Goodbye and hello—editorial changes in gynaecological surgery

I am writing to inform you of some changes in the editorial board of Gynaecological Surgery. I am resigning as Editor-in-Chief with effect from the end of June 2006. Since I became the first Editor-in-Chief of Gynaecological Surgery with the first edition at the beginning of 2004 I had planned to remain in post for only 2 years. As you can see, I have stayed slightly longer than was initially intended. The new Editor-in-Chief I am delighted to say is Professor Ivo Brosens who will take over the position on 1 July 2006. We are very fortunate that someone of his calibre will take over as Editor-in-Chief as he has wide interests in the field of gynaecology having been Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Leuven for a number of years. He was founder and director of the Division of Reproductive Medicine and the Centre of Surgical Technologies at the University of Leuven. He was awarded honorary membership of over 15 National and International Societies including an honorary fellowship of the RCOG (Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) and the first honorary membership of the World Endometrial Society and the IFFS 30th Anniversary Recognition Award for significant contributions to infertility and reproductive medicine. Since 1996 he joined the Leuven Institute for Fertility and Embryology where with his collaborators the new culdoscopic technique of transvaginal hydrolaparoscopy was developed. He is co-editor and reviewer of several international journals. He was editor of ten specialised text books and published over 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals. I am sure he will be an excellent Editor-in-Chief.

Since it was first published in 2004, Gynaecological Surgery has gone from strength to strength. It is currently the official journal of the ESGE. In addition to the Editor-in-Chief we are going to create associates to the Editor-in-Chief in the fields of oncology, urogynaecology, perinatology, new technologies, medicine and statistics and hysteroscopy. It is intended this will broaden the interests of the Journal to appeal to a much wider audience. It is also suggested that the following changes will be implemented as soon as possible. Firstly the case reports will be published only by abstract. Society news will be limited to one page. Two types of review articles will be included: a full-length review of recent developments with the author’s research work combined with a review of the literature and insight and a mini review with sharply focussed topics of recent investigations in the various fields. Plans for the future strategy will be discussed at the next Annual Meeting of the ESGE in Strasbourg in October 2006.

I wish Professor Brosens well in his new role. I will be concentrating on research but also I have recently joined the European Academy and hope to remain on the Board of this helping with education, training and research. I also hope to remain on the Executive Board of the ESGE. To support my colleagues both in the Society and also in the Academy.

I would finally encourage you to keep sending in high-quality articles to Gynaecological Surgery as it is only by this method that we can improve the quality of the Journal.

I would like to thank Diethelm Wallwiener, past President of the ESGE, Jacques Dequesne, current President of the ESGE, Rudi Campo, Chairman of the European Academy, and finally Rachel Costigan, who has worked extremely hard for 2 1/2 years accepting papers from all over the world on behalf of Gynaecology Surgery and certainly she has contributed in a major way towards the success of the Journal. A special word of thanks to Ute Heilman from Springer for all the technical support she provided me in the initial phases of setting up of the Journal.