Aguzzi, Adriano

Waeber, Gérard

Swiss Medical Weekly

English

Aguzzi, A.

Waeber, G.

Serveur académique lausannois

Viewpoint | Published 07 November 2022 | doi:10.57187/smw.2022.40030Cite this as: Swiss Med Wkly. 2022;152:40030Swiss Medical Weekly: Quo vadis?Adriano Aguzzia, Gérard Waeberba Institute Director, Institute of Neuropathology, Zürich University Hospital, Switzerland / Editor in chief Swiss Medical Weeklyb Chairman of the Department of Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Switzerland / Editor in chief Swiss Medical WeeklyTradition and Diamond Open AccessDespite the "Swiss" in its title, the Swiss Medical Weeklyhas been established not only at national but also at inter-national level for over 150 years. The journal is part ofour scientific history, with original publications that haveshaped the development of research in Switzerland (untilthe year 2000 still under its former title "SchweizerischeMedizinische Wochenschrift"). Examples are the fundopli-cation described by R. Nissen in 1956 [1], the first drugtreatments for depression reported in 1957 by R. Kuhn [2],the first description of a haemolytic-uraemic syndrome byC. Gasser in 1955 [3] and, a few years later, the enzymat-ic method for measuring blood glucose levels in our pa-tients by R. Richterich [4]. These historical publicationswere followed by many more recent articles with signifi-cant international impact.Thousands of articles have been published in the SMW.The journal had built its own freely accessible website, al-though initially only with the abstracts of the articles, asearly as in 1996. It has followed the Open Access modelsince the first OA declarations and initiatives. Full-textPDFs have been published since January 2000 (reminder:The Budapest Open Access Initiative was released in 2002and the Berlin Declaration in 2003). SMW was one ofthe first journals to adhere to the principles of DiamondOpen Access (also known as Platinum OA or Public Ser-vice Open Access). This model, still too little known, guar-antees editorial independence and scientific transparency.The SMW adheres to strict quality principles, respectingthe cultural diversity of all disciplines."Diamond Open Access" is a concept that emerged fromthe academic environment. In March 2021, the "Open Ac-cess Diamond Journals Study" [5] showed for the first timethe quantitative importance of this field and its influenceon the quality of publications. Approximately 29,000 Di-amond journals publish 8–9% of all scientific articles and45% of the OA articles [6]. With Diamond Open Access,access to every article is open to the entire global scientificcommunity, and authors are not required to make financialcontributions for their submissions. This avoids any finan-cial influence on editorial decisions. In contrast, the modelwith "article processing charges" theoretically runs the riskof increasing a journal's revenues through a scientificallyundesirable increase in accepted articles [7].The Diamond Open Access model requires the commit-ment of many partners who support the journal. Numerousinstitutions support the SMW financially and thus make it possible for it to adhere to this publication model. This fi-nancial support is also an expression of the desire of all these partners to promote young academics in Switzerland: all authors should have the opportunity to submit an article without financial obstacles.The SMW supporting associationThe SMW supporting association (“Trägerverein Swiss Medical Weekly SMW”) is a non-profit organisation in charge of the Swiss Medical Weekly. The supervisory board of the supporting association bears the ultimate re-sponsibility for the journal and its journalistic course. It ensures the editorial independence and quality of the jour-nal, and covers the editorial, publishing and development costs. After the change from Schweizerische Medizinische Wochenschrift to Swiss Medical Weekly in 2001, the jour-nal has been published as a journal of EMH Swiss Medical Publishers Ltd. Having assumed responsibility for the con-tent and finances of the journal, the SMW supporting asso-ciation now also acts as the journal's publisher.The following institutions have joined the SMW support-ing association (listed in chronological order): Swiss Acad-emy of Medical Sciences (SAMS), Swiss Medical As-sociation (FMH), University Hospital Basel, GZO Spital Wetzikon, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Università del-la Svizzera Italiana, Solothurner Spitäler AG, HFR – Hôpi-tal Fribourgeois, University Department of Geriatric Med-icine Felix Platter, Kantonsspital Baselland, Spital Zollikerberg, “Penta Plus” (Kantonsspital Baden, Spi-talzentrum Biel, Kantonsspital Graubünden, Spital Sim-mental-Thun-Saanenland, Kantonsspital Winterthur), Swiss Society of Intensive Care Medicine, Swiss Society of Cardiology, Bibliothèque Universitaire de Médecine, Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois (CHUV), Swiss Society of Emergency and Rescue Medicine, Zuger Kan-tonsspital, Kantonsspital Aarau, Kantonsspital Münsterlin-gen and Kantonsspital Frauenfeld (Spital Thurgau), Swiss Paraplegic Centre and Swiss Paraplegic Research, Spital-region Luzern-Nidwalden (LUNIS) and Kantonsspital Ob-walden, Stadtspital Waid und Triemli, Zürich, and Stiftung für wissenschaftliche Forschung am Stadtspital Triemli, Swiss Society of Infectiology, Federal Office of Public Health, Hôpital du Jura, Swiss Society of General Internal Medicine, Hôpital du Valais and Swiss Society of Rheuma-tology.Correspondence:Prof Gérard Waeber Chairman Department of MedicineBH 10-628Centre hospitalier universi-taire vaudois (CHUV) CH-1011 Lausanne Gerard.Waeber[at]chuv.chSwiss Medical Weekly · PDF of the online version · www.smw.chPublished under the copyright license “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)”.No commercial reuse without permission. See https://smw.ch/permissionsPage 1 of 2We would like to express our sincere thanks to all themembers of the SMW supporting association and to theBoard of the association.The SMW's commitmentThe journal publishes articles from all areas of medicine.The editor-in-chief for basic research is Prof. A. Aguzzi;in clinical medicine Prof. M. Battegay, who will in futuredevote himself to new tasks in the SMW supporting asso-ciation, has recently been replaced by Prof. G. Waeber.The scientific quality of the articles published in the SMWis the primary commitment of the editorial board, whichnever wants to take the easiest route to achieve this. Sci-entific rigour is based on the quality of the articles sub-mitted and the quality of the peer-review process, ensuredby around 30 "Academic Editors". These colleagues havebroad scientific competences and accompany the reviewprocess of the submitted articles with commitment andprofessionalism. All research articles are assessed andcommented on by a methodological expert at the journal'sexpense. External expert reviewers are not invited on thebasis of keywords from a database but are selected by theAcademic Editors and invited individually by the EditorialOffice. We are indebted to our Academic Editors for theirremarkable commitment. Scientists outstanding at nationaland international levels are also invited to write compre-hensive and relevant review articles for the SMW.For information, we present some figures on the editorialwork of the SMW. About 600–800 articles are submittedannually. The acceptance rate is about 29%; about 200peer-reviewed articles are published every year. In 2021,45% of the 1600 experts contacted kindly agreed to sendtheir referee comments to the journal. The average time forthe preparation of a review is about 8 days. Each article re-quires at least two expert reviewers' opinions in addition tothe methodological review. The time taken for authors toreceive reviewers' comments averages 20 days.These strict principles have helped the journal gain itsgood reputation. For example, the Impact Factor 2021 is4.2, a recognition by the international community that as-signs the SMW a role as a scientific reference journal notonly in Switzerland but also at the international level. Morethan 130,000 readers visit the SMW website every month.The SMW has been appointed as official scientific publi-cation by several professional societies: the Swiss Societyof General Internal Medicine, the Swiss Society of Infec-tiology, the Swiss Society of Rheumatology and the SwissSociety of Pulmonary Hypertension.The journal's ambitionsOur goals are to maintain the editorial standard and to fur-ther increase the impact factor. This is a difficult task, butnot impossible given the quality of articles submitted in re-cent years. The editorial board wants to maintain stream-lined workflows that guarantee short deadlines for review-ing submitted articles. We are also committed to ensuringthat the quality of the reviews is excellent and relevant.Even if an article is rejected, the reviewer commentsshould be useful for the authors.By providing free access to published articles at no cost tothe authors and without a negative ecological footprint dueto paper printing, the SMW aims to contribute to the so-cietal challenges that aim at sustainable development. Fairaccess to the best scientific publications, subject to a stricteditorial policy, should be possible for all.The editorial board wants to support the submission ofhigh-quality articles and thus contribute to the promotionof young scientists in Switzerland and abroad. We intendthe SMW to meet the quality requirements of the variousspecialist societies in our country and to be an indispens-able scientific partner of all specialist societies in Switzer-land, the Swiss Medical Association FMH and the SwissNational Science Foundation.References1. Nissen R. Eine einfache Operation zur Beeinflussung der Refluxoe-sophagitis. Schweiz Med Wochenschr. 1956 May;86 Suppl 20:590–2.PubMed. 0036-76722. Kuhn R. Uber die Behandlung depressiver Zustände mit einem Imin-odibenzylderivat (G 22355). Schweiz Med Wochenschr.1957 Aug;87(35-36):1135–40. PubMed. 0036-76723. Gasser C, Gautier E, Steck A, Siebenmann RE, Oechslin R. Hä-molytisch-urämische Syndrome: bilaterale Nierenrindennekrosen beiakuten erworbenen hämolytischen Anämien. Schweiz Med Wochenschr.1955 Sep;85(38-39):905–9. PubMed. 0036-76724 Richterich R, Dauwalder H. Zur Bestimmung der Plasmaglu-cosekonzentration mit der Hexokinase-Glucose-6-Phosphat-Dehydroge-nase-Methode. Schweiz Med Wochenschr. 1971;101:615¬8.5. Bosman J, Frantsvåg JE, Kramer B, Langlais PC, Proudman V. OA Dia-mond Journals Study. Part 1: Findings (Report). doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4558704.6. Ancion Z, Borrell-Damián L, Mounier P, Rooryck J, Saenen B. (2022).Action Plan for Diamond Open Access. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6282403.7. Aguzzi A. ‘Broken access’ publishing corrodes quality. Nature.2019 Jun;570(7760):139. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01787-2. PubMed. 1476-4687Viewpoint Swiss Med Wkly. 2022;152:40030Swiss Medical Weekly · PDF of the online version · www.smw.chPublished under the copyright license “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)”.No commercial reuse without permission. See https://smw.ch/permissionsPage 2 of 2

Swiss Medical Weekly: Quo vadis?

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Serveur académique lausannois

ZORA

UNIL IRIS | Institutional Research Information System

Crossref