The Journal of Orthopaedics and Traumatology in the 15th year from foundation: actual achievements and future directions

In 2000 Francesco Pinino founded the Journal of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (JORT), with the plain intention of providing the Italian Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (SIOT) with a powerful communication tool, through which Italian authors could spread the results of their research activity beyond the borders of Italian language, and contemporarily the contributions of foreign scientists could be published in an Italian-based journal with a clear propensity for a worldwide circulation. At the beginning the former effect was more evident, mostly because the journal still needed to be acknowledged by the international community, but in recent years the latter became largely prevalent and made JORT a globally recognized scientific journal dealing with all aspects of musculoskeletal medicine and surgery. The submissions analysis confirms this development: in 2010, 191 manuscripts were submitted, 68.6 % of which had foreign authorship, while in 2013, 223 manuscripts were received, and 81.6 % of them had a foreign corresponding author. This positive trend seems to be confirmed in 2014, with further rise of submissions and a remarkable increase of contributions originating from countries with top quality scientific production.