Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to introduce the second issue of the J Turk Ger Gynecol Assoc in the publishing year of 2017.

J Turk Ger Gynecol Assoc is the Official Publication of the Turkish German Gynecology Association (TAJEV). Our journal publishes original articles and research studies on: scientific advances, new medical and surgical techniques, obstetric management, and clinical evaluation of drugs and instruments.

In addition to its authoritative articles and studies, J Turk Ger Gynecol Assoc continues to feature the sections that obstetricians and gynecologists around the world have come to depend upon: Current Commentaries, Expert Clinical Series, Personal Perspectives, Editorials, and Letters. J Turk Ger Gynecol Assoc rigorous editorial policies ensure that all articles are of the highest quality and that they are published while current. These policies have made The Journal one of the most respected and most consulted journals in the world.

J Turk Ger Gynecol Assoc is the most complete and reliable source of information on current developments in women’s health care. Audience: Obstetricians, Gynecologists, General Practitioners, Family Practitioners, Endocrinologists, Gyno-Oncologists.

Today I will give you some information about Impact Factors (IF) and ten highlight points on how to increase your impact factor. Impact factors are heavily criticized as measures of scientific quality. However, they still dominate every discussion about scientific excellence. They are still used to select candidates for positions as PhD student, postdoc and academic staff, to promote professors and to select grant proposals for funding. As a consequence, researchers tend to adapt their publication strategy to avoid negative impact on their careers. Until alternative methods to measure excellence are established, young researchers have to learn the “rules of the game” and young scientists often need advice how to reach higher impact factors with their publications.

Young researchers often wonder whether the impact factor or the number of citations is more relevant. This question is difficult to answer. My very personal view is that citations become increasingly important with increasing maturity of the career of a scientist.

The following strategies are well known among senior scientists and will primarily help young researchers to look for feasible ways to improve their studies within the limits of their contract and budget.

    1.    Look for a mechanism not for a phenomenon
    2.    Address the same question with additional methods
    3.    Re-analyse your samples with a different or more complex method
    4.    Add fancy techniques
    5.    Develop a fancy technology
    6.    Collaborate with a statistician
    7.    Fuse smaller studies
    8.    Collaborate with experts in the field
    9.    Look for a journal with the perfect scope and check where your competitors publish
    10.    Submit to a journal with a much higher impact factor to get reviewers comments

The June issue has traditionally concentrated on systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials. The papers in this issue come from Turkey, Germany, United Kingdom and our neighbour Greece. The prevalence of unsuspected uterine sarcomas in those undergoing uterine fibroid surgery is of concern, and this issue is particularly important when laparoscopic power morcellation is used. A retrospective single-center study from Germany; the records of all 2275 patients with uterine fibroids and uterine sarcomas from 2003 to 2015 were reviewed and they found the frequency of unsuspected uterine sarcomas was 1/2269 (0.044%) among women who underwent myomectomies and hysterectomies to treat presumed benign uterine fibroids. Another interesting paper from Germany focused on breast cancer surgery technique. The impact of local tumor control on the survival of patients with breast cancer is also influenced by the precision of radiotherapy.

Additionally, patients demand an appealing cosmetic result. This makes “clinical” markers such as scars unreliable for radiotherapy planning. A simple way of identifying the tissue at risk is by intra-surgical clipping of the tumor bed. Their results show that the use of surgical clips can reduce the diameter of the radiotherapy field and increase the accuracy of radiotherapy planning. With the placement of surgical clips, more tissue at risk is included in the radiotherapy field. Less normal tissue receives radiotherapy with the use of surgical clips. You will find a good study from expert surgeons that studying surgical staging in locally advanced cervical cancer. This issue’s subjects are mainly focused on oncology. A good paper from United Kingdom and Greece focused on robotic intervention for vulvar carcinomas. Robotic inguinal lymph node dissection is a safe and oncologically effective but expensive and time-consuming approach in patients with penile cancer or melanoma. However, it is related with less postoperative complications, especially less lymphocele or lymphedema rates, and can improve the patients’ quality of life while minimizing cost for health systems.

I hope you will enjoy reading the articles mentioned above and all the other articles in this particular issue.

I would also like to inform you about the sixth Social Responsibility Project of Turkish German Gynecological Education and Research Foundation (TAJEV), which will be held on September 8-9, 2017, in Antakya - Turkey. Antakya is a city of great religious importance. It was the home of several Roman temples and its suburb, Daphne. Antakya also played an especially important role in Christian history: it was the base for Paul’s missionary journeys, where Jesus’ followers were first called “Christians” (Acts 11:26) and where the Gospel of Matthew was probably written. The project held in this beautiful city is traditionally organized from four steps; public awareness meeting with participation of the locals, the scientific meeting with participation of health professionals, performing of the advanced operations and medical examination/screening to local women, and finally a medical device donation to a local hospital. We believe our project could be considered a success if only one maternal death is prevented. Since it is these small steps which may one day make the difference. We would be excited to have our colleagues join us in this intense scientific activity.