RHEUMATOLOGY INTERNATIONAL is an independent journal reflecting world-wide progress in the research, diagnosis and treatment of the various rheumatic diseases. It is designed to serve researchers and clinicians in the field of rheumatology.

RHEUMATOLOGY INTERNATIONAL will cover all modern trends in clinical research as well as in the management of rheumatic diseases. Special emphasis will be given to public health issues related to rheumatic diseases, applying rheumatology research to clinical practice, epidemiology of rheumatic diseases, diagnostic tests for rheumatic diseases, patient reported outcomes (PROs) in rheumatology and evidence on education of rheumatology. Contributions to these topics will appear in the form of original publications, short communications, editorials, and reviews. "Letters to the editor" will be welcome as an enhancement to discussion. Basic science research, including in vitro or animal studies, is discouraged to submit, as we will only review studies on humans with an epidemological or clinical perspective. Case reports without a proper review of the literatura (Case-based Reviews) will not be published. Every effort will be made to ensure speed of publication while maintaining a high standard of contents and production.

Manuscripts submitted for publication must contain a statement to the effect that all human studies have been reviewed by the appropriate ethics committee and have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in an appropriate version of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. It should also be stated clearly in the text that all persons gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study. Details that might disclose the identity of the subjects under study should be omitted.

The editor reserves the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the above-mentioned requirements. The author will be held responsible for false statements or for failure to fulfil the above-mentioned requirements.

Rheumatology International aims to publish the latest research on:

Public health issues related to rheumatic diseases
o Rheumatology in underserved populations
o Health indicators, standards of care, health care indicators and standards
o Strategies for improvement
- Health policies
- How to change practice
o How to change the vision of rheumatology worldwide
o Classification of diseases
- New diseases
- New definitions
- New criteria
o International efforts related to public health matters
o Patient empowerment
Applying research to clinical practice
o Methodology of research with registers and clinical databases
o Results of registers and clinical databases
o Audit studies on guidelines compliance
o Systematic reviews on effectiveness
o Recommendations, guidelines
o Appraisal of guidelines
Epidemiology of rheumatic diseases
o Prevalence and incidence studies
o Natural course of diseases
o Risk factors for rheumatic diseases
o Prognostic factors
Diagnostic tests in rheumatic diseases
o Validation studies
o Feasibility studies
o Systematic reviews of diagnostic tests
o Biomarkers
o Screening tests
Patient reported outcomes (PROs) in rheumatology
o Generation studies
o Validation studies, with special emphasis on transcultural validation
o Behavior of PROs in different populations
o Issues with general PROs in rheumatic patients
Evidence on Education of rheumatology
o Improving methodology to train the best students
o Recruitment of new rheumatologists
o Improving methodology to train the best residents
o Training the less young rheumatologists

Editor-in-Chief
Armen Y. Gasparyan
University of Birmingham
Birmingham, UK

Associate Editors
Tatsuya Atsumi
Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine
Sapporo, Japan

Tsvetoslav Antonov Georgiev
Medical University of Sofia
Sofia, Bulgaria

Estibaliz Loza
Instituto de Salud Musculoesqueletica
Madrid, Spain

Durga P. Misra
Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences
Lucknow, India

Olena Zimba
Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University
Lviv, Ukraine
Editorial Board
Amra Adrovic
Istanbul Universitesi Cerrahpasa Tip Fakultesi
Istanbul, Turkey

Gulseren Akyuz
Marmara University School of Medicine
Istanbul, Turkey

Christoph Baerwald
Universitatsklinikum Leipzig
Leipzig, Germany
Anastas Batalov
Medical University of Plovdiv
Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Ezgi Deniz Batu
Ankara Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences
Ankara, Turkey

Jürgen Brunner
Medical University Innsbruck
Innsbruck, Austria

Ruben Burgos-Vargas
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Mexico City, Mexico

Juan Cañete
Intitut D'Investigacions Biomediques August Pi i Sunyer
Barcelona, Spain

Ilke Coskun Benlidayi
Cukurova University, Faculty of Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department
Sarıçam/Adana, Turkey

Ljubinka Kiril Damjanovska-Krstikj
The Saints Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje
Skopje, Republic of Macedonia

Rui V. Duarte
University of Liverpool, Liverpool Reviews and Implementation Group
Liverpool, UK

Eren Erken
Cukurova University
Adana, Turkey

María Jesús García de Yébenes
Instituto de Salud Musculoesqueletica
Madrid, Spain

Tamer A. Gheita
Cairo University, Faculty of Medicine, Rheumatology Department
Cairo, Egypt

Simeon Grazio
Zagreb University
Zagreb, Croatia

Luís Sousa Inês
Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Coimbra & Universidade da Beira Interior
Coimbra, Portugal

Mariana G. Ivanova
Medical University of Sofia, Clinic of Rheumatology
Sofia, Bulgaria

Ozgur Kasapcopur
Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Medical School
Istanbul, Turkey

Ali Reza Khabbazi
Tabriz University of Medical Sciences
Tabriz, Iran

Jerzy Konstantynowicz
University of Bialystok
Bialystok, Poland

Ina Kötter
Robert-Bosch Hospital
Stuttgart, Germany

Maria Maślińska
National Institute of Geriatrics, Rheumatology and Rehabilitation
Warsaw, Poland

Ulf Müller-Ladner
University Giessen
Gießen, Germany

Alexander Novikov
Loginow Moscow Clinical Scientific Center
Moscow, Russia

Diana Novikova
Nasonova Research Institute of Rheumatology
Moscow, Russia

Koichiro Ohmura
Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine
Kyoto, Japan

Carlos Pineda
The National Institute of Rehabilitation
Mexic City, Mexico

Dimitri Poddighe
Nazarbayev University School of Medicine
Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
Jose Antonio P. da Silva
Reumatologia, Hospitais da Universidade
Coimbra, Portugal

Lucía Silva-Fernández
Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de Ferrol
Ferrol, Spain

Sekib Sokolovic
University of Sarajevo
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Elena V. Tchetina
Nasonova Research Institute of Rheumatology
Russia

Marharyta Volkava
Belarusian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education
Minsk, Belarus

Tatjana Zekic
Clinical Hospital Centre Rijeka
Rijeka, Croatia

Editor Emeritus
E.M. Lemmel
Baden-Baden

Founded in 1980 with the support of 
B. Bresnihan, E.G.L. Bywaters, K. Fehr, J.R.Kalden, K.D. Muirden, 
R. Winchester, M. Ziff