ASTRO (American Society for Radiation Oncology)

ASTRO (the American Society for Radiation Oncology) is a leading professional association in radiation oncology that is dedicated to improving patient care through professional education and training, support for clinical practice and health policy standards, advancement of science and research, and advocacy. ASTRO has a membership of more than 10,000 members covering a range of professions including Radiation Oncologist, Radiation Therapists, Medical Dosimetrists Medical Physicists, Radiation Oncology Nurses and Radiation Biologists.

Names

The organization began in 1958 as the American Club of Therapeutic Radiologists. In 1966 it became the American Society for Therapeutic Radiologists (ASTR). In 1983 it became ASTRO (the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology). In 2008 it became ASTRO (the American Society for Radiation Oncology), keeping the acronym ASTRO while redefining its expansion. The members decided that the term "therapeutic radiology" was outdated and confusing to a general audience and that the new name would better reflect the specialty.

Publications

ASTRO publishes a weekly electronic newsletter called the ASTROgram and a quarterly magazine called the ASTROnews. Through its Communications Committee, it also publishes more than a dozen brochures for patients in English, Spanish, Arabic and Japanese explaining how radiation therapy is safely and effectively used to treat cancer and other diseases. Additionally ASTRO offers educational information for cancer patients, their family members and caregivers on RTAnswers.org.

ASTRO has a very robust scientific publishing program that includes three peer-reviewed, well-respected journals.

The International Journal of Radiation*Oncology*Biology*Physics (Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys), also known as the Red Journal, is published 15 times each year and is edited by Anthony Zietman, MD, FASTRO, who took over from James D Cox, MD, in 2012. The Red Journal boasts an impact factor of more than 4.2 and is considered the leading journal in radiation oncology. Under the new editorial leadership, the acceptance rate has dropped to about 20 percent. However, authors can also expect to hear about the disposition of their paper in about a month and the time from acceptance to print publication has dropped to about 4-5 months.

In 2011, ASTRO began publishing Practical Radiation Oncology. Also called P.R.O., it is a journal whose mission is to improve the quality of radiation oncology practice. Edited by W. Robert Lee, MD, MEd, FASTRO, of Duke University, this journal is a natural complement to the Red Journal and aims to be what Medline defines as a clinical or practice journal. These types of journals have as their dominant purpose either documenting the state of current practice, providing background for those in training or the continuing education of practitioners. The journal was initially published quarterly and expanded to publishing six times per year in 2014.

ASTRO launched an online only open access (OA) journal in 2015 called Advances in Radiation Oncology as a sister journal to the very successful Red Journal and PRO. Under the leadership of Robert C. Miller, MD, MBA, FASTRO, of the Mayo Clinic, Advances publishes original reports on novel retrospective research, hypothesis-generating series, institutional series, natural history of disease, analytics and systems innovations. It also publishes teaching cases and brief communications to capture innovations in radiation oncology.

External links

• Red Journal editorial board
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• Patient Brochures