From the Editor

Beginning with the December issue of MIR our Editorial Committee decided to introduce the new system for submitting articles instead of the current direct submission of articles. That enanbles administration of the content and publication with the so called Open Journal System OJS).

This free administration system was created thanks to the iniciative of the “Public Knowledge Project”, which effectively enables adminstration of the process of submission of articles, its editing for free distribution of published articles. The “Open Journal System” is designed for Open Access journals. This free solution is continually updated and, thanks to that, one can readily enable security of data in the system. In 2015 as a result of that over 32,000 scienti c journals adopted this system. This satis es both readers and authors. Automated form of metadata makes possible indexing in databases, which enables popularization of articles and their increased citation.

Information on article preparation—text, illustrations—that one can submit in the system can be found at http://interrev.com/wpcontent/uploads/support/submir.pdf

The system enables proposing of reviewers by the authors. Information about responses to editors can likewise be found in the guide cited above.

In all other cases decisions will be made by the board of editors of MIR. In 2018 we will carry on to accept submission of articles directly to the board of editors, but of course we prefer the new system. In our judgment, almost all scienti c journals with “Impact Factor” enable submission of articles in various ways. Because we want to reach the IF, it is certain that the new submission protocol for articles has greater potential for acceptance by the JCR.

Professor Włodzimierz Opoka Editor-in-Chief

Professor Bożena Muszyńska Vice-Editor-in-Chief

Doctor Christoph Klawe Vice-Editor-in-Chief

 

We proudly begin with the good news, that thanks to our authors, who sent scientific papers for publication in 2016, and due to the work of all members of the editorial team the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education once again in december confirmed the attribution of 8 points to our MIR. This means, that our journal MIR is again registered as one of the so called „B-journals”, so ranks among the more important scientific publications acknowledged in Poland.
In Esperanto-journals we had the pleasure to read that the article written in Esperanto by the Hungarian physician István Hegyi, which was published in MIR with the title „Cooperation of Brain Hemispheres”, received a remarkable distinction from the International Academy of Sciences in San Marino in the competition for the renewed Pirlot Award. The certificate, which dates from 29th of July 2016 and was signed in Nitra, Slovakia, in the name of the prize-committee by Renato Corsetti, Reinhard Fossmeier, H. Michael Maitzen, Carlo Minnaja and Bengt-Arne Wickström, acknowledges the article according to the impression of the committee as the best scientific publication published in Esperanto in the years 2010-2015. Third place of the same award won our colleague Joaquim P. Brasil-Neto from Brazil for the paper „Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Transcranial Electric Stimulation: Applications in Neurology and Psychiatry”, which was published in MIR as well. First place of the award in the section „lecture” won Christoph Klawe for the lecture „AlphaGo vs. Master Lee: Arteficial Intelligence and the Human Brain as Basis of the Biological”, which was presented for the first time in Luxembourg 3rd of May 2016.
These successes show that MIR and the scientific work of UMEA-members have the capacity to gain excellent effects and hopefully they are good stimulants for us other members of the Esperanto-speaking medical community to proceed in our activities and to send interesting papers of high quality, directly written in Esperanto, for publication.

Vice Editor-in-chief                                     Editor-in-chief

Dr. Christoph Klawe                                    Associate Professor Włodzimierz Opoka

Dear readers,

some few weeks ago MIR was proposed to be included in the important scientific register and search engine “Scopus” of the publisher “Elsevier”.

Unfortunately after a while the anonymous referee of the selection commission, which consists of international, but mainly English-speaking members, refuzed to accept our revue, as it contains “an uncomprehensive mix of languages” and “no-one, but no-one has adopted Esperanto.”

Scopus offered a simple advice to raise the chance of acceptance at a future trial, which will be possible only after July 2022: simply publish the complete journal and its homepage in English! The editors answered sending a clarifying letter, stating that the referee obviously fell prey to a serious misunderstanding and lack of information: there is good evidence, that round about 2 million speak Esperanto and it is our very mission to use Esperanto in medicine since 1923! Information about these proceedings attracted the attention of many eminent members of the UEA-committee.

They all supported our way of editing and considered these events proof of a serious lack of knowledge in the world of science outside of the Esperanto-movement as perfect impulse for further action. The best proof of the efficacy of Esperanto is doubtless the publication of many articles of high quality in Esperanto! Thus, dear Esperanto-speaking medical fellows: at work!

 

 

Dear Readers

As loyal UMEA members know, we issued the 106th number of MIR
before the upcoming 20th IMEK, which takes place July 20-22, 2016 in the
Slovakian city Nitra with the theme “Physicians and Internationalism – what
kind of physicians are needed in our century?” This occasion prompts the
question: what is needed for UMEA to evolve along with IMEK and ultimately
MIR? We believe that the rich scientific program of the coming anniversary-
-the 20th IMEK presentation in English, Slovakian and Esperanto, with 19
presentations from 9 different nations–will help meet these requirements.
The planning and organization of the IMEK jubilee, in the tradition of this
arrangement, again provides an example of successful, cordial international
collaboration among physicians, a fine result of unselfish dedication of our
Slovakian colleagues and friends who are hosting us in their hospital.
We hope that the authors of papers will, after presentation, publish results
of their scientific and specialty work in the 107th issue of MIR, which will
appear in December, 2016.

For a successful 20th IMEK we ask our medical colleagues to prepare their presentations in Esperanto and send them to the Editor of MIR.
Concluding this editorial message, we proudly announce that, beginning
with the 106th issue of MIR, the Pharmaceutical Faculty of the Jagiellonian
University Medical College will be co-publisher of MIR. We celebrate this great
honor and are sure that the power of the oldest university in Poland, founded
in the 1364, will strengthen and improve our journal.

Vice Editor-in-chief                                     Editor-in-chief

Dr. Christoph Klawe                                    Associate Professor Włodzimierz Opoka

 

Dear Readers

With great pleasure we inform you that, thanks to generous and effective work of all members of the Editorial Committee of MIR, on 23 December 2015 the Polish Ministry for Science and Higher Education informed us that it awards MIR 8 points. To understand our great collective success we will explain why we are registered in the so-called “B list” of science journals, which are honored in Poland as important. Notable Polish professors consider all science journals and adjudicate points from our Ministry of Science and Higher Education to scientific journals on the A list having “Impact Factor” (IF), and the B list without IF. Every Polish scientist is judged according to points achieved/received in 2015. We met the following criteria for inclusion in List B:

• • MIR has a home page that presents all information essential for a
    scientific journal
  • All articles published in MIR are easily obtained on the Internet
  • The MIR Editorial Committee includes a minimum of 20% membership
    from other countries
  • In every issue of MIR there are at least two scientific articles that meet
    standard criteria for topical and scientific articles
  • The titles, resumes and keywords of articles published in MIR during
    the last two years are in English
  • MIR is included in three databases (e.g., the Central German Medical
    Library).
  • The articles are reviewed (edited) by outside editors
    The goals of the MIR Editorial Committee are:
  • Attempt to list our journal MIR in the databases Scopus, CrossRef,
    Web of Science and PubMed
  • Attain more points in the next evaluation of the Polish Ministry of
    Science and Higher Education
  • Raise the number of readers of MIR and thus attain the maximum
    article citations published in MIR—enabling us to obtain an “Impact
    Factor”
  • Publication of MIR quarterly, if financially possible and we have
    enough scientific articles

In addition, we emphasize that the science Editorial Committee of MIR functions in the framework of the oldest historical Polish educational institution, Jagiellonian University, specifically in the Pharmaceutical Faculty, Medical College. In closing, we wish to express our hope that esteemed medical colleagues will send to the MIR Editorial Committee many ineresting articles that we can publish in MIR, maintining its high quality

Vice Editor-in-chief                                     Editor-in-chief

Dr. Christoph Klawe                                    Associate Professor Włodzimierz Opoka

 

Dear Readers,

In fact we were hoping that awarding the UMEA-Shinoda prize once again after a break of 14 years might anyhow stimulate the readiness of medical Esperantists to write publications for our journal right away in Esperanto, because on the other hand many regret the fact very much, that most articles in MIR are published in other languages, only with an abstract in the creation of Zamenhof. We were hoping in vane – which is probably quite understandable, as only few of the colleagues, who are still professionally active, speak Esperanto, and the total number of Esperanto-speaking physicians as such is considerably low. We are absolutely convinced, however, that any medical professional, retired or active, certainly remembers interesting cases or experiences, which might be worthwhile publishing. Interesting examples are printed in this issue of our journal. When we explored the history of medical publications in Esperanto, we found the first article in which Esperanto was mentioned in the prestigious „New England Journal of Medicine“ and which is cited in the international database „PubMed“. The article was written by E. James Lieberman: „L. L. Zamenhof: Dr. Esperanto. N Engl J Med. 1959 Nov 5;261:963-5“. It is a great pleasure for us, that the Esperanto-speaking professor Lieberman, former vice-president of the UMEA during the presidential cycle starting in 1976, was willing to update an important publication on nonviolence from a psychiatric viewpoint exclusively for our journal – in fact not a simple reprint, but an inspiring essay, which is even more up to date now than it was then. The newest article in „PubMed“, that mentions Esperanto, was written by the Israelian professor Avi Ohry: „Sano, kuracado, higieno (health, medicine, hygiene): ophthalmologists and Esperanto. Vesalius. 2014 Winter;20(2):87-8.“ It is a great honor for us, that professor Ohry likewise consented to send interesting articles for our review!
A lot of pleasure while reading wish

Vice Editor-in-chief                                     Editor-in-chief

Dr. Christoph Klawe                                    Associate Professor Włodzimierz Opoka

From the Editor
Dear readers,

Since the last issue the 19th International Medical Esperanto Congress (IMEK) took place in Budapest between the 16th and 20th of July 2014. This event has already been eported in various places. In fact the congress of the Esperanto–speaking doctors occurred along with the 1st „Central European Biomedical Congress” (CEBC) which had several participants of scientists from the universities of Krakow and Budapest. The combined meeting had an impressive scientific level and was certainly a very interesting and inspiring experience for all of the 180 participants. The whole event could see the light of day only because of the intense and careful preparation by the organizers and the efforts of the members of the Hungarian Esperanto Association, especially the members and helpers of the Medical Esperanto Group of Budapest.

During the congress the National Delegates of the UMEA elected a new board, which has been working to increase the cooperation and improve the efficiency of our international network of physicians in the last six months. There are now old and new members of our association in Albania, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Japan, Cuba and Poland, and hopefully our network will grow even more in the future.

We are looking forward to inform a greater number of Esperantists about our achievements during the annual meeting at the next Esperanto World Congress in Lille.
We are pleased to see that the current issue of MIR presents a larger number of articles written in Esperanto than the three last editions. Should any of you need a translation of an article to another language than that of the original text or the summary, we will be able to obtain a translation, however it will require some time as we will have to rely on the
help of volunteers.

We would like to ensure that all members and subscribers receive our Journal MIR regularly. Therefore we ask the subscribers who are just now reading a paper copy of this issue to notify us by e–mail.

 

Editor-in-chief Associate Professor Włodzimierz Opoka
Vice Editor-in-chief Doctor Christoph Klawe

 

 

Dear Colleagues,

Six months have already passed since the last edition of the International Medicine Review. During this time period we have received the assessment from the Literature Selection Technical Review Committee (LSTRC) of the National Medical Library in Bethesda, USA. LSTRC makes judgement on the suitability of medical journals to be included in the MEDLINE international database. The inclusion of a journal in MEDLINE usually increases the reputation of the given publication and attracts contributions from well-known researchers.

The chance of being recognised has been slim and unfortunately the committee temporarily suspended the inclusion of our journal. The main points of criticism were the unsatisfactory quality of English of our articles; the lack of declaration of ethical standards of human and animal experiments and it was suggested that the journal should get articles from a wider range of authors in scientifically important areas.

It may surprise some of our readers that the American committee considered the journal as a predominantly Polish publication, mainly relevant in Poland. This interpretation is due to the relatively high proportion of contributions coming from our hard working chief editor and relatively small amount of material coming from other Esperanto-speaking medical practitioners.

Vice Editor-in-chief                                                                         Editor-in-chief

Dr. Christoph Klawe                                               Associate Professor Włodzimierz Opoka

From the Editor
Dear Colleagues,

The new editors of the “International Medicine Review” magazine continue their work and present you the 101st edition of this international medical journal.

Thanks to our hard working co-editors and the UMEA SHINODA clinic in Kraków we are hoping to get more success for MIR. The coming year, 2014 is especially important for UMEA, because between the 16th and 20th of July UMEA is organizing the 19th International Medical Esperanto Congress in Budapest, Hungary under the Honorary Protection of the Rector of the Semmelweis University in Budapest Prof. Ágoston Szél and the Rector of the Medical College of Jagiellonian University in Kraków Prof. Piotr Laidler. We hope that the 19th IMEK will achieve scientific, organizational and financial success, and as a result of that we will be able to continue the publication of MIR and the organizational work of UMEA.

As you can see, in this issue MIR publishes some interesting articles of new authors.

MIR is probably the only magazine which accepts articles in various languages with an obligatory abstract in English and Esperanto.

In this year the evaluation of MIR will be updated for the “Index Copernicus” taking into account the December 2013 issue of our magazine. In the New Year we are also waiting for the judgment of the U.S. commission to see whether MIR is going to be included in the NCBI database. This would facilitate finding published articles through scientific search engines such as PubMed.

MIR continues to prove that Esperanto works well with other languages in the medical sciences. Although we are willing to accept articles in any language, we hope that the Esperanto-speaking medical scientists continue to publish their articles directly in Esperanto.
The Editing Committee of MIR expects additional publications especially those that will be presented during the 19th IMEK this year in Budapest.

We are pleased to find additional co-editors for MIR from different countries. We have the pleasure to welcome Sister Dr Christiana Ubaka of Nigeria in the editorial team. She is the head of an Ophthalmology hospital in her home country.
We are hoping to receive more of your original articles about your research, interesting case re-ports, and summaries of important scientific issues or reports on difference aspects of the Health System in your countries.

At this opportunity we thank Associate Professor Bożena Muszyńska (Pharmaceutical Faculty of Medical College of the Jagiellonian University) for her hard work on correcting and co-editing this issue of MIR.

Editor-in-chief Associate Professor Włodzimierz Opoka
Vice Editor-in-chief Doctor Christoph Klawe

From the Editor

The editors proudly present the 100th edition of the International Medical Journal (MIR).

Since the foundation of MIR back in 1923 until today the editorial work has been done by volunteers, physicians who invested their spare time and often their own money to make the publication of this journal possible. The high quality of their work needs to be appreciated.

This publication achieved a remarkably high standard during the last few years. In 2012 the quality of the journal was acknowledged by “Index Copernicus” by giving an impressive 4.39 points.

The journal initially appeared in Esperanto only, but the editors later decided to accept articles in any language with abstracts in English and Esperanto.

Because of this important step MIR now provides an international forum for scientists all around the world to communicate with each other even if they do not master English very well.

For the 100th anniversary edition we succeeded to broaden our editorial board by including representatives from four out of the five continents. We hope that this improvement will make it more attractive for all medical scientists around the world to publish in our journal. We are convinced that we will soon find a still missing Esperanto-speaking physician from Africa for our editorial board.

We hope that this international team will succeed to inform the international community of medical scientists about our journal and to stimulate colleagues all over the world to submit original research articles, case reports, reviews or reports about special aspects of the health system in their own countries.

The editorial board believes that quality is more important than quantity, therefore we are going to publish MIR only twice a year and we hope to achieve a higher professional level. It is likely that the number of digital copies, distributed via Internet, will be much higher than the number of the printed copies.

In order to improve the reputation of the journal amongst non-esperantists we applied for acknowledgment of the journal by the NCBI-database, which is responsible for including a journal in the Medline / Pubmed search engines. We hope that this will encourage colleagues to publish in our journal. Our future success depends on the quality of the papers submitted for publication in the next two years.

So do not hesitate to send us articles of your own and to encourage your colleagues to do the same.

Editor-in-chief: Associate Professor Włodzimierz Opoka

Vice Editor-in-chief: Doctor Christoph Klawe