JVIR Turns 20!

Abstract

an THIS year, 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of publication of the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR), a milestone commemorated by the added logo on the Journal cover. While still relatively youthful as medical periodicals go—the New England Journal of Medicine, for example, the oldest continuously published medical journal in the world, is nearly 200 years old—a lot has happened in our field during the past 2 decades. Indeed, in one sense, the Journal is even older than the subspecialty itself, as formal recognition of our discipline’s training programs, and of our practitioners through the granting of Certificates of Added Qualification, did not occur until after volume 1 of JVIR was published. It seems fitting, then, to devote some time and a few pages during the year to look back at the past 20 years and to provide some perspective with regard to the Journal’s growth and evolution. So, to start, a brief overview of the Journal’s history: In 1987, our society (then SCVIR, the Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology) formed a Journal Committee with the goal of establishing a regular publication dedicated to our subspecialty. The Committee partnered with the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), producing three RSNA-SCVIR “Special Series” issues from 1987 to 1989. When these met with a favorable response, plans for a separate journal commenced. In November 1990, the inaugural issue of JVIR was published with Gary Becker as the Editor-in-Chief and Cathy Mendelsohn as the Managing Editor. Growth and recognition of the Journal paralleled the growth and recognition of the subspecialty during the next several years. In the same year (1992) that “interventional radiology” was first defined in Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary, the National Library of Medicine selected JVIR to be included in the Index Medicus (1). Despite a small but significant “bump in the road”—the destruction of the JVIR editorial office in Miami by Hurricane Andrew in August of the same year, JVIR had moved to bimonthly publication by 1993. Two years later, in 1995, Daniel Picus took over as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal. During the 1st year of his tenure, JVIR published its first supplement issue, which was dedicated to “Thrombolytic Therapy in Peripheral Vascular Disease.” In 1996, Lippincott became the publisher for JVIR, a partnership that would last a decade. As the number of submitted manuscripts steadily increased (Figure), the Journal moved to 10 issues per year in 1999 and began monthly publication in 2001. In November 2000, Karim Valji became the Editor-in-Chief for JVIR. Under Dr Valji’s guidance, JVIR moved into the electronic age. In February 2001, full-text articles of the Journal became available online, and, 3 years later, JVIR launched its online manuscript submission and review system. Figure. Graph illustrates the growth of m