About SMW
Swiss Medical Weekly, which began publication in 1871 as “Correspondenz-Blatt für Schweizer Aerzte”, is an international peer-reviewed medical journal following the Public Service Open Access model (also known as Diamond or Platinum Open Access). Public Service Open Access means that the articles are published fully open access and that the journal does not charge any article-processing charges. Articles are published continuously online. Information on newly published articles also appears in the print journal Swiss Medical Forum, which is sent to all members of the Swiss Medical Association FMH.
The Swiss Medical Weekly accepts for consideration original and review articles from all fields of medicine. The quality of SMW publications is guaranteed by a consistent policy of rigorous single-blind peer review. All editorial decisions are made by research-active academics. The quality of the editorial work and publishing ethics are maintained without compromise by the editorial board. SMW adheres to the “Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing”. The funding association responsible for the journal, the supporting association SMW, guarantees the editorial independence of the journal. The editors have total responsibility, authority, and accountability for the scientific content of the Swiss Medical Weekly. In order to maintain editorial independence, the principles formulated by the World Association of Medical Editors (“The Relationship Between Journal Editors-in-Chief and Owners”) are observed.
Articles are published continuously online and included in PubMed and Web of Science. Information on newly published articles also appears in the print journal Swiss Medical Forum, which is sent to all members of the Swiss Medical Association FMH.
The Swiss Medical Weekly has played a decisive role in Swiss clinical research. As a scientific platform, the journal has been contributing for 150 years to the promotion of young academics.
Previous titles: Correspondenz-Blatt für Schweizer Aerzte (1871-1919) and Schweizerische Medizinische Wochenschrift / Journal Suisse de Médecine (Schweiz Med Wochenschr) (1920-2000)
The Swiss Medical Weekly is the official scientific publication of the Swiss Society of General Internal Medicine, the Swiss Society of Infectiology, the Swiss Society of Rheumatology and the Swiss Society of Pulmonary Hypertension.
Abstracted/indexed in Index Medicus / MEDLINE; Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ); Current Contents / Science Citation Index; EMBASE; SCOPUS; ROAD; Crossref; Dimensions; Altmetric
Articles published in the Swiss Medical Weekly are preserved in CLOCKSS, a secure dark archive.
Editorial board
Editors in chief
Prof. Dr. med. Adriano Aguzzi, Editor in chief
Institute Director, Institute of Neuropathology, UniversitätsSpital Zürich, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. med. Manuel Battegay, Deputy editor in chief
Chief of the Division for Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Academic editors
PD Dr. med. Christine Baumgartner
Senior physician, Department of General Internal Medicine, University Hospital, Bern, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Nikola Biller-Andorno
Director, Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine, Center for Medical Humanities, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. med. Stefan Borgwardt, PhD
Head of the Neuropsychiatry and Brain Imaging research group, Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. med. Tobias Breidthardt
Senior physician, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Dr. med. Federico Caobelli
Responsible for Nuclear Cardiology, Radiology & Nuclear Medicine Clinic, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. med. Jean-Michel Dayer
Emeritus Professor of Medicine of the University of Geneva, Switzerland
Daniele De Luca, MD, PhD
Chief, Division of Pediatrics and Neonatal Critical Care, APHP, GHU Paris Saclay, “A.Beclere” Medical Center / Associate Professor of Neonatology, Paris Saclay University
Amit Dutt, PhD
Integrated Cancer Genomics Laboratory, Tata Memorial Centre, Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, India
Gabor Erdoes, MD, PhD
University Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University Hospital Bern (Inselspital), Bern, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. med. Aristomenis Exadaktylos
Director Department of Emergency Medicine, University Hospital Bern (Inselspital), Bern, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. med. Miodrag Filipovic
Deputy Head of the Clinic for Anesthesiology & Intensive Care, Kantonsspital St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. med. Franco Folli
Professore Ordinario di Endocrinologia, Dipartimento di Scienze della Salute, Universita' degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
Prof. Dr. med. Idris Guessous
Head of the Division of Primary Care Medicine, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
Alexander Huber, PhD
Global Head Commercial Programs, Cell and Gene Therapy, Lonza AG, Basel, Switzerland
Dr. sc. nat. Alex Marzel
Research Associate Upper Extremities and Hand Surgery, Schulthess Klinik, Zürich, Switzerland
Dr. med. Marie Méan
Senior physician, Department of Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Switzerland
Prof. Dr. med. Christian Müller
Director Cardiovascular Research Institute, Department of Cardiology, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. med. Francesco Negro
Divisions of Gastroenterology and hepatology and of Clinical pathology, University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland
Dr. Dr. Francesco Roselli, MD PhD
Group Leader, dept. of Neurology and dept. of Anatomy, University of Ulm-School of Medicine, Ulm, Germany
Dr. med. Jan Roth, MD, MSc
Division of Infectious Diseases & Hospital Epidemiology / Basel Institute for Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics (ceb), University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. med. Christian Seiler, MHA, FACS
Co-chairman of cardiology at the University Hospital, Bern, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. med. Cristiana Sessa
Clinical-scientific consultant, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Bellinzona, Switzerland
Dr. med. Dr. phil. Johannes Trück
Consultant, Division of Infectious Disease / Research group leader, Children’s Research Center, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Eleonore Foundation, Zürich, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. med. Matthias Turina
Department of General and Transplant Surgery, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Switzerland
PD Dr. med. Florence Vallelian
Senior physician, Department of General Internal Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. med. Gérard Waeber
Chief of the Department of Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Switzerland / Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
PD Dr. med. Stefan Weiler, MD PHD
Head, Division of Science, National Poisons Information Centre, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Editorial office
Natalie Marty, MD, MBA
Managing editor
e-mail: Natalie Marty
Caroline Porta
Editorial assistant
e-mail: Caroline Porta
Jan Roth, MD, MSc
Consulting managing editor
e-mail: Jan Roth
Tatjana Zehnder
Editorial assistant
e-mail: Tatjana Zehnder
Maria Oppliger
Editorial assistant
e-mail: Maria Oppliger
Victoria Wade Evans, MD
Language editor
Supporting association SMW
Our purpose
The supporting association SMW (“Trägerverein SMW”) is a non-profit organisation in charge of the Swiss Medical Weekly. The supervisory board of the supporting association bears the ultimate responsibility for the journal and its journalistic course. It ensures the editorial independence and quality of the journal and covers the editorial, publishing and development costs.
Our publishing model
In recent years, publishing companies have tended to pursue an author-pays model. In this model, the costs are shifted from the readers to the authors. For such Open Access journals, article processing charges can become an attractive business model that poses a major threat to the independence of editorial decisions, since the more articles accepted, the higher the income for the journal. The higher revenue stream though comes with the costs of a loss of quality and independence.
In order to maintain the editorial independence and control of quality, the supporting association SMW has opted for a different publishing model: the “Public Service Open Access” model (also known as Diamond or Platinum Open Access). In our model, the entire scientific content of the Swiss Medical Weekly is freely available worldwide: due to the supporting association SMW, which covers all related costs, the Swiss Medical Weekly remains independent and offers a high-quality journal without any costs for either authors or readers.
Supporting the Swiss Medical Weekly
The Swiss Medical Weekly with its unique “Public Service Open Access” model relies on the members of the supporting association SMW: in order to sustain and to continuously improve the quality and reach of the Swiss Medical Weekly, we need a strong supporting association.
Are you interested in becoming a national or international member of the supporting association SMW or do you want to donate? We would be pleased to hear from you and to answer your questions (contact).
By becoming member of the supporting association SMW your organisation
… gains visibility as a supporting member of the Swiss Medical Weekly and the Open Access community (our website has several thousand visitors each week from all over the world).
… has voting rights in the supporting association SMW.
… helps to maintain a unique information platform for healthcare professionals and (bio-)medical researchers in Switzerland.
… contributes to the further development of the Swiss Medical Weekly and the worldwide Open Access community.
… supports academics and especially young researchers in Switzerland and abroad.
… helps to improve the methodological and reporting standards of (bio-)medical research.
… invests in the advancement of (bio-)medical sciences in Switzerland.
… enables readers worldwide to freely access the large information database of the Swiss Medical Weekly with over 200 peer-reviewed publications each year.
The following institutions have joined the supporting association SMW (chronological order):
Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (SAMS)
Swiss Medical Association (FMH)
University Hospital Basel
GZO Spital Wetzikon
Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Università della Svizzera Italiana
Solothurner Spitäler AG
HFR - Hôpital Fribourgeois
University Department of Geriatric Medicine Felix Platter
Kantonsspital Baselland
Spital Zollikerberg
“Penta Plus”: Kantonsspital Baden, Spitalzentrum Biel, Kantonsspital Graubünden, Spital Simmental-Thun-Saanenland, Kantonsspital Winterthur
Swiss Society of Intensive Care Medicine
Swiss Society of Cardiology
Bibliothèque Universitaire de Médecine, Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois (CHUV)
Swiss Society of Emergency and Rescue Medicine
Zuger Kantonsspital
Kantonsspital Aarau
Kantonsspital Münsterlingen and Kantonsspital Frauenfeld (Spital Thurgau)
Swiss Paraplegic Centre and Swiss Paraplegic Research
Spitalregion Luzern-Nidwalden (LUNIS)
Stadtspital Waid und Triemli, Zürich
Stiftung für wissenschaftliche Forschung am Stadtspital Triemli
Swiss Society of Infectiology
Federal Office of Public Health
Hôpital du Jura
Swiss Society of General Internal Medicine
Hôpital du Valais
Swiss Society of Rheumatology
Contacts — supporting association SMW
Prof. André P. Perruchoud, MD
President of the supporting association SMW
Natalie Marty, MD, MBA
Managing director of the supporting association SMW
e-mail: supporting association
Prof. Ludwig T. Heuss, MD, MBA
Vice-president of the supporting association SMW
Jan Roth, MD, MSc
Deputy managing director of the supporting association SMW
e-mail: supporting association
Trägerverein Swiss Medical Weekly
Steinentorstrasse 11
Postfach 466
CH-4010 Basel
Open access license
"Swiss Medical Weekly" is an open access publication published in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.*
- ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
* "Non-commercial" means not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation. The incorporation of publications in commercial products, the use of publications to advertise for commercial products or services and any other usage that directly or indirectly pursues commercial interests is subject to the express previous consent of the publishing house as part of a written agreement.
Please send us your request in writing. Exact indication of the article from which you would like to reproduce material and detailed information about its intended use help to facilitate and expedite request processing.

Imprint
Swiss Medical Weekly
Mode of publication: continuous online publication
ISSN: 1424-3997
Title abbreviation: Swiss Med Wkly
Abstracted/indexed in Index Medicus / MEDLINE; Dimensions; Current Contents / Science Citation Index; EMBASE; Scopus
Formerly: Schweizerische medizinische Wochenschrift (1920-2000, ISSN: 0036-7672, eISSN 1424-3997) and Correspondenz-Blatt für Schweizer Ärzte (1871-1919, ISSN 0366-5461)
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