We are happy to announce that Mediastinum has been accepted for indexing in PubMed/PubMed Central (PMC), a free digital archive database of full-text journal literature in biomedical and life sciences. All articles published since 2019 will be fully indexed in PMC and accessible via PubMed, a search engine/database of biomedical citations and abstracts.
The inclusion of Mediastinum in PubMed/ PMC is an international recognition of the quality of its contents. It would mean that articles published in the journal, freely accessible through PMC and PubMed will gain increasing visibility and expanding influence worldwide. We would like to express sincere appreciation to our Editorial Board, Guest Editors, Reviewers and Authors for their valuable contribution and great support to the journal.
Mediastinum (ISSN 2522-6711, http://med.amegroups.org/) is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal launched in 2017, and has been the first and the only publication specialized in mediastinal diseases. The journal is publishing papers on all benign, malignant, and metastatic diseases related to or affecting the mediastinum, such as thymic epithelial tumors, lymphomas, germ cell tumors, neurogenic tumors and myasthenia gravis, as well as metastasis diseases from lung cancer and esophageal cancer.
Diseases in the mediastinum usually have distinct features, but are often less studied because of their rarity. Better understanding of the diseases and their management could only be achieved by joined efforts from all disciplines worldwide. Thankfully, Mediastinum has built an internationalized editorial board of 87 members, of which a majority is from USA and Japan (respectively accounting for 24% of the total), closely followed by Italy (20%) (Figure 1). The current Editor-in-Chief of the journal is Dr. Wentao Fang (surgeon, Shanghai Chest Hospital, China) and Associate Editors-in-Chief include Dr. Brett W. Carter (radiologist, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA), Dr. Mirella Marino (pathologist, Regina Elena National Cancer, Italy), and Dr. Marcin Zielinski (surgeon, Institute Pulmonary Hospital, Poland).
Figure 1. Geographic Distribution of Editorial Board Members, 2021 [% of total: 100% (87 Editorial Board Members from 17 countries)]
The authorship and readership of Mediastinum has also embodied an international representation. A total of 199 corresponding authors were identified from 2019 to September 2021, with 25% authors from USA, 17% from Italy, 13% from Japan, 12% from China, and the rest from Germany, India, Canada, Spain, France, etc. (Figure 2). As for the readership, 56,002 website users (identities) were identified from 2017 to November 2021. USA was the most represented country with 30.7% of the total users, followed by India (10.4%), China (6.5%), UK (5.2%), Italy (3.8%), Japan (3.7%), etc. (Figure 3).
Figure 2. Geographic Distribution of Corresponding Authors, 2017 - Sep 2021 [% of total: 100% (199 authors from 20 countries)]
Figure 3. Geographic Distribution of Website Users, 2017 – Nov 30, 2021 (Data collected from Google Analytics)
Figure 4. Website Users, 2017 – Nov 30, 2021 (Data collected from Google Analytics)
Figure 5. Website Pageviews, 2017 – Nov 30, 2021 (Data collected from Google Analytics)
Mediastinum has established mutually beneficial cooperation with the International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group (ITMIG) from the very beginning, publishing special series and/or abstract books dedicated to the ITMIG Annual Meetings (2017, 2018, and 2019), cases presentation and recommendations from the ITMIG tumor board, and educational videos of surgical techniques in the series named "Minimally Invasive Thymectomy". The publication has made the ITMIG meeting contents readily accessible to clinicians and scientists around the world and has remained as retrieval references for all time, which in return has improved the impact of the journal. The official website of ITMIG have included links to the homepage of Mediastinum and the relevant materials published in the journal (Figure 6-7).
Figure 6. Mediastinum’s cover image on the homepage of ITMIG with link to the journal
Figure 7. Mediastinum’s series "Minimally Invasive Thymectomy" displayed on the website of ITMIG
Collaborating with prominent experts in this field, Mediastinum has offered our readers featured series exploring various treading topics related to mediastinal diseases and related disorders (Table 1).
No. | Series Topics | Guest Editors |
1 | Minimally Invasive Thymectomy | Nuria Novoa (University Hospital of Salamanca, Spain); |
2 | Series dedicated to ITMIG 2017 | Pier Luigi Filosso (University of Turin, Italy) |
3 | Diagnostic Problems in Anterior Mediastinum Lesions | Mirella Marino (Regina Elena National Cancer Institute, Italy) |
4 | Series dedicated to ITMIG 2018 | Mirella Marino (Regina Elena National Cancer Institute, Italy); |
5 | Pediatric Mediastinal Tumors | Deepali Jain (All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India) |
6 | Mediastinal Sarcomas | Saul Suster (Medical College of Wisconsin, USA); |
7 | Mediastinoscopic Surgery | Marcin Zielinski (Pulmonary Hospital, Poland); |
8 | Series dedicated to ITMIG 2019 | Mirella Marino (Regina Elena National Cancer Institute, Italy); |
9 | Minimally Invasive (Endoscopic) Mediastinal Staging of Lung Cancer | Angelo Carretta (San Raffaele Hospital, Italy) |
10 | Venous Surgery of the Mediastinum (Ongoing) | Michael T. Jaklitsch (Brigham and Women's Hospital, USA) |
11 | Changes in management of mediastinal tumours following the surge of COVID-19 pandemic (Ongoing) | Giuseppe L. Banna, (Candiolo Cancer Institute, FPO-IRCCS, Italy); |
12 | Traumatic Injuries of the Mediastinum (Ongoing) | Simon R. Turner (University of Alberta, Canada) |
13 | New treatments and novel insights of thymic epithelial tumors and mediastinal germ cell tumors (Ongoing) | Margaret Ottaviano & Giovannella Palmieri (Rare Tumors Reference Center, University Federico II, Italy) |
14 | Management of Giant Mediastinal Tumors (Ongoing) | Ryuichi Waseda (Fukuoka University, Japan); |
15 | Series dedicated to ITMIG 2021 | Malgorzata Szolkowska (Pathologist, Warsaw, Poland); Mirella Marino (Pathologist, Rome, Italy); Katarzyna Blasinska (Radiologist, Warsaw, Poland); Magdalena Knetki-Wroblewska (Oncologist, Warsaw, Poland); Giuseppe Cardillo (Surgeon, Rome, Italy) |
Table 1. Published special series and ongoing special series.
Indexation by PubMed/ PubMed Central is an important landmark for the journal of Mediastinum. Gracious thanks to all those who have contributed to its steady growth in the past years. Together, it will continue to gather collective efforts from colleagues of all disciplines and to establish itself as a better platform focusing on research advances and knowledge in the field of mediastinal diseases.