geforderte Austritt der DDR-Ärzte aus westdeutschen Fachgesellschaften, die Gründung von Fachgesellschaften in der DDR mit der Durchführung eigener Kongresse, die Herausgabe von Zeitschriften als Publikationsorgane vorwiegend für DDR Wissenschaftler” (The measures to strengthen the GDR, with increasing demarcation from the Federal Republic, were to go hand in hand with increased international recognition. The scientific–political consequences for medicine were the withdrawal of GDR doctors from West German specialist societies, demanded by the SED [Socialist Unity Party of Germany], the establishment of specialist societies in the GDR with the implementation of their own conventions, and the publication of journals as publication organs primarily for GDR scientists) [79]. The first editor of the HNO-Praxis was Kurt Dietzel (1912–2002), Rostock, followed by Hans-Jürgen Gerhard (1928–2010), Berlin, and Lutz Keßler (1936–), Dresden. Kurt Dietzel, who completed his habilitation under Woldemar Tonndorf (1887–1957) in Leipzig in 1954, was full professor for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology in Rostock between 1961 and 1978. Dietzel is credited with the expansion of the journal to include the Folia broncho-oesophagologica in 1980, as this signals ENT’s interest in the important endoscopic border areas, in times when endoscopies of the oesophagus and the tracheo-bronchial system were predominantly still carried out with rigid tube endoscopes. In the last issue there was a matter-of-fact “Hinweis an unsere Abonnenten der Zeitschrift HNO-Praxis!” (Note to our subscribers of the journal HNO-Praxis) that the journal will be merged with the journal Laryngo-Rhino-Otologie from Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart in January 1991 [38]. The typical addition “… vereint mit HNO-Praxis …” (… united with HNO-Praxis …), when journals merge, is mentioned in the LRO only from 1994 on, which corresponds to the takeover of VEB Georg Thieme Verlag (East), Leipzig, by Georg Thieme Verlag (West), Stuttgart. This coincides with the takeover of the journal HNO-Praxis of the Society for Otorhinolaryngology and Cervico-Facial Surgery of the GDR. The GDR ENT doctors, were, however, immediately perceived as subscribers. At the time of the reunification of the two German states, there was great apprehension on the part of the “ENT community” of the Federal Republic about the possible proximity of the GDR professors to the GDR system. It was not until 1993 that a GDR professor was re-elected to the editorial board of the LRO, namely Bernd Freigang (1941–), Berlin.

In 1908 the journal Passow-Schäfer Beiträge zur Anatomie, Physiologie, Pathologie und Therapie des Ohres, der Nase und des Halses was founded in Berlin by the Samuel Karger Verlag (Table 5). The title was issued up to volume 31, in 1934. The founding editors, the otologist Adolf Passow (1859–1926), Berlin, and the physiologist Karl Ludolf Schäfer (1866–1931), Berlin, were able to attract ENT authors from all over the world thanks to their emphasis upon strictly scientific content. They worked together closely since Schäfer became head of the acoustic–physiological laboratory at the Ear Clinic in Berlin in 1907.

When the S. Karger publishing house moved to Basel because of Nazi pressure, the journal was initially discontinued. The journal was relaunched as a new foundation as an international and multilingual journal, Practica oto-rhino-laryngologica: internat. Zeitschrift für Hals‑, Nasen‑, Ohrenheilkunde, which was renamed ORL: journal for oto-rhino-laryngology and its related specialities in 1972. There was an explicit reference to the predecessor, Passow-Schäferschen Beiträge, but the numbering was new. The course of title changes and start-ups is shown in Fig. 11 in a flow chart. The respective title pages of the newly founded predecessor journals of the ORL are shown in Figs. 12 and 13.

Due to the bans of the National Socialists, the publishing house lost the majority of its authors and editors for the Passow-Schäfer Beiträge in Germany. The journal was discontinued when the publishing house moved to Basel. In the introduction to the opening booklet (volume 1, 1938) of the journal Practica oto-rhino-laryngologica published by Karger Verlag, Basel, the publisher Samuel Karger explicitly states that the new journal was founded in the tradition of the Passow-Schäfer Beiträge zur Anatomie, Physiologie, Pathologie und Therapie des Ohres, der Nase und des Halses founded 1908 in its own publishing house. This was made visible by adding “Passow-Schäfer-Beiträge” to the journal title [47]. The above-mentioned publication option for other languages was also introduced then [47]. The journal has been the publication organ of the Dutch ENT Society (Nederlandse Keel-Neus-Oorheelkundige Vereniging) since 1963 and was continued from 1972 as the journal ORL: journal for oto-rhino-laryngology and its related specialties by S. Karger Verlag, Basel. The ORL appears to this day, 2020, as volume 82, and regularly publishes the reports of the scientific spring meeting of the Swiss Society for Otorhinolaryngology, Neck and Facial Surgery [19].

Around 1900, there were also numerous review journals that summarized and reported the increasing number of international publications worldwide for clinicians and practicing physicians. In addition to the editor, numerous otologists, laryngologists and rhinologists worked as translators into German. The review journals lasted for many decades, and were later discontinued with the increasing dominance of English as the language of science. Today this tradition lives on as a column in some current ENT publications, journal clubs in clinics or in commercially organized update events.

The oldest German-language review journal including a collection of ENT reports was the Internationale Centralblatt für Laryngologie, Rhinologie, founded in 1884. The title was published by Hirschwald Verlag, Leipzig, until 1922. After the takeover by Springer Verlag, the volume numbering was reset and the journal was supplemented by otology. Various name changes were made before discontinuation after volume 148 in 1996. The first editor was the German–British laryngologist Felix Semon (1849–1921). He was able to recruit numerous laryngologists from Europe and North America to collaborate, making publications in most European languages available in German translation. The title history, the renaming and the editors are shown in Table 6. Felix Semon, born in Gdansk in 1849, began his training with the most famous English laryngologist at that time, Morell Mackenzie in London, after studying medicine in Heidelberg and Berlin. After that he quickly advanced his scientific career as secretary of the laryngology subsection of the International Medical Congress [94]. He was later considered one of the most famous laryngologists in the world, lived and worked from then on in London, became a British citizen and was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1897. He ran the Internationale Centralblatt für Laryngologie, Rhinologie und verwandte Wissenschaften for a quarter of a century. The title, published in German, was the only international journal for rhinology and laryngology at the time. Up to 2000 papers from up to 15 countries in Europe and North America were discussed annually [28]. Because of his invaluable services to the journal, the publisher August Hirschwald and the new editor Georg Finder decided to rename it Semon’s Internationales Centralblatt für Laryngologie, Rhinologie und verwandte Wissenschaften in 1909, after Semon’s retirement as editor. Unfortunately, with the beginning of World War I and the associated spread of nationalistic tendencies in society in 1915, there was a rift between publisher and editor on the one hand and the founder of the journal on the other. After a public statement by Semon in The Times on the “… barbarous methods, one and all, employed by Germany” and a reply from Finder and Hirschwald published in the Centralblatt, including the decision to rename the journal without Semon’s name, the laryngologist communities of Europe and North America were further polarized. A number of British and American co-editors withdrew from the journal, and various German, Austrian and Hungarian professional societies withdrew their honorary memberships for Semon. The process is described in a commentary in The Lancet from 1915 and the name change of the important international journal is criticized as a malicious excess of competence by the publisher Hirschwald (cf. The Lancet 1915, pp. 404–405 [4]). The Internationales Centralblatt für Laryngologie, Rhinologie und verwandte Wissenschaften came to Springer through the takeover of the Hirschwald publishing house in 1921 and continued to operate as an organ of the scientific ENT society after the World War II, publishing the content of its annual meetings. After various renamings, the publication was discontinued in 1996.

In 1903, the publishing house J. A. Barth, Leipzig, founded a further review journal which was initially devoted exclusively to the processing of international otological literature. Founding editors were Oskar Brieger (1864–1914), Breslau, and Giuseppe Gradenigo (1859–1926), Turin. At that time Brieger was the primary physician at the Allerheiligen Hospital in Breslau. He himself published on otological topics, such as middle ear tuberculosis, the surgical treatment of chronic otitis media and otogenic diseases of the meninges. Gradenigo worked with Politzer in Vienna and in 1889 became director of the University Clinic for Ear and Larynx Patients in Turin. As a co-founder of the Archivio italiano di Otologia, Rhinologia e Laryngologia [29], he oversaw the Italian-language publications in the ENT field. Fifteen further otologists from Europe, North and South America were recruited to work on the first volume of the Centralblatt. Publications in all important languages at the time, such as English, French, Spanish, Russian and the Scandinavian languages were presented in German translation. As early as 1913, rhinology and laryngology were included. For 22 years, from 1913 to 1935, Franz Kobrak (1879–1955), Berlin, was co-editor of Internationales Zentralblatt für Ohrenheilkunde und Rhino-Laryngologie. Born in Breslau, Kobrak completed his specialist training with Brieger in Breslau after studying in Breslau and Munich. In 1907 he settled in Berlin as a specialist. After his habilitation at the Ear Clinic of the Charité near Passow, he was appointed associate professor at the Charité in 1926. He supervised the ear, nose and throat department at the St. Norbert Hospital in Berlin Schöneberg, which was inaugurated in 1914 and destroyed in 1943, and was also extremely active scientifically during this time. As a Jewish doctor and university professor, Kobrak’s teaching license was revoked in 1933 on the basis of Paragraph 3 des Gesetzes zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums vom 7. April 1933 (Sect. 3 of the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service of April 7, 1933) because of “nicht-arischer Abstammung” (non-Aryan descent). He returned to Berlin after the war. He gave a remarkable lecture on the physiology of labyrinthine fluids at the first post-war congress of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Hals-Nasen-Ohrenärzte (Society of German Ear, Nose and Throat Physicians) in Karlsruhe in 1949. As a result, Kobrak received honorary membership of the German and Austrian Society (cf. Schagen 2013 [74], Jauerneck 1955 [42]). After Internationales Zentralblatt für Ohrenheilkunde und Rhino-Laryngologie changed to Curt Kabitzsch publishing house, Leipzig, the title changed to Der Hals‑, Nasen- und Ohrenarzt Teil 2 Übersichtsberichte u. Referate in 1936 and then the publication was discontinued in 1943. The title history, name changes and editors are shown in Table 7. Since 1909, the Kabitzsch Verlag had another ENT journal for original papers in its program, the Zeitschrift für Laryngologie, Rhinologie und ihre Grenzgebiete, which is still published today as Laryngo-Rhino-Otologie (LRO) by Thieme Verlag.

Table 8; [16, 21]

Until 1914 the proceedings of the “Deutsche Otologische Gesellschaft” (German Otological Society) and the “Verein Deutscher Laryngologen” (Association of German Laryngologists) were published in their own journals (by Fischer in Jena from 1895 to 1914 and by Kabitzsch publishing house in Würzburg from 1909 to 1914). With the founding meeting of the “Gesellschaft Deutscher Hals-Nasen-Ohrenärzte” (Society of German Ear, Nose and Throat Physicians) in Nuremberg in 1921, the question of the official publication organ of the new scientific specialist society was discussed. At the first meeting of the new society, chaired by Adolf Passow (1859–1926), Berlin, and Otto Kahler (1878–1946), Freiburg/Br., a committee was commissioned to negotiate with publishers [44]. The Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft Deutscher Hals‑, Nasen- und Ohrenärzte: Jahresversammlung was first published by Curt Kabitzsch Verlag in Leipzig and later by Bergmann publishing house in Berlin and Munich. Figure 14 shows the title page of the first volume of the proceedings. The respective presidents and secretaries of the society were the editors of the proceedings. With 92 annual meetings by 2021, listing them is beyond the scope of this publication. They can be found at www.​hno.​org [15]. Proceedings of annual meetings were subsequently published under different titles in different forms by different publishing houses in print and later in online versions (Tables 8, 9 and 10) and are currently published as a supplement in LRO by Thieme Verlag Stuttgart [16]. Presentations and lectures made up the largest part of the publication. Lectures usually represent a summary of current findings, while presentations and posters are like original papers that publish the results of current studies. The form of the presentations has changed over the decades, so that today most of the presentations are only published online in short form as abstracts or as posters. Important discussions during annual meetings were also published until the 1990s. In §21–§29 of the first founding articles of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Hals-Nasen-Ohrenärzte (Society of German Ear, Nose and Throat Physicians), in addition to the duration and order of meetings, the publication of the contributions to the discussion was regulated. Meeting reports and minutes of the Society’s general meetings were initially published in Verhandlungen. Since 1976 these have been published in the HNO-Informationen by Demeter Verlag, Graefelfing, Balingen and Stuttgart and currently at Deutscher Ärzteverlag, Cologne. The course of the title is shown in Table 8.

The board of the German Society for Ear, Nose and Throat Medicine, Head and Neck Surgery decided to publish German-language abstracts and posters, along with English translations in a newly founded electronic journal in 2004. This was primarily for economic reasons and the support of open access publications by the German state. The “GMS—German Medical Science” portal is a product of a cooperation between the Working Group of Scientific Medical Societies (AWMF), the German Institute for Medical Documentation and Information (DIMDI) and the German Central Library for Medicine (ZB MED). According to the Open Access conditions, a creative commons license is used, which guarantees the free availability of the research results obtained through state funding. The electronic journals GMS-CTO and GMS-CPO were available up to volume 16 and 13 respectively and were discontinued in 2017. Since the 89th annual meeting of the German Society for Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery in 2018, the German- and English-language lectures are published in the journal LRO Supplement 1, the German- and English-language abstracts and the posters in LRO Supplement 2 and are also available online via a link to the website of the scientific society free of charge [16]. Title history and editors are shown in Tables 9 and 10.