Since 2017, Prof. Hausegger has been at the helm of CardioVascular and Interventional Radiology (CVIR), CIRSE’s flagship journal and the longest-standing publication in the field of interventional radiology. With his term coming to an end in the fall, he reflects on the journal’s development over the past eight years and his hopes for interventional radiology publishing in the future.
CIRSE Insider: What motivated you to become CVIR Editor-in-Chief in 2017?
Hausegger: I began working in interventional radiology in the early 1990s and have been a CIRSE member since 1991. Over the years, I have witnessed significant advancements in IR and, working in an active department, contributed to introducing many new procedures into clinical practice. Advancing IR involves both basic and clinical research, which are areas in which I have been always very interested. Scientific publishing is the way to communicate new research data. Being the editor-in-chief of a journal such as CVIR, which is recognized and appreciated throughout the international IR community, I had access to the latest research data and the responsibility to evaluate these results in a fair and unbiased way. My motivation for this role was to perform at my best.
CIRSE Insider: What makes CVIR so important to the field of IR?
Hausegger: In collaboration with the section and regional editors, editorial board members and the editorial team in Vienna, we established our vision: CVIR as the global home of IR. This meant representing all fields of IR as well as all corners of the world. To reach this goal, at the beginning of my term, I restructured the editorial board and introduced section editors who are experts in different subfields of IR. Later on, I also expanded the regional editors and invited editors from around the globe. Guided by this vision, we successfully enhanced CVIR’s standing as the leading IR journal worldwide. This position, in turn, attracted more authors motivated to publish the latest IR research addressing technical and clinical aspects in CVIR.
CIRSE Insider: What did you focus on? Did you want to hit any particular targets?
Hausegger: Certainly, one target for any journal always is to increase its impact factor, and we have been very happy to see a steady increase of CVIR’s impact factor over the years, making it the IR journal with the highest impact factor as per date. However, focusing on impact factor alone would certainly not be the right strategy, as we want CVIR to also to be a readable and educational journal. At the same time, we want to offer authors the best possible service by maintaining reasonable turnaround time.
Another target was, as already mentioned, to be the global home of IR and with this in mind, we tried broadening our scope to include all kinds of image-guided interventions. Accordingly, we appointed editors for multiple sections along the way, including previously underrepresented areas such as neuro-interventions, paediatric interventions, and, most recently, artificial intelligence. We also published regular special sections to highlight timely and trending topics such as oncological interventions, COVID-19, aortic interventions, radiation protection, transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt, radioembolization, dialysis access interventions, musculoskeletal interventions, deep venous interventions, and most recently, pain management.
Another target was to increase the visibility of the journal. In 2020, we introduced regular workshops (online and in person) for both authors and reviewers. For each event, I collaborated closely with the editors, and together we organized events in different countries, not only in Europe but also overseas; Brazil, Dubai, India, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam….
Lastly, I had another target which was to make CVIR a lively journal, and the life of a paper starts after acceptance. With this in mind, I introduced new initiatives with my editors to help promote the research we publish, such as a video series highlighting authors titled “Let’s Krok About It”, perfectly moderated by our social media editor Miltos Krokidis, and daily social media posts. In addition, we added visual abstracts as a publication category.
CIRSE Insider: What were some of the biggest challenges?
Hausegger: The main challenge with a journal like CVIR is to manage volume and to run a professional process which mostly depends on voluntary support. The editorial board and reviewers contribute their free time to the journal and that is greatly appreciated. With an increasing number of submissions, the workload for everyone increases and it is not always easy to distribute this load equally. I tried my best to avoid overburdening colleagues by constantly increasing the reviewer pool and supporting the section and regional editors as much as possible in their daily work.
CIRSE Insider: What accomplishments are you proudest of?
Hausegger: We made our vision a reality. Today, CVIR is the highest-ranking IR journal. It is also the official journal of 23 national IR societies, and we think that many more will join in the future. Our section editors and editors, as well as editorial board members, stem from around the globe and serve as ambassadors for CVIR and IR worldwide. All the initiatives we introduced have resulted in an increased awareness of CVR overall and have led to a steadily increasing number of submissions and downloads, as well as a steadily rising impact factor.
CIRSE Insider: What is your advice to authors who would like to submit to the journal?
Hausegger: Adhere to a systematic writing process and seek guidance from an experienced mentor. Another basic rule is to adhere to the publication guidelines of every specific journal; read the instructions for authors carefully and try to maintain a clear structure throughout the manuscript. If you get a “reject”, don’t give up; revise the manuscript keeping in mind the comments of the reviewers and find an alternative journal where you can submit your paper.
The editorial decision is based on the quality of the submitted paper and the underlying study. Manuscripts should be well-prepared, thoroughly proofread, and free from errors to be considered for acceptance.
CIRSE Insider: What would you say to young physicians who might be hesitant to submit to a journal as prestigious as CVIR?
Hausegger: There is no reason for hesitating. Yes, CVIR’s rejection rate is about 75%, therefore the chance to get a “reject” is quite high. However, the editorial decision is unbiased and fair. Therefore, it always depends on the quality of the submitted paper and the underlying study whether acceptance can be considered.
CIRSE Insider: What are your hopes for the journal as you hand over the baton?
Hausegger: I am confident that my successor, Tiago Bilhim, will build on CVIR’s achievements and lead it to further growth.
CIRSE Insider: What’s next for you?
Hausegger: I am adjusting to spending less time working on the computer. However, I am always willing to share my experience with early-career researchers and colleagues and help them with their scientific writing and publishing. Otherwise, I look forward to focusing on my many other interests and spending more time in the mountains.
CIRSE Insider: Anything else you would like to add?
Hausegger: I would like to thank CIRSE for entrusting me with this pivotal role, and all authors, reviewers, and editorial board members for their contributions over the year.
