archives of breast cancer: an academic multidisciplinary breast cancer forum

welcome to archives of breast cancer (abc), a new journal with sole focus on breast diseases and especially breast cancer. breast cancer is a devastating disease that impacts many women and threatens their health and wellbeing. a large number of health professionals from a wide spectrum of clinical disciplines, such as surgery, medical oncology, public health, pathology, radiation oncology, diagnostic radiology, and nuclear medicine, are involved in dealing with such a challenging and common disease. the concept of applying a multidisciplinary approach to clinical and non-clinical aspects of breast cancer has been found to be of vital importance to the understanding of this prevalent type of cancer. such collaboration can also improve the quantity and quality of the research in this field. to this end, journals which choose to publish multidisciplinary articles as their primary focus can serve as the academic forum to share ideas from a variety of expertise. archives of breast cancer can certainly add to the depth and quality of the research in the field. articles on a single topic would be readily available to the readers from multiple disciplines and all in one journal. this would eventually lead to fruitful interaction among specialists seeking to investigate this disease, yet,from different perspectives. the benefits of this interaction in the process of devising appropriate strategies and approaches in dealing with the problem are crystal clear. the world of medical sciences has witnessed an abundant increase in the quality and quantity of breast-cancer-related research. in the past 20 years, the number of published articles indexed in pubmed from 1994 to 2014 is more than 5 times than the number published before 1993 (about 170,000 compared to 30,000). meanwhile, the number of pubmed indexed medical journals dedicated to breast cancer research has also risen from 5 in 1993 to 17 in 2014. this increasing trend highlights an essential need for development of a journal that will specifically publish breast-cancer-related articles and papers. it will pave the way for those who are interested in the subject and who seek to find the results of the most recent research in this field. thus, this journal, as its main goal, provides an opportunity for better communication and interaction among medical practitioners, basic science researchers, and health care professionals interested in breast diseases. to achieve this goal, abc benefits from one of the most qualified editorial boards selected from related specialties with various academic affiliations. the vision of abc is to become a source of reliable and wellresearched articles focusing on breast cancer. second, it intends to be an outstanding media, introducing to the world of medicine, cutting edge technologies, recent clinical approaches, diagnostic and practical methods, and even surgical details crucial in dealing with breast cancer. we hope that we can make a considerable contribution to the prevention, early detection, management, and rehabilitation of patients suffering from breast cancer. all the members of abc editorial staff believe that collaboration and interaction amongthe related scientists, physicians and surgeons, social experts, and policy makers from the four corners of the world would be the ultimate means to achieve the goals of the journal.