From The Italian Journal of Gender-Specific Medicine to Journal of Sex- and Gender-Specific Medicine: why a new title for our biomedical Journal?

Giovannella Baggio1,3, Walter Malorni2,3

1University of Padua, Padua, Italy; 2Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy; 3Scientific editors, Journal of Sex- and Gender-Specific Medicine

In 2015, thanks to a visionary small group of colleagues involved in the field of sex and gender-based studies, The Italian Journal of Gender-Specific Medicine was founded. The idea was to develop a multidisciplinary approach to the field taking in consideration biomedical, psychosocial and political sciences. However, in the course of these years, general conditions of this field of investigation have been modified thanks to a plethora of scientists (both researchers and physicians) so that the scenario in which we are moving is deeply changed both in Italy, where the Journal was born, and worldwide.

The Journal, in Italian and English languages at the beginning and only in English since 2020, gave a strong support to the growth of the field of gender medicine investigations publishing 26 issues with a total of more than 1,200 pages of reviews and original articles with site visits that are growing up constantly (about 100 pages/day and more than 40,000 pages read). Papers dealing with different medical fields such as cardiology, infectious diseases, immunology, neurology, oncology, orthopedics, respiratory diseases and endocrinology, as well as basic research, genetics and pharmacology have been published so far. In addition, some articles dealing with further important issues such as psychology and sociology along with inequalities, global health and policy issues have been considered. These works came from several different Countries worldwide. Therefore, the complex framework of the multidisciplinary approach typical of gender medicine has been covered at our best. The Journal is indexed in Scopus and we are applying to PubMed in order to be included in this database.

Moreover, an important law has been approved in 2018 in Italy accompanied by an action Plan, introducing gender medicine in the clinical practice as well as in all health care professional curricula in Italy (you can find online this document at https://issuu.com/pensiero/docs/gender-specific-abstract-book-igm22).

We are grateful to all the Authors and Reviewers for their invaluable contribution to the Journal. We are deeply grateful to Luca De Fiore, Director of Il Pensiero Scientifico Editore, for having believed in and supported this important dimension of medicine as well as to Mara Losi, Executive Editor for her editorial help.

Based on the international experience described above, we are now proud to announce that our Journal is changing its title as follows: Journal of Sex- and Gender-Specific Medicine. This new title aims to underline the international dimension of the Journal and the importance to open the Journal to basic sciences in addition to clinical and psychosocial sciences either in sex-related (biological) aspects or in gender-related (sociocultural) aspects.

Editorials, narrative or systematic reviews, original articles, commentaries and brief communications, and special articles in areas such as health policy, ethics and health care delivery are welcome. The Journal remains devoted to the study of the sex and gender differences in all diseases and it is addressed to clinical researchers, pharmacologists and to all the scientists working in basic, clinical and translational research as well as in the scientific fight against inequalities in health and disease. The Editorial board and the Scientific Committee of the Journal have deeply been renewed, to include scientists with different skills and with a different approach to the study of sex and gender disparity. Our ‘special’ relationships with the International Society of Gender Medicine (IGM) provide us an excellent facility in endeavoring for an international vision of sex and gender medicine state of the art and future directions.