Editorial
Letter from the Editor-in-Chief

Dear Readers

With the Journal of Contemporary Brachytherapy and the year 2009 we enter a new era. Many of the papers on the subject of brachytherapy are published in different journals and at the moment only one journal published by American Brachytherapy Society is totally devoted to brachytherapy. It seems that another journal can essentially improve possibility to concentrate our knowledge and achievements in brachytherapy, and to build international team dedicating his time and effort to original work – scientific journal.
The representatives of the Polish Brachytherapy Society and many well-known scientists decided to publish a scientific journal dedicated entirely to brachytherapy. His main purpose will be to promote scientific achievements in Europe and outside Europe. As a result of the thorough analysis and discussion, an agreement was reached establishing the title, aims and the first Editorial Board members of the new journal. We are happy to welcome many scientists from all over the world. Eminent brachytherapists, radiation oncologists and physicists will lead the journal through this transitional period of its international development. We hope that each member of the Editorial Board will make an equal effort in order to attract authors for submitting their manuscripts and to promote the journal worldwide.
In our “Aims and Scope” we wrote:
Journal of Contemporary Brachytherapy is an international and multidisciplinary journal that publishes papers describing original researches as well as reviews of articles. This includes: clinical brachytherapy, combined modality treatment, advances in radiobiology, hyperthermia and tumor biology, as well as physical aspects relevant to brachytherapy, particularly in the field of imaging, dosimetry and radiation therapy planning. Original contributions involve experimental studies of combined modality treatment, tumor sensitization and normal tissue protection, molecular radiation biology, and clinical investigations of cancer treatment that include brachytherapy. Another field of interest is the educational corner.
Journal of Contemporary Brachytherapy publishes original peer-reviewed papers, technical advances, reviews and point/counterpoint on controversial issues. Original articles that address any aspect of brachytherapy are always welcome. Educational papers will be presented and prepared by invited authors. Letters to the Editor-in-Chief are highly encouraged.
In any case, creation of new journal provides a risk of cold reception or lack of acceptation of readers. But, without taking the chance, we will never come to know if new journal is a good idea or not...
Journal of Contemporary Brachytherapy will be issued 4 times per year (in 2009) on paper and in electronic form. The first issue is released in March 2009. Depending on the amount and quality of received articles, we will decide in the coming years whether to increase the number of issues published per year. The Journal will be published entirely in English and the only exception to this regulation applies to its supplements. Future supporting Societies, Working Groups, Teams of Specialists may use supplements to publish conference materials in their national languages.
The Editorial Office will remain in Poznań, Poland. The Greater Poland Cancer Centre, one of the biggest Cancer Centers in Poland and in Central Europe, will be hosting the office. Termedia sp. z o.o., greatest Polish medical publisher, will be helping with the publishing, promoting and advertising the journal.
The Editors, the Editorial Board and the Editorial Office will be working constantly on improving the quality of published papers and the format of our journal. I hope that constant effort in order to improve the scientific level of published articles will be effective and will result in many manuscripts for publishing. We will make a point to carefully review all received manuscripts.
I genuinely believe that with the support of the Co-Editors and the members of the Editorial Board as well as new readers, the coming year will bring success to our Journal. High quality revisions will help in listing the main scientific indexes. We all will work hard to improve quality and frequency of the journal to meet the authors and the readers expectations.

Sincerely,
Editor-in-Chief
Janusz Skowronek, MD, PhD, Ass. Prof.