Progress of the Journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology in the second decade of its existence.

PURPOSE: To investigate the progress of the Journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology (JBUON) in the second decade of its existence. METHODS: We investigated 10 volumes of JBUON, consisting of 42 issues, with regard to the number and category of articles, the contribution of authors from Balkan and non-Balkan countries, and the (co)authorship in published articles. RESULTS: In period 2006-2015, 1407 articles of different categories were published in JBUON. Most were original articles. In 2009, JBUON became listed in Science Citation Index (SCI) database and gained impact factor (IF). After that, the values of some investigated parameters (e.g. submission rate, total number of papers and the number of original articles) correlated with constant rise of the IF value. CONCLUSION: During the second decade of JBUON the journal has been gradually progressing in regard to the submission rate, the percentage of original papers, contribution of more countries other than Balkan countries, and the number of authors per article. This progress is the consequence of indexing in the SCI list in 2009, and to steadily rise of the IF value.

Importance of being indexed in important databases--effect on the quantity of published articles in JBUON.

PURPOSE: To investigate the dynamics of indexing the Journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology (JBUON) in important biomedical databases, the effects on the quantity and type of published articles, and also the countries of the (co)authors of these papers. METHODS: The process of the JBUON indexing started with EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, followed in 2006 (PUBMED/MEDLINE) and continued every second year in other important biomedical databases, until 2012 when JBUON became Open Access Journal (for even more information please visit www.jbuon.com). Including the next two years for monitoring the effect of the last indexing, we analyzed 9 volumes consisting of 36 issues that were published from January 2006 to December 2014, with regard to the number and category of articles, the contribution of authors from Balkan and non-Balkan countries, and the (co)authorship in the published articles. RESULTS: In the period 2006-2014, 1165 articles of different categories were published in J BUON. The indexing progress of JBUON immediately increased the submission rate, and enlarged the number of publications, original papers in particular, in every volume of JBUON. Authors from Balkan countries contributed in 80.7% of all articles. The average number of coauthors per original article grew slowly and was higher at the end of the investigated period than at the start (6.6 and 5.8, respectively). CONCLUSION: The progressing covering of JBUON in important biomedical databases and its visibility on international level attracted the attention of a large readership, and submission rate and the number of published articles grew significantly, particularly the number of original papers. This is the most important consequence of the editorial policy which will hopefully lead to even more progress of JBUON in the near future.

Multiauthorship and false authorship: why worrying about this?

Authorship and authorship abuse are in the focus of interest of all main actors in the publication game--authors, reviewers and editors of scientific journals. Along with the steady rise of the number of publications, the number of coauthors in multiauthored papers raises even more, some of them being undeserved authors. Because publication is the main way for evaluating scientists, authorship is prone to abuse, and thus the false/undeserved/gift authorship emerges. This dilutes the responsibility and damages the publication enterprise, thus initiating a constant struggle of scientific community against this type of scientific dishonesty. In this paper, several prevention and corrective measures with the aim to diminish such a dishonest behavior of authors are described.

Effects of a short-term differently dosed aerobic exercise on maximum aerobic capacity in breast cancer survivors: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Regular physical activity and exercise improves quality of life and possibly reduces risk of disease relapse and prolongs survival in breast cancer survivors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a 3-week moderate intensity aerobic training, on aerobic capacity (VO2max) in breast cancer survivors. METHODS: A prospective, randomized clinical study included 18 female breast cancer survivors in stage I-IIIA, in which the primary treatment was accomplished at least 3 months before the study inclusion. In all the patients VO2max was estimated using the Astrand's protocol on a bicycle-ergometer (before and after 3 weeks of training), while subjective assessment of exertion during training were estimated by the Category-Ratio RPE Scale. Each workout lasted 21 minutes: 3 minutes for warm-up and cool-down each and 15 min of full training, 2 times a week. The workload in the group E1 was predefined at the level of 45% to 65% of individual VO2max, and in the group E2 it was based on subjective evaluation of exertion, at the level marked 4-6. Data on the subjective feeling of exertion were collected after each training course in both groups. RESULTS: We recorded a statistically significant improvement in VO2max in both groups (E1--11.86%; E2--17.72%), with no significant differences between the groups. The workload level, determined by the percent of VO2max, was different between the groups E1 and E2 (50.47 +/- 7.02% vs 55.58 +/- 9.58%), as well as subjective perception of exertion (in the groups E1 and E2, 11.6% and 41.6% of training, respectively, was graded in the mark 6). CONCLUSION: In our group of breast cancer survivors, a 3-week moderate intensity aerobic training significantly improved the level of VO2max.

[Fraud in biomedical literature].

The basic ethical principles in science are internationally recognised in all disciplines of science. The first among these is honesty--both towards oneself and towards others. The betrayal of this principle can be seen as deviant behaviour, which may result in the most serious violation of the high ethical standards of science--scientific fraud. Fraudulent behaviour in biomedical sciences is particularly damaging, since all diagnostic and treatment decisions are based on what is published in medical literature. The betrayers of science undermine, to a great extent, the public trust in science, and may destroy the confidence scientists have in each other as well, which is a grave danger to science itself. In this article, several high profile cases of scientific fraud--involving falsification, fabrication of data, and plagiarism--are described. The damaging effect they had on both science and the scientific community led to the codification of the concept of Good Scientific Practice (GSP)--an international quality standard for designing, conducting, recording, and reporting research. The concept of GSP sets internationally valid benchmarks for quality assurance, and also provides safeguards against scientific dishonesty and fraud.