Letter from the Editors-in-Chief

Abstract

About one year ago, in August 2010, the first issue of the new official journal of the Italian Society of Surgery (SIC), Updates in Surgery, was published. It was the accomplishment of long and hard efforts by the SIC aiming at the renewal of its editorial face. The first issue also represented the debut of Updates in Surgery in the international scientific literature panorama. The English language, the international and prestigious Editorial Board and the wide diffusion thanks to Springer’s connections helped our journal to broaden its visibility and readership. During the first year some difficulties have been encountered which have led to the delayed publication of some issues. Since the beginning, high scientific standards have been fixed to create a rigorous and valuable journal. This marked change in editorial policy drastically reduced the number of papers suitable for publication. However, the authors promptly answered this challenge by submitting an increasing number of high-quality manuscripts. In 2011, both regularity of publication and excellence of content have been achieved. The first aim of our mandate has been attained, namely to create a clinically relevant journal that regularly depicts the continuous and rapid evolution of surgical science. Every single issue of Updates in Surgery has been opened by prestigious articles on the most interesting and hotly debated topics written by leading experts in surgery. Among them, we would like to mention Prof. JeanNicolas Vauthey from the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Prof. Timothy Pawlik from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Prof. Markus Buchler from the University of Heidelberg, Prof Masatoshi Makuuchi from the Red Cross Medical Center in Tokyo, Prof Gennaro Nuzzo from Ospedale Gemelli in Roma, and Prof. Umberto Veronesi from the European Institute of Oncology in Milano. In addition, review articles have been published by Prof. Shu You Peng from the Zhejiang University and by Prof. Marco Patti from the University of Chicago. As Editors-in-Chief, we are proud of these publications and will continue to provide our readers with such valuable articles. However, the most important contribution of all to Updates in Surgery is made by original articles. These clearly depict the continuous progress and evolution of Italian surgery, which is renowned worldwide for its vitality, spirit of innovation and skillfulness. To date 42 original articles have been published, covering almost all surgical fields. We want to thanks all the authors who have submitted the results of their research to our journal, because all of them significantly contributed to our growth. Manuscript selection has been strict and the rejection rate high, but this has been necessary to attain the high standard we are aiming at. As Editorial Board policy, we guarantee that every single manuscript has been reviewed by international experts and that the final decision has been regularly based on multiple reviews together with our personal evaluation. We would like also to thank all the members of the Editorial Board who have actively participated in evaluating manuscripts and in submitting contributions. F. Basile Surgical Department, Division of General and Oncologic Surgery, ‘‘Vittorio Emanuele, Ferrarotto e S. Bambino’’ Hospital, Catania, Italy e-mail: basilef@live.it