Clinical and Translational Radiation Oncology, a new player among the radiation oncology journals.

Launching a new journal is exciting.

In these days of instant communication and widely available information, of #radonc hashtag on Twitter and online journal clubs, do we still need medical journals? Our answer is clearly yes. More data are produced on a daily basis, more analyses performed, and more hypotheses generated and tested. More articles are produced, many of which are of good quality, and deserve to be published. Thus, to enhance dissemination of science, ESTRO has established three new open access journals to be members of the ESTRO family along with its flagship journal, Radiotherapy and Oncology. Careful peer-review is a cornerstone to ensure high quality and to safeguard us from disseminating low level science that could mislead clinicians and researchers and potentially harm patients. But it should also be as fast as possible, and the end product, the edited article, should be made available to the entire community, clinicians, researchers, but also patients and advocacy groups.

This is our goal. Our tools: online only format, open access, an editorial board of renowned experts who are dedicated to the journal’s mission, and a broad scope that encompasses translational research - from the bench to the bedside. Clinical and Translational Radiation Oncology, or ctRO as we call it, is an international, open access journal which encompasses all aspects of clinical and translational radiation oncology research, particularly developments in radiobiology and biology which can be translated to clinical research and treatment, epidemiology, clinical interventions and treatments, oncopolicy, and data sciences. The journal publishes original research articles, review articles, short communications, technical notes, case series and reports, and correspondence. This diversity is reflected in the first three articles that have been published in ctRO. They all come from internationally renowned European and American institutions and present analyses of the outcomes of an advanced technology in a rare disease, i.e., proton therapy in pediatric patients with central nervous system germ cell tumors [1]; of the efficiency and reliability of advanced treatment planning tools, i.e., autoplanning for head and neck cancers [2]; and on the evolving nature of initial and continuing medical education in the digital age [3]. Although prospective studies will be favored over retrospective ones, no study type is currently considered inappropriate for submission to ctRO. The essential acceptance criteria will be the quality of the data, supporting evidence and the robustness of the statistical analyses.

ctRO is a member of ESTRO’s family, a companion to Radiotherapy & Oncology. It was launched along with two other journals, Physics and Imaging in Radiation Oncology or phiRO, and Technical Innovations and Patient Support in Radiation Oncology or tipsRO. All of them share the same open access online model, i.e., all articles will be available for free online to everyone, ensuring a wide dissemination of published articles. But this also means that authors will be charged fees prior to the publication of their articles. These fees cover the costs associated with the peer-review process, administrative and technical support, editing and publication. As ctRO is affiliated to ESTRO, all ESTRO members will be eligible for a discounted publication fee.

As of December 12th 2016, three articles are available online at our website, ctro.science. More articles have been accepted and will be made available in the coming weeks, and more are under review. As we said, launching a new journal is exciting. This journal is intended to be the journal of our community. We look forward to reviewing your articles!