The SIU Journal has officially launched! After a lot of behind-the-scenes preparation, the on-line system for journal submission was opened for business in early June, 2020 (siuj.org). This is an exciting milestone for the fledgling Journal and marks the beginning of a key new initiative for the SIU that will be an important part of the organisation for years to come.
The SIU has a long history of partnering with some of the key urologic journals, including BJU International, Urology and, most recently, the World Journal of Urology. These have always been valuable collaborations and we have viewed them as an important benefit of SIU membership. In the meantime, however, the SIU has experienced enormous growth, and, with over 10,000 members currently, we saw this as an opportune time to launch our own journal that we can tailor to the needs of our truly global membership.
The challenge for a new journal is competing in the increasingly crowded space of urologic journals. Conversely, there is a growing number of good quality publications from around the world. We hope to reflect the character and spirit of the SIU in the Journal, and to attract both readership and authorship from across the global urologic community, starting but not limited to our own membership. We will introduce regular features such as ‘Urology Around the World’ to showcase global urologic practices and experiences. We have structured our editorial board to be representative of all regions of the world, and have specifically introduced regional editors to champion the Journal in their respective regions – but also to champion their region in the make-up of the Journal. We aim to be nimble and responsive so that we can adapt to the changing needs of our members. We believe that the combined energy invested by the editorial board is the central feature of creating a successful journal.
A key feature of the SIUJ will be that it is open access. This, however, should not invoke any negative connotations that unfortunately arise with many open access journals. First, we will institute rigorous peer review at the highest standards. Furthermore, we will not charge exorbitant publication fees. SIU members can submit manuscripts without a fee, and non-SIU members are asked to pay a fee between $75 and $225 which is $25 more than the membership fee for their region of the world. The obvious alternative, of course, is simply to become a member and submit for free. We are sending a very clear signal with this policy. With the SIUJ no publisher is earning large profits from the hard work of the urologists and other health care providers who are doing the writing and reviewing. When you are invited to review for SIUJ, you know you are not being exploited. Any profits in the future will return to the SIU, which will invest these in programmes for members – meaning all benefits flow back to the urologic community.
Please join me and the entire SIUJ editorial team in embracing our new Journal and making it a lasting success!
SIU WEBINAR: Iberoamerican (Spanish) and European (English) Series What is Happening in Urology Around the World?
