Launching the European Stroke Journal: The European Stroke Organisation perspective

A specialist medical society has multiple strands to its activities. These include education, research, communication, promotion of best practice, political influence and maintenance of an esprit de corps, an identity and fellowship that support its members and encourage others to work in the field. The European Stroke Organisation (ESO) has been extremely active in building all of these strands. This first issue of the European Stroke Journal (ESJ) represents attainment of our latest target. Here, our organisation can disseminate research, guidelines and other important scientific messages not just to ESO members but to the medical community generally. In all of our work, ESO is striving to apply transparent and fair policies, and to put scientific rigour above political expediency. The journey towards our new journal has followed these principles and in the hands of its first editors and publisher, we are confident that it will be recognised as a major force in stroke medicine.

Stroke management is at a pivotal juncture. In the last 12 months, we have established beyond doubt that even major acute stroke can be treated effectively to transform the outlook for its victims. This exciting development is just the beginning of a new era, bringing its own challenges. We have still to refine criteria for selection of appropriate patients, we have still to streamline referral systems, we have still to train and coordinate the interventional teams who will deliver treatment. ESO is developing advice on these topics. ¹ Interventional treatment should complement organised stroke care that includes access to rapid assessment and treatment with intravenous thrombolysis. Not all regions yet have optimised such systems. ESO is active both in supporting the educational and political needs of countries that are still strengthening their services, such as those in eastern Europe via the ESO-EAST programme and in assessing and certifying levels of provision through its stroke unit certification programme.

Rigorously developed guidelines provide the framework for best practice. ESO has a very active guidelines team that will keep our new journal busy with its recommendations, though we recognise the value of new technology and will offer new guidelines also through a stroke guideline app for use in mobile devices.

ESO has a vigorous educational programme that ranges from a summer school for young stroke specialists, a master’s programme, a winter school for interventional teams and a wide range of courses and workshops within the annual ESO conference. The conference in early summer provides the society’s principal opportunity for debate, exchange of ideas and research findings but it is supplemented later each year by either the European Stroke Science Workshop or ESO-Karolinska Stroke Update. All activities are listed via ESOs webpages at http://www.eso-stroke.org/eso-stroke/home.html.

Thus, there is a pressing need for an official journal for our vibrant and growing organisation. The new ESJ has been established by ESO to fulfil that need, and is wholly owned by ESO, but its editors have been granted full editorial independence. On behalf of all ESO fellows and members, we congratulate our editors and publisher in bringing out this first issue on schedule and with excellent content, and we look forward to a strong and creditable future for both ESO and ESJ.