Editorial
Letter from the Editor-in-Chief

Dear Colleagues,

The first issue of the Journal of Contemporary Brachytherapy was already published and send out! With great help of our friends and the publisher we’ve appeared on time and you could receive the first issue in a good prepared paper and electronic form (www. jocb. eu).
As we promised, the representatives of well-known scientists decided to publish a scientific journal that is entirely dedicated to brachytherapy. We are happy to welcome various 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 Editorial Board will make an equal effort to catch the attention of authors in order to submit their manuscripts and – at the same time – to promote the Journal worldwide. In 2009 Journal of Contemporary Brachytherapy will be issued 4 times per year. The next issue will be released in the end of June 2009 and depending on received articles we will decide in the coming years whether to increase the number of issues published every year.
I take an immense pleasure to inform you that many of us have finally met during the GEC-ESTRO Meeting in Porto, Portugal (13th-16th May 2009). We are very thankful to Nucletron® for helping to organize a lovely dinner on 13th of May, in one of the most beautiful Porto restaurants – Dom Tonho. That was the very first time we could actually meet and talk as Editors and members of Editorial Board were present. We’ve discussed the main ideas behind Journal of Contemporary Brachytherapy and detailed themes: contents, profiles, publishing house, finances, distribution, advertisement politics, cooperation with GEC-ESTRO, Indian Brachytherapy Society and other Societies and Teams of Specialists. The idea of Pictorial essay from Alfredo Polo achieved a great acceptance, also propositions for educational corner in our Journal presented by Dimos Baltas. It was an significant opportunity to discuss the future of our journal.
This idea, for the first time, breaks the monopoles. Therefore, it is understandable that not all of our colleagues are pleased with the new idea.
We cordially welcome the new members of the Editorial Board: 1) Razvan M. Galalae, from Clinic for Radiotherapy, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany, 2) A´lvaro Luongo Céspedes, from Radiation Oncology Department, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay, 3) Hugo Marsiglia, from Oncologo Radioterapica, Instituto Madrilen~o de Oncologia, Madrid, Spain and 4) Leonaro Badinez Villegas, from Servicio de Radioterapia, Clinica Alemana, Santiago, Chile.
I believe that with the great support of the members of the Editorial Board and our new readers the coming years will bring success to our Journal. I hope, that our constant effort to improve the scientific level of published articles will be noticed by the authors. High quality revisions will help to index the main scientific indexes. We will constantly work on improving the quality and frequency of the Journal to meet the authors and readers expectations.

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