International Orthopaedics is 4O years old!

In someone’s life, the age of 40 is amazing in terms of activity and vitality. Forty years is young for an orthopaedic surgeon. It is also the age when, after finishing a long and technical training, an orthopaedic specialist will eventually start to evaluate his or her own results and publish the outcomes for different procedures based on evidence.

Forty years is also a great age for a journal! After a start that required work from many contributors and from a dedicated editorial team, and following many tedious years of effort to achieve quality quoted articles to eventually grow in fame and impact.

A history of 40 years includes a high number of actions, papers, congresses, Editorial Board meetings, lots of human energy and personal investment from many individuals, each issue being carefully edited in order to express the spirit of the journal, quality writings and material, and ultimately scientific contributions from over the world. This was the case with the official journal of the SICOT (Société Internationale de Chirurgie Orthopédique et Traumatologique), International Orthopaedics.

The SICOT was founded in Paris, on 10 October 1929 by a group of recognised orthopaedic surgeons from different countries; Sir Robert Jones was the first Society President and Vittorio Putti the Vice-President. The founding fathers included Louis Ombrédanne, Louis Rocher and Etienne Sorrel from France, Fred Albee, William Baer and Henry W. Meyerding from the United States of America, Jean Delchef, Adolphe Maffei and Paul Lorthioir from Belgium, Riccardo Galeazzi and Vittorio Putti from Italy, Philip Erlacher and Hans Spitzy from Austria, Henning Waldenstrom and Patrick Haglund from Sweden, Sir Thomas Fairbanks from the United Kingdom, Jean Jiano from Romania, Alfred Machard from Switzerland, Willem Murk Jansen from Netherlands, Ramon San Ricart from Spain and Jan Zahradnicek from Czechoslovakia [1, 2]. The first SICOT Congress was held 1 year later in Paris in June 1930. But it was 44 years later that the Society decided to publish and keep an official journal. Robert Merle d’Aubigné, who was at that time the most prominent orthopaedic academic surgeon from France, was the initiator and catalyst of the journal. He is acknowledged in each printed issue as the founding personality of the journal. The first volume appeared during the presidency of Calogero Cassucio. Jacques Wagner from Belgium (Fig. 1) was the first Editor, as decided by the International Committee in Budapest in 1974. He was in charge of starting the new journal and prepared carefully the first issue that was dedicated to the triennial congress of the SICOT in Copenhagen. The first volume published in 1977 had four issues, 57 papers and 344 pages. At that time the journal was published in French and English, and two Associate Editors were in charge for the French content (J. Evrard) and the English section (L.W. Lowe). The first Editorial Secretary was acting as Editor-in-Chief when a young academic surgeon from Brussels was invested with this honour (Maurice Hinsenkamp). By that time J. Wagner was replaced by Paul Masse as Editor-in-Chief and Frank Horan became the English Associate Editor, a position that he held until 1997. Paul Masse (Fig. 2) was Editor-in-Chief from 1984 to 1990 and was followed by Anthony Trias from Spain, who led the journal until his sudden death in 1997. Maurice Hinsenkamp was Editorial Secretary until 1993 and was followed by M. Rooze. James E. Scott replaced Frank Horan and held the English Associate Editor position from 1997 to 2002. Later they became the dream team of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (British) and worked together as friends for many years (Fig. 3). Rocco Pitto from New Zealand was Editorial Secretary from 2002 until 2007, and was followed by S.M. Awais from Pakistan from 2008 until 2011 and by Hatem Galal Said from Egypt from 2012 until now. Kjeld Skou Andersen was Editor-in-Chief from 1998 to 2004 (Fig. 4) and was followed by his colleague, Deputy French Editor Jean-Pierre Courpied, who became Editor-in-Chief for 3 years between 2005 and 2008 (Fig. 5). The Associate Editors were Jacques Caton and Tony Hall, and they were joined by a third Associate Editor for paediatric orthopaedics, who is still in position, the outstanding Patricia Fucs from Brazil. Tony Hall became Associate English Editor in 2003, a position that he held until 2013 [3]. He was replaced by Andrew Quaile, who is currently Deputy Editor in charge of the final layout of the journal and the quality of the academic British English—currently in use as the sole and only official language. Marko Pećina (Fig. 6) from Croatia was Editor-in-Chief from 2008 to 2014 and invested himself with high-energy growth of the journal to an impressive 12 issues per volume and over 2,400 pages per year since 2012! The renown of the journal and the citations raised have made International Orthopaedics one of the most prominent and read orthopaedic publications worldwide. The current impact factor is 2.387 and has been growing steadily for many years. Since the beginning, the publisher of International Orthopaedics has been Springer-Verlag. The collaboration was initiated on the basis of friendship between Heinz Götz and Maurice Müller. In 1993, the contract was renegotiated with Heinz Götz thanks to Maurice Müller, Tony Trias and Maurice Hinsenkamp, and more recently between Gabrielle Schroeder and Jochen Eulert. The partnership between International Orthopaedics and Springer-Verlag has been pursued fruitfully for 40 years.

Fig. 1

Jacques Wagner from Belgium was the first Editor of the journal from 1977 to 1984. “Jacques had a considerable influence on the development of the Society… He was the architect of its growing international reputation,” as outlined by R. de Marneffe

Fig. 2

The Editorial Board in Paris 1989. Paul Masse is cutting the cake under the regards of Jacques Wagner, Tony Trias, Jacques Evrard, Maurice Hinsenkamp, Frank Horan and Robert Merle d’Aubigné

Fig. 3

The British “dream team” of Sir Frank Horan and James Scott in 2011 at the SICOT World Congress in Prague

Fig. 4

Kjeld Skou Andersen from Denmark was Editor-in-Chief from 1998 to 2004. During his leadership the journal went online, the submissions became electronic only and the Online First system was adopted to provide faster information to the readers and libraries

Fig. 5

Jean-Pierre Courpied from Paris, France, was Editor-in-Chief between 2005 and 2008. He was among the most active Editors and increased ceaselessly the renown and visibility of the journal, mainly in hip and knee arthroplasty and new technologies

Fig. 6

Marko Pećina who was Editor-in-Chief between 2008 and 2014 was a strong leader and developer of the special issues, open access and visibility of the journal. Under his leadership the journal reached a high volume of publications and fast pace—over 2,400 pages per volume and 12 issues per year. The impact factor and citations rose constantly, and papers of research and fundamentals were privileged. He was also the creator of the section “Orthopaedic Heritage” that brings papers on the history of orthopaedics—much appreciated and cited by our readers

The first Editorial Board members (1974–1976) are to be remembered. They were Robert Merle d’Aubigné from France—Président d’Honneur, Willi Taillard from Switzerland—Chairman, Jacques Wagner from Belgium—Editor-in-Chief, Jacques Evrard from France—Associate Editor and in charge of the French section, Lester W. Lowe from the United Kingdom—Associate Editor in charge of the English section, Göran C.H. Bauer from Sweden, F. Fineschi from Italy, Paul Masse from France, G.P. Mitchell from the United Kingdom, Maurice Müller from Switzerland, A. Rutt from Germany, H. Vasey from Switzerland and F. Vaquiero-Gonzalez from Spain.

The impact factor rose continuously under the leadership of Kjeld Skou Andersen from Denmark, Jean-Pierre Courpied from France and Marko Pećina from Croatia. In 2012, the journal was well-known, well-referenced and a huge number of submissions were received constantly, online, making the submission process faster and more reliable [4–6]. The Editorial Board decided to raise the number of issues to 12 per year, making International Orthopaedics a high-volume publication with over 400 papers published per year [7]. Under the leadership of Marko Pećina, International Orthopaedics became what it is today, and during his 6 years as Editor-in-Chief the quality of the papers published rose constantly, along with the rejection rate that keeps steadily somewhere between 85 and 90%! As you can see in Figs. 7 and 8, the journal progressed in terms of scientific value, content and size, to reach an impressive 12 issues per year and volume, and over 2,500 pages for an average number of papers published of 400, each year since 2012!

Fig. 7

The journal’s progression from four issues per year in 1976 to 12 issues per year since 2012

Fig. 8

Growth of the journal in terms of number of pages and papers published per issue (year)

The research was completed with papers concerning the history of orthopaedics, as well as with the development of the sub-specialities. The first special issue of International Orthopaedics was hosted by Maurice Hinsenkamp from Brussels (Fig. 9) and related to Kashin-Beck Disease. This issue received a warm welcome from the international scientific community. Micklos Szendroi from Hungary was the Guest Editor in December 2006 for the special issue dedicated to bone tumours. Biological aspects of bone, cartilage and tendon regeneration were debated in another special issue hosted by Marko Pećina and Slobodan Vukičević from Croatia in August 2007. They were followed by Thami Benzakour from Morocco, who edited the issue of February 2010 dedicated to osteotomies around the knee. A cornerstone special issue highly referenced was edited by Jacques Caton and Jean-Pierre Courpied from France in 2011 and included specialised papers on hip arthroplasty. Another special issue dedicated to spine infections, with Luis Lopez Duran and Carlos Leon Serrano from Spain as Guest Editors, was released in February 2012. The “Knee Joint in Sports Medicine” was another outstanding special issue hosted by Albert Van Kampen from Netherlands in February 2013 [8]. This was followed by the “Foot and Ankle” special issue hosted by Wolfgang Schneider and Karl Knahr from Austria in September 2013 [9]. Francesco Falez from Italy was the Special Guest Editor for the “Knee Arthroplasty” volume in February 2014 [10]. Another special issue dedicated to tissue engineering and regenerative medicine was released in September 2014 by the experienced Croatian team of Pećina and Vukičevic [11]. The “Shoulder Surgery” special issue was edited by Scarlat in February 2015 [12]. Luis Lopez Duran from Spain and Moussa Hamadouche from France hosted the special issue dedicated to periprosthetic fractures in November 2015 [13]. Ultimately the “Spinal” issue hosted by Andrew Qualie from the United Kingdom was released in June 2016 [14] and a new “Hip” special issue dedicated to the concept of double mobility is in plan to be edited by the excellent Jacques Caton together with André Ferreira from Lyon. Over the years, the different Editors shown themselves to be opinion leaders and world-class experts by hosting special issues. The impact of a larger visibility and alternative metrics became a constant preoccupation for the Board, as well as the standards of publication on the basis of scientific evidence [15–18]. The strategic decisions concerning the journal are taken by the Editorial Board, which continues to meet twice a year in different locations around the globe. One Editorial Board meeting official picture from 1990 is kept in the SICOT library in Brussels (Fig. 10) Some of the latest cities that hosted the Editorial Board meeting were Paris (France), Casablanca (Morocco), Timisoara (Romania) and Würtzburg (Germany). One recent official picture from the Board meeting is Fig. 11. The Editorial Board of International Orthopaedics is present at all the SICOT congresses with speakers and faculty, and is encouraging and educating new writers and reviewers, which represents an important added value to our publication and which is acknowledged constantly. The contact between the journal’s board, readers and reviewers is a priority for us and is included in the SICOT priorities and main objectives (Figs. 12 and 13). Learning, listening, doing, evaluating, keeping evidence of patients and actions, improving the meaning by better describing and displaying the research data, better designing a study and ultimately better expressing scientific knowledge is our pledge! Isn’t that beautiful for a journal 40-years old?

Fig. 9

Maurice Hinsenkamp (Belgium), the first Editorial Secretary of the journal (1984–1993) who become later President of the SICOT (2011–2014). Over 33 years of membership in the Board of International Orthopaedics. He was the Guest Editor for the first special issue dedicated to the Kashin-Beck Disease in 2001

Fig. 10

Editorial Board in Paris 1990. Upper row, from the left: Jacques Evrard, Jean-Pierre Courpied, R. Cooper, Maurice Hinsenkamp, R. Marti, R. Gunzburg, W. Küsswetter, Tony Trias. Lower row, from the left: Kjeld Skou-Andersen, Santos Pallazi Coll, Frank Horan, Anthony Hall, Goran Bauer

Fig. 11

Official picture of the Editorial Board in Paris, November 2014: Upper row,: Francesco Falez (Italy), Cyril Mauffrey (USA), Jean-Pierre Courpied (France), Thami Benzakour (Marocco), Gabriele Schroder (Springer, Germany), Patricia Fucs (Brazil), Awais S.M. (Pakistan), Luis-Lopez Duran (Spain), Karl Knahr (Austria), Vane Antolic (Slovenia), Albert Van Kampen (Netherlands). Lower row: Jacques Caton (France), Maurice Hinsenkamp (Belgium), Marko Pećina (Croatia), Marius M. Scarlat (France), Jochen Eulert (Germany) and Andrew Quaile (UK)

Fig. 12

Academic Writing Session organised by International Orthopaedics during the SICOT World Congress in Hyderabad, India, 2013. From left to right: Anil Jain (India), Marius M. Scarlat, Angus Wallace (UK), Jean-Pierre Courpied and Jacques Caton (France)

Fig. 13

At the SICOT Congress in Prague (2011): Sir Frank Horan (UK), Marius M. Scarlat (France), Tony Hall (UK), Marko Bumbasirevic (Serbia), James Scott (UK), Cyril Mauffrey (USA) and Marko Pećina (Croatia). The journal offers each year at the SICOT World Congress a teaching session dedicated to academic medical writing and, recently, a workshop for reviewers