Editorial

When this journal was founded in 1936 it was the first medical publication devoted solely to neurosurgery. Originally it was possible to publish in this journal in several languages and abstracts were presented in several languages. The original intention to reach a multinational readership is clearly recognisable and stems from the fact that no other journal was devoted to this topic at that time.

Until a few years ago publications in this journal could be submitted both in English and German and currently all articles are published in English only. The reason is obvious - in today's world of science English has become the internationally accepted language. This is especially true in the field of neurosurgery where even on a national level the language most often used for publications is English. The advantage of this is also clear, since German language articles in the past were only easily read in Austria, Switzerland and Germany and understood by many academics in the eastern part of Europe where knowledge of German is not infrequent. As Europe is growing together, Eastern Europe and the more easterly parts of Central Europe are joining, or have already joined the European Union, it is more practical, more attractive and more logical to have a journal published in the universal language with the aim to be read by many European colleagues including those outside the German-speaking area.

In order to reflect these changes and to open up this journal for non-German-speaking neurosurgeons in recent years we were able to include more and more publications submitted from countries outside the German language area. I feel this is a positive development which deserves to be recognised. As a decision of the Editorial Board supported by our publisher it has therefore been decided to document this opening up by adding a subtitle to the official title “Zentralblatt für Neurochirurgie”. Since the classic name “Zentralblatt“ in English means “central journal” it was felt that the title “Central European Neurosurgery” reflects both the old tradition and the opening up of this journal to a wider readership. We hope that the “Zentralblatt für Neurochirurgie - Central European Neurosurgery” will be seen as a useful addition to the European landscape of neurosurgical journals. In addition to the international new subtitle, the outer appearance of our journal will change: Since the silver cover page is characteristic for all international Thieme journals, the cover page of “Zentralblatt für Neurochirurgie - Central European Neurosurgery” will also appear in silver, starting with the first issue of 2007. Additionally a new and modern layout will be launched with this issue.Prof. Dr. Johannes Schramm

Correspondence