Centenary of Polish Archives of Internal Medicine

It is with great pride that we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Polish Archives of Internal Medicine (Polskie Archiwum Medycyny Wewnętrznej; Pol Arch Intern Med) this year. The first issue of the journal was published in 1923, and against all odds, it endured for the last 100 years. The standing of Pol Arch Intern Med was built on solid foundations of Polish internal medicine and the Polish Society of Internal Medicine, established in 1906. A society journal reflects the standards and aspirations of its founding body and maintains relevance to its readership by publishing papers on a wide range of topics. Despite the fact that the number of society journals has been gradually decreasing due to the growing commercialization of medical publishing, Pol Arch Intern Med started as a society journal and has maintained this status for 100 years.

The current impact factor of 5.218, which denotes an almost 4-fold increase from the first value of 1.367 in 2012 (Figure 1), is the best measure of the journal’s strong standing on a highly competitive market. This has been achieved thanks to the vision and dedication of its previous editors and editorial teams, and we will strive to continue their excellent work to maintain the journal’s success as the leading Polish medical periodical. Although the status of internal medicine has been constantly declining, especially over the recent years, Pol Arch Intern Med proves that this core discipline in Poland still attracts clinicians interested in research.

The advent of the digital era has brought huge changes for all scientific journals, and Pol Arch Intern Med was no exception. Online submission of manuscripts began in 2006 and in consequence, the average time from submission to first decision for full-length manuscripts has dropped to below 30 days. The major turning point for the journal was the introduction of English versions of articles, first printed together with Polish papers, and then solely in English to increase the visibility of the scientific research published. The journal has been open-access and available free of charge since 2008; however, to ensure the highest editorial standards, including editing services, article processing charges were implemented in 2015. The English version of the journal’s title was inaugurated in January 2017; however, both versions of the title are still valid, and the adjective Polish is present to highlight the journal’s origin. Other innovations instituted over the last 10 years comprised antiplagiarism programs as well as the introduction of clinical images instead of case reports, research letters to share preliminary results or findings from small-sized studies, and finally, the What’s new? section as part of all original papers. In addition, the journal been increasing its presence on social media. The financial support of the Polish government over many years should also be acknowledged. As a result, Pol Arch Intern Med has rapidly grown and has become one of the leading journals in terms of publishing research generated by Polish clinicians (Table 1).

Table 1. Top 15 Polish journals based on 2021 Journal Citation Reports by Clarivate Analytics

Journal	2021 impact factor
Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters	8.702
Oeconomia Copernicana	6.574
Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering	5.687
Polish Archives of Internal Medicine	5.218
Reviews on Advanced Materials Science	5.028
Biology of Sport	4.606
Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering	4.042
Pharmacological Reports	3.919
Archivum Immunologiae et Therapiae Experimentalis	3.831
Kardiologia Polska	3.710
Archives of Medical Science	3.707
Cardiology Journal	3.487
Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology	2.957
Journal of Human Kinetics	2.923
Advances in Medical Sciences	2.852

The centenary issue contains several special articles. Professor Roman Jaeschke¹ from McMaster University in Canada shares his reflections on the achievements of Pol Arch Intern Med. The history of the journal, especially during the first decades, with the presentation of the most eminent editors-in-chief, that is, Professor Antoni Gluziński and Professor Witold Orłowski, is well covered in the article by Professor Eugeniusz Kucharz.² The president of the Polish Society of Internal Medicine, Professor Jan Duława,³ shares his views on the role of internal medicine and its subspecialties in the health care system, and attempts to answer the seemingly straightforward question of “Who is now an internist?” The authors of the most cited papers over the recent years were invited to present the key advances and landmark studies on various topics. Professor Giuseppe Lippi and co-workers⁴ review a broad spectrum of medium- and long-term clinical sequelae after recovering from SARS-CoV-2 infection based on ample evidence available at the beginning of 2023. Professor Ewa Ł. Stępień and co-workers⁵ summarize the current knowledge on extracellular vesicles of various origin, their charging, and utility in diagnosis and therapy. Professor Albert W. Wu⁶ and his team discuss factors affecting the well-being and the need for enhanced emotional support for depressed and burnt out health care workers during the recent COVID-19 crisis and in the aftermath of the pandemic since “in the last decade, burnout has become endemic in health care, affecting over half of all workers in some settings.”

The next 100 years are ahead of us. On behalf of the entire editorial team, I assure that we will always serve the interests of the Polish Society of Internal Medicine and its members, and publish the best papers to show the great potential of clinical science performed in Poland. On the 100th birthday of Pol Arch Intern Med, we are celebrating its splendid achievements and wishing it as much success in the next 100 years. Let us all join together to cheer on Pol Arch Intern Med to another century of excellence!