Editor's Word

Dear Colleagues,

The 16th Pan Arab Cancer Congress (PACC) was convened last 28-30 April 2016 in Cairo under the auspices of the Arab Medical Association Against Cancer AMAAC and the Egyptian Cancer Society (ECS). It was a very informative event attended by 22 countries to discuss new studies and share different experiences on cancer management. One of the highlights of the congress was the adoption by AMAAC of the GCC Cancer Awareness Week as an Arab Cancer Awareness Week which is celebrated every Feb 1-7 of the year. This was a joint undertaking earlier agreed by the Gulf Center for Cancer Control (GCCC) and the Gulf Federation for Cancer Control (GFFCC). It was a good and practical decision for AMAAC to adopt this campaign since cancer statistics remain basically the same for the Arab population who share common risk factors, genome, environmental factors, habits and lifestyle. Combining the efforts and resources of the GCC and the rest of the Arab countries would generate a strong unified message and maximize resources towards our common goal against cancer.

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We begin to celebrate the 10th year anniversary of this journal this year! It seems very recent when we started to visualize a cancer journal to promote the work and achievements of oncologists in the Gulf region. Ten years later, we are surprised how fast our journal attained international recognition where readership and manuscript submission have reached the USA, UK, Europe, North Africa, India, Pakistan, Iran and as far as Philippines in Southeast Asia. The Journal has been indexed in the PubMed/Medline database since 2009 and received more than 500 manuscripts and published 235 articles in 20 issues from January 2007 to April 2016. Due to the volume of manuscripts we have been receiving, we have increased the number of issues from 2 to 3 per year since 2015.  

Our Editorial Board is composed of 90 top tier cancer experts in the Arab region and the first world. The variety of their specialities, experiences and academic backgrounds provide an interesting and unbiased perspective in the review of manuscripts. We give equal chance to all authors who present their noble studies and help them improve their work to be at par with international publications. Many of the articles we publish are requested by research institutions like Infotrieve (USA), Copyright Clearance Center (USA), The Research Investment, Inc. (USA), Fresenius Literature Service (Germany), Medical/Health Sciences Library (Australia), Universidad de Granada, Prestamo Interbibliotecario (Spain), WHO-EMRO IER/ KSP Index Medicus, Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, etc. just to name a few.

The GJO is supported by private donations and limited advertisements and does not collect any fee in any form. The GJO is a well-respected journal that many authors opt to wait to have their manuscripts published under its cover. We do not substitute quality with speed and we take our reputation very seriously as we try to publish the very best in every issue of the Journal.

Thank you all for your support!