BMC Medical Education: Choosing a women’s health career

A drop in the number of medical students entering the field of obstetrics and gynecology in the United States led to teaching institutions making a number of changes. It was hoped that the changes would encourage students to enter the field and now, nearly 15 years later that strategy appears to have worked.

In a recent publication by Isabel C. Green and colleagues, the authors looked into which factors were the most important in determining students’ choice of an OB GYN career. Through interviews with students who had chosen to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology, Green et al. discovered which aspects of teaching and which pre-medical school experiences were most likely to lead to an interest in the field.

BMC Cancer: (Cost-)effectiveness of an internet-based physical activity support program (with and without physiotherapy counselling) on physical activity levels of breast and prostate cancer survivors: design of the PABLO trial

A new publication in BMC Cancer by Van de Wiel and colleagues looks at the protocol for the PABLO trial which aims to promote physical activity in breast and prostate cancer survivors. The trial will be using an internet-based support program to help survivors meet recommended guidelines for activity.

Improving physical activity levels for those who have completed cancer treatment has been shown to help the overall wellbeing of survivors and raise their quality of life. If the PABLO trial can show that this approach can help cancer survivors in real terms and is cost-effective, it may become a part of standard care.

BMC Health Services Research: Motivators and barriers to vaccination of health professionals against seasonal influenza in primary healthcare

As winter approaches, the public is often encouraged to seek influenza vaccination, especially for young children and the elderly. However, another high risk population which can be overlooked is health professionals. Health professionals are exposed to unique risk factors and so ensuring that they are vaccinated is especially important.

Davorina Petek and Kristina Kamnik-Jug’s recent article in BMC Health Services Research examined why vaccination rates for health professionals in Slovenia have been declining. They discovered that there were a number of diverse reasons why certain groups of health professionals were not vaccinating; the most important of which were previous negative experiences and not understanding the need for it. This important research helps pave the way for further work to be done in this field.

BMC Rheumatology celebrates its one year anniversary 

The end of November marks the first anniversary of the launch of BMC Rheumatology. In the past year the journal has published a number of exciting articles in the field, from exploring osteoarthritis patients’ beliefs regarding pain to the role of cytokines in rheumatoid arthritis. As BMC Rheumatology approaches the beginning of its second year it will continue to publish and promote exciting new research for its readership.

BMC Series welcomes new journal: BMC Chemistry 

The BMC-series has long been known for its journals covering the fields of both biology and medicine, but in January 2019 the series will be welcoming a new field: BMC Chemistry.

In a recent blog by Samuel Winthrop it was announced that Chemistry Central Journal will be renamed to BMC Chemistry in January 2019 to become the first chemistry-based journal of the BMC-series.

The journal will be headed by a group of nine Section Editors whose names will be well known by those in the field. We would encourage researchers to contact the editorial team of BMC Chemistry with any pre-submission enquiries.

We’re sure that there will be plenty of exciting news and research coming out of BMC Chemistry so keep a close eye on this newest member of the BMC community.

BMC Bioinformatics: Journal launches new thematic series: Machine learning for computational and systems biology.

Since it published its first article back in 2000, BMC Bioinformatics has constantly aimed to be at the forefront of bioinformatics research, developing and evolving as the field advances. That tradition continues to this day as BMC Bioinformatics proudly presents a brand new section: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Bioinformatics.

To celebrate this event, the journal and its Section Editor Professor Jean-Philippe Vert are pleased to announce the thematic series “Machine learning for computational and systems biology”. The thematic series is open for submissions until May 6^th 2019 and further details can be found here.

This new section, and the accompanying thematic series, represents the continuing change and progression, not just of the journal, but of the entire field.