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ICVTS Goes Interdisciplinary
ICVTS – the fully open access, online journal published by EACTS will relaunch in January next year as Interdisciplinary CardioVascular and Thoracic Surgery.
This forward thinking new ICVTS will encourage collaboration across multidisciplinary teams in cardiac, thoracic and vascular surgery, by focusing on highly innovative, interdisciplinary research that, according to Peyman Sardari Nia, Editor in Chief of ICVTS, ‘directly impacts surgical practice within the field’. This in turn will help deliver better outcomes for patients.
Commenting on the relaunch, Peyman says, “The Journal aims to bring all those involved in cardiovascular and thoracic research together, focusing on treatment of a disease condition rather than accepting the status quo of researchers conducting research and publishing in different silos on the same pathology”.
Technological advances in healthcare are now driven by interdisciplinary research that covers medical, biomedical, physical, engineering and computer sciences and beyond so it’s important this approach is echoed by EACTS Journals. These advances are key to refining and improving treatments, as well as ‘opening the door’ to new treatment options, meaning that ICVTS will support multidisciplinary teams – in cardiac, thoracic and vascular surgery – advance their work in that direction.
Ludwig K. von Segesser, Founding Editor of ICVTS, says, ‘This is a good very move because this is how the discipline is evolving – from a single specialty to a multi-disciplinary approach for our patients. People have to work together to bring in their expertise from different views and from different fields. I think that is going to be the future’.
From a thoracic perspective, Thoracic Assistant Editor for ICVTS, Cecilia Pompili, believes that these changes will encourage more and more interdisciplinary oncology driven research.
ICVTS has been steadily and successfully evolving since 2002 (as Interactive CardioVascular and Thoracic Surgery) and converted to open access in August 2021. The new interdisciplinary format will not only strengthen its position within the surgical community, but, crucially, will also highlight research by related disciplines that impacts cardiothoracic surgery, which previously may not have been visible to the relevant surgical community.
ICVTS publishes original articles, reviews on multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary subjects, brief communications, case reports, letters to the editor and editorials.
The fundamental reasons behind the name change and relaunch are to acknowledge the fact that patients are increasingly supported by multidisciplinary teams, from surgeons and nurses to anaesthetists and perfusionists, who all work together to address the vital needs and longterm health management of individuals.
This is emphasised by EACTS President, Friedhelm Beyersdorf. He says, “The motivation for our work – for all of us – is to improve outcomes for our patients. That’s the reason EACTS has made this important decision.”
From 2023, the new journal will focus on the treatment of a disease condition and mirror the changing surgical landscape. Ash Merrifield, EACTS Publications Director, stresses, “It is an important part of my role to ensure that our publications are truly set up for the future and are able to adapt to changes within the surgical community, but also within the publishing community”.
The publication will have a clear mission, with a definite purpose for its broader readership, that will create a more distinctive ICTVS publication – as well as a more inclusive one.
Matthias Siepe, Editor in Chief of EJCTS, and Council Member, is confident about the ‘huge sense’ the relaunch changes make, while Filip De Somer, Chairman of the European Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion, acknowledges that “ICVTS has now claimed its rightful position of being an inclusive journal for everyone who wants to innovate in the field of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery”.
