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The medical imaging community, especially attendees of the SPIE Medical Imaging (MI) conference, have repeatedly voiced the need for a peer-reviewed avenue for the research they present at the conference. The over 1200 attendees to MI come from academia, industry, government labs, and medical institutions, with varying publication needs. Having both the proceedings of the conference and now this peer-reviewed Journal of Medical Imaging will fulfill these multiple needs, as well as introduce an effective mechanism for the dissemination and archiving of scientific research and developments in medical imaging from proceedings to peer-reviewed journal. The scope of JMI will initially match that of the SPIE MI conferences including the fields of physics of medical imaging, tomographic reconstruction algorithms, image processing, computer-aided diagnosis, visualization and modeling, PACS and imaging informatics, image perception and observer performance, technology assessment, ultrasonic imaging, image-guided procedures, robotic interventions, digital pathology, and biomedical applications in molecular, structural, and functional imaging. Note, however, JMI is an open and international journal and welcomes contributions from all researchers working in these and related areas of medical imaging. The response to our initial call for papers in October 2013 for submissions to JMI has been extraordinary. Six months later, as our first issue of JMI “goes live,” we have received 66 submissions from 18 countries. SPIE MI brings together investigators from academia, medical institutions, industry, and government labs for a week of intense presentations, coffee-break discussions, and evening workshops. JMI will include aspects from the oral and poster presentations as well as from the evening workshops, allowing for the communication and peer-reviewed archive of scientific developments, associated translational and clinical applications, reviews, communications, and recommendations for the field. The journal will be responsive to the medical imaging community, who will have opportunities at the annual SPIE MI meeting to give input and help shape the journal. In addition to contributed journal articles, JMI will periodically have special sections on “Pioneers in Medical Imaging,” with the first one honoring the accomplishments and impact on the field of Robert F. Wagner, to be included in an upcoming issue being overseen by guest editors Kyle Myers and Weijie Chen. Other issues of JMI will include special sections, letters, book reviews, and reviews on focused topics in medical imaging as well as highlights from the annual MI symposium. Potential emerging technologies, such as the physics and engineering of multimodality imaging linking anatomical imaging with functional, molecular, and metabolic imaging; digital pathology with the link across spatial resolution scales between macro- and microimaging; and imaging and genomics, are expected to be included in future issues. I am extremely grateful to the JMI editorial board (listed at spie.org/x102997.xml) and the SPIE journals staff (including Eric Pepper, Karolyn Labes, Mary Summerfield, Rita Davis, and Gwen Weerts), who all have graciously given their time and effort to the successful launch of JMI. I am also pleased to say that all papers published in JMI will be freely available to everyone through 2015. Please enjoy this inaugural issue. I hope you will consider JMI when deciding where to submit your next journal paper. |
