The European Journal of Pediatric Surgery: 40 Years of Publication

 

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Forty years ago, in August 1964, a German journal for pediatric surgery was published for the first time: the “Zeitschrift für Kinderchirurgie und Grenzgebiete”, edited by K.-A. Bushe (Neurosurgical University Clinic Göttingen), Gerhard Joppich (Pediatric University Clinic Göttingen) and F. Rehbein (Bremen), appeared quarterly. It ran to about 480 pages per year.

This was a time in which demand and interest in pediatric surgery experienced a sharp rise, due to a birth rate of 1.2 - 1.3 million annually in Germany alone and to the revolutionary successes initially of American and later also of European pediatric surgeons in the treatment of previously incurable, congenital malformations. In 1953 Hiatt carried out the first intrathoracic end-to-end anastomosis for esophageal atresia, a procedure later improved by Rehbein. In 1948 Swenson carried out the first successful resection of an aganglionic intestinal segment in Hirschsprung's disease, a technique which was further improved by Rehbein in the mid-1960s with the use of deep anterior resection, shortly afterwards by Romualdi and Soave in the form of the endorectal pullthrough and which was then modified by Duhamel with his end-to-side anastomosis. The work of Dennis Browne, Max Grob and later of Rickham had a stimulating effect on other areas of research, so that a forum for the publication of works in German was sought for.

The pediatric surgeons M. Grob (Zürich), H. Hartl (Linz), F. Meissner (Leipzig), A. Oberniedermayr (Munich), P. P. Rickham (Liverpool), D. Vervat (Rotterdam), the pediatricians E. Rossi (Berne), E. Zweymüller (Vienna), the urologist H. K. Büscher (Hanover), the orthopedist H. Mau (Tübingen), the anesthesiologist J. van't Oever (Rotterdam) and the pediatric radiologist E. Willich (Bremen) all contributed to the first edition of the “Zeitschrift für Kinderchirurgie und Grenzgebiete”.

In the foreword the editors emphasized that one of the aims of the journal was to include papers on pediatric surgery from the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Germany and other countries in a single journal. The scope of the journal was also intended to go beyond the narrow field of pediatric surgery, i.e. the treatment of congenital malformations, and include interdisciplinary fields connected to pediatric surgery such as orthopedics, radiology, anesthesia, urology and neurosurgery. In his introductory foreword Professor Rickham welcomed the appearance of the new journal in the name of the British Association of Pediatric Surgery.

Forty years with many new developments have passed since then. The number of manuscripts submitted to the “Zeitschrift für Kinderchirurgie” steadily increased, so that in the 1970s the Hippokrates publishing company together with the journal's editors decided to turn the quarterly journal into a monthly journal.

By this time the journal had diversified and moved from being a purely German-language based journal to having a European circulation. This was also reflected by the composition of the Editorial Board in 1980. The Board at that time consisted of M. Bettex (Berne), K.-A. Bushe (Würzburg), H. Hartl (Linz), G. Joppich (Göttingen), A. M. Holschneider (Munich). The extended Editorial Board included in addition F. J. Berchi (Madrid), R. Daum (Heidelberg), H. B. Eckstein (London), E. A. Enger (Gothenburg), S. L. Gans (Los Angeles), I. Joppich jun. (Mannheim), V. Kafka (Prague), T. Kitamura (Tokyo), C. E. Koop (Philadelphia), F. Meissner (Leipzig), J. C. Molenaar (Rotterdam), C. A. Montagnani (Rome), R. Morger (St. Gall), A. Oberniedermayr (Starnberg), J. Prévot (Nancy), H. Sauer (Graz), A. Schärli (Lucerne) and Louise Schnaufer (Philadelphia). The field of pediatrics was represented by E. Rossi (Bern) and E. Zweymüller (Wien), the embryology by G. Töndury (Zurich), pediatric pathology by D. Harms (Kiel), anesthesia by P. Dangel (Zurich), neurosurgery by W. T. Koos (Vienna), urology by K. V. Parkkulainen (Helsinki), orthopedics by H. Mau (Tübingen) and gynecology by E. Dreher (Berne).

The broadening of the journal's scope whereby it became an international publication and had an international publisher and Editorial Board must be placed against the fact that the journal was now the official organ of the German, Swiss and Austrian Societies for Pediatric Surgery, and this led to a problem. The number of English language articles increased, the number of manuscripts written in German declined. One important reason for this was that at the beginning of the 1970s, above all in the German-speaking countries, related specialist fields such as urology, neurosurgery, and orthopedics, which at the time of the founding of the journal had felt that the pediatric questions in their field were represented by the journal, had by now founded their own independent pediatric departments and wished to present surgical questions arising with respect to pediatric patients in their particular specialist field in their own journals. (We should not forget that until 1994 in Germany for example, pediatric surgery was still classed as a subsidiary branch of general surgery, it only later became an independent field.)

In the early 1970s the decision was already taken to publish as well manuscripts written in English in the “Zeitschrift für Kinderchirurgie und Grenzgebiete”. With the year 1982 the journal's title also included the English subtitle “Surgery in Infancy and Childhood”. The journal continued to be the official organ of the German, Swiss and Austrian Societies for Pediatric Surgery. In addition, however, the journal also published work from almost all European and many non-European countries. Apart from the well-known Anglo-American periodical “Journal of Pediatric Surgery” it was the only international journal in our specialist area. The process of becoming more international, which started in 1982, led to the wish that the journal should be completely transformed and turned into an international journal written in English.

In 1990 Professor Juskiewenski (President of the French Surgical Society) and myself established contact and began talks about a merger of the French journal “Chirurgie Pédiatrique” and the German journal “Zeitschrift für Kinderchirurgie”. The journal “Chirurgie Pédiatrique” had also been founded at the beginning of the 1960s by Bernhard Duhamel and now faced the same sort of problems as the German-language “Zeitschrift für Kinderchirurgie” did. With the consent and approval of the French and German Societies for Pediatric Surgery the “European Journal of Pediatric Surgery” bearing the subtitles “Zeitschrift für Kinderchirurgie und Chirurgie Pédiatrique” was created in 1991. In addition, through discussions and negotiations held with other specialist societies the “European Journal of Pediatric Surgery” began to cooperate with other national societies for pediatric surgery. When the first issue of the “new” journal, now published twice a month, appeared, it ranked already as the official organ of the Austrian, Belgian, Dutch, French, German, Scandinavian and Swiss Societies for Pediatric Surgery. The former division into the categories anesthesia, embryology, pathology, neurosurgery, oncology, radiology, pediatrics, traumatology, orthopedics, urology and pediatric plastic surgery was retained.

The internationalization over the past 22 years continued apace. In 2003 there was a further opening of the journal in the direction of Eastern Europe, when a cooperation between the “European Journal of Pediatric Surgery” and “Surgery in Childhood International” was agreed upon by its former editor (K. Łodziński and P. Kalicinski, Warsaw). At this point “Surgery in Childhood International” represented the countries Russia, Hungary, the Ukraine, Lithuania, Slovakia, Poland and the Baltic States. As of 2003 the “European Journal of Pediatric Surgery” took over the task of acting as a forum for pediatric surgery for these countries as well. Since then, Prof. Kalicinski has actively reinforced the Editorial Board of the “European Journal of Pediatric Surgery”, so that from that point on, the journal opened up to the Eastern European countries on a large scale. The journal continued to thrive. Today manuscripts from more than 80 different countries are submitted to the “European Journal of Pediatric Surgery”. The circulation of the journal and its dissemination is also continually increasing.

Today, the “European Journal of Pediatric Surgery” still adheres to the concepts laid down at the time of its founding by Professor Rehbein and Professor Duhamel. The individual countries which contribute to the publication of the journal send a chosen representative - an Associate Editor - to the Editorial Board. This representative is the link between the national societies, their members and the journal. Important manuscripts from the individual countries are thus forwarded via the respective Associate Editors to the two Editors-in-Chief, Professor Revillon, Paris, or Professor Holschneider, Cologne. The journal continues to take note of interdisciplinary fields and to publish conferences such as the conferences of the EUPSA, and sets up main areas of discussion for conferences, such as the publication in June 2003 of the papers of the Mannheim Workshop on the subject “The transanal pullthrough technique and recent experimental studies on microbiology and genetics of Hirschsprung's disease”. In addition, the journal takes account in its communication of its readers' demand for information while representing the interests of the individual societies. Thus, for example, recently a close cooperation of the German Society for Pediatric Surgery with the “European Journal of Pediatric Surgery” was decided upon. In future, the Society's members will receive the journal as part of their membership.

Many members of the German Society for Pediatric Surgery and likewise many members of Chirurgie Pédiatrique regretted that after the merger of the two journals in 1991 they no longer had a German or French journal in their specialist area. In the German-speaking countries Prof. Hofmann von Kap-herr (Mainz) took advantage of the interest in a German publication and founded the “Zentralblatt für Kinderchirurgie”. After some time it became clear that this journal would face the same challenges as the former “Zeitschrift für Kinderchirurgie” had, i.e. that it would have to tackle problems with respect to the number and quality of the articles submitted, the number of its readers and subscribers and the price development. It also became clear that the standards expected of a highly specialist journal with respect to the quality of its content meant that it was imperative that the journal have an international circulation which therefore required its publication in English. For this reason the “Zentralblatt” had to cease publication at the end of 2002.

The “European Journal of Pediatric Surgery” can look back on old and strong roots and on the contributions of great names from Europe and without. The journal has established itself since 40 respectively 13 years as an international journal and has followed its own path starting from its roots in the former journals “Zeitschrift für Kinderchirurgie” of Prof. Rehbein, “Chirurgie Pédiatrique” of Prof. Duhamel and “Surgery in Childhood International” of Prof. Łodziński while continuously reflecting on future tasks and topics; today it autonomously represents the field of pediatric surgery of Europe. Since 1999 the “European Journal of Pediatric Surgery” is also the official journal of the EUPSA (European Union of Paediatric Surgical Associations) and of the UEMS (Union of European Medical Specialists - Section Pediatric Surgery) and regularly publishes communications from these bodies. Thus since 1999 - when the first conference of the EUPSA was held by Professor M. Höllwarth (Graz) - the papers of such conferences are published in the “European Journal of Pediatric Surgery”. In addition, questions concerning further training in pediatric surgery in Europe and the comparison with training in non-European countries have been discussed and continue to be discussed in the “European Journal of Pediatric Surgery”, including suggestions for future developments. The “European Journal of Pediatric Surgery” has thus become a connecting link between the scientific European branch, the EUPSA and the political demands of the UEMS within the EC.

Eight of the countries which have just joined the EU were already associated members, Latvia and Lithuania as full members in the UEMS will follow. The differing training conditions, whether in the training centers, the content of what is taught and the duration of training, or the acceptance of pediatric surgery and its independent status by other specialist fields force us against the background of a Europe which is moving closer together to create a common basis, a common organ to articulate common aspirations. Such an organ cannot be merely political. The European societies for pediatric surgery should recognize that with the “European Journal of Pediatric Surgery” they have an international organ, which is highly respected beyond the borders of Europe, as a forum for their political ideas and scientific achievements. Attempts to preserve one's own culture, one's own sense of language and one's own particular traditional structures do not conflict with this.

The future of the European Journal of Pediatric Surgery depends - as does the future of every scientific journal - on what sort of active role the members of its Editorial Board and its readers play in the shaping of the journal. What counts is the quality of the contents and the use and recognition of the journal as a scientific forum. As long as the scientific results published in the “European Journal of Pediatric Surgery” continue to have a high standard, the use for such a specialist journal will continue to be high. This must be the common goal of all persons involved, i.e. the readers, participants, authors and the different societies.

The Editors are resolved to continue to follow this goal.

We hope that developments will continue to move in this direction and that we can count on your support.

Cologne, 18 May 2004

For the Editors

Professor A. M. Holschneider

Prof. A. M. Holschneider

Department of Paediatric Surgery
The Children's Hospital of Cologne

Amsterdamer Straße 59

50735 Cologne

Germany