In last month’s editorial in our series celebrating the Society for Neuro-Oncology’s 25th anniversary, we focused on the Society’s flagship publication, Neuro-Oncology. In this installment, we focus on Neuro-Oncology’s sister publications, Neuro-Oncology Practice and Neuro-Oncology Advances. These companion titles were developed and launched with the goal of extending SNO’s reach even more broadly among the range of subspecialties involved in the care of patients with brain tumors as well as clinical, translational, and basic science research.
In 2012, SNO published a supplement to Neuro-Oncology containing articles dedicated solely to applied neuro-oncology, with topics ranging from palliative care and quality of life to molecular markers and ongoing developments in personalized medicine. The overwhelmingly positive response to this supplement made clear to the leadership of SNO that there was a need for a journal devoted to applied and practical issues in neuro-oncology. With the generous support of the National Brain Tumor Society, and in partnership with the European Association of Neuro-Oncology (EANO) and Oxford University Press (OUP), Neuro-Oncology Practice was launched in 2014.
Under the guidance of Susan Chang, who has served as Editor in Chief of the publication since its inception, Neuro-Oncology Practice seeks to fill a need for practical and educational content, and provides the multidisciplinary field of neuro-oncology professionals, such as physicians, nurses, physical and occupational therapists, palliative care specialists, and neuropsychologists, with clinical information to enhance patient care, quality of life, psycho-social support, and management of co-morbid conditions. We are grateful to the leaders of key initiatives that have enhanced the educational content of the journal. These include a case-based series highlighting specific histopathological entities and their management (Derek Johnson); a clinical debate series about controversies in neuro-oncology practice (Derek Johnson); statistics for the practicing clinician (Annette Molinaro); a series on the challenges of designing and conducting research studies on patient-centered outcomes (Terri Armstrong, Martin Taphoorn, and Linda Dirven), and a series on the basic science of neuro-oncology for the clinician (Pieter Wesseling).
Neuro-Oncology Practice has been an unmitigated success, with full PubMed indexing and a remarkable increase in total submissions per year as shown in Figure 1. This increase warranted growth in publication frequency from four to six issues per year starting in 2019.
Total submissions to Neuro-Oncology Practice per year since inception.
Mindful that more knowledge leads to better outcomes, the leadership of SNO launched a fully “open access” journal in 2019. The latest addition to the Neuro-Oncology family of journals, Neuro-Oncology Advances, has no restrictions on access to its content, and as such is freely available to neuro-oncology professionals worldwide at no charge. And like Neuro-Oncology Practice, Neuro-Oncology Advances is a collaborative effort between SNO, EANO, and OUP.
Under the direction of Editor-in-Chief Gelareh Zadeh, Neuro-Oncology Advances was conceptualized to mesh seamlessly with its sister titles and to compliment and expand on their editorial excellence. The new publication provides a mechanism to increase SNO’s presence in areas of CNS oncology that are outside of the traditionally accepted mandates of Neuro-Oncology and Neuro-Oncology Practice. Neuro-Oncology Advances is therefore an educational resource for the fast-paced, changing landscape of brain metastases as well as in the area of meningioma and other non-malignant tumors including schwannomas, pituitary tumors, spinal and peripheral nerve tumors, and many others that have traditionally not been included in the editorial mandate of SNO’s other titles.
In a very short period of time, Neuro-Oncology Advances has established itself as one of the leading open-access journals in the oncology and neurology space, with overall downloads exceeding 4000 per month in 2019 and 6000 in 2020, as noted in Figure 2. In addition, the journal anticipates receiving full PubMed Central indexing by the end of the year, a remarkable achievement for a new title.
Neuro-Oncology Advances total monthly PDF and HTML full-text downloads for 2019 and 2020.
SNO is indebted to the Executive Editors from SNO, EANO, and the Asian Society for Neuro-Oncology, as well as the Associate Editors, Editorial Boards, and reviewers who have worked tirelessly to ensure that Neuro-Oncology Practice and Neuro-Oncology Advances provide the highest quality research to the widest possible audience.
