From WEDA To EDTA To ERA: 60 Years Of Supporting European Nephrology And Counting

ERA journals 

NDT remains ERA’s leading journal, but CKJ has also achieved recognition as an important educational and training resource, integrating clinical, translational and educational research into clinical practice. CKJ evolved from the NDT Plus journal in 2011 as a fully open-access, online-only journal, publishing original articles, reviews, editorial comments and exceptional case reports. Starting from 1 January 2020, articles accepted for publication are subject to a processing charge, and ERA members have a special discount.

CLICK HERE TO NEPHROLOGY FORMULATION CISTANCHE

NDT continues publishing editorials, reviews, NDT digests, special reports (containing working group papers, position statements and guideline papers), original articles on basic research, clinical research, dialysis and transplantation, research letters and e-letters. The content covers the whole territory of nephrology research, including experimental work in animal models and molecular biology studies, clinical trials, observational studies at large and original work on health economy as applied to nephrology.

To attract the readers and help them quickly gain an overview of the purpose and results of the articles, both journals include graphical abstracts for selected papers, and all figures are redesigned by a professional medical illustrator. In line with the digital era, there is also the possibility to publish a video or audio abstract in both NDT and CKJ. NDT’s impact factor grew from 4.531 in 2019 to 5.992 in 2020, while CKJ increased its initial impact factor from 3.388 in 2019 to 4.452 in 2020, positioning both publications among the top-ranked nephrology journals (Table 4).

THE WORLD IS CHANGING… AND SO IS ERA

The world underwent many changes in 2020 that also reflected on the ERA and its activities. The pandemic has only highlighted the need for efficient and straightforward delivery of information, science and education to all ERA members for the final benefit of the patients. But in ERA, changes started even earlier. All the core ERA initiatives (the Registry, the ERBP and all webcasts of ERA-endorsed courses and congresses) were grouped under one single umbrella website in 2019 when the website received a new graphic visual look. In 2020, the Council decided to modify the mission of the European Renal Best Practice (ERBP) Committee. Instead of actively producing guidelines, a group of distinguished experts now provides factual position statements and supports the implementation of already existent guidelines in the field of nephrology. Furthermore, a European Renal Association Curatorium (ERAC) was created in May 2020 to facilitate the collaboration between the society and its supporting members and achieve goals through specific joint projects and initiatives. Finally, the ERA-EDTA endorsed initiatives, Nephrology Pathway (NEPHROPATH) and Cognitive Decline in Nephro Neurology: European Cooperative Target (CONNECT), were rewarded with EU funding support in 2020.

Since only two face-to-face meetings were held in 2020, in Glasgow on February 20–22, and in Frankfurt on July 21, Christoph Wanner, the elected president of 2020, introduced a new initiative of having virtual Council meetings bimonthly with all current Council members (Fig. 7), as driven by necessity during the pandemic. This agenda will be kept in the future, as it builds a superior collaboration among all Council members to achieve implementation of the many actions of the Association. At the General Assembly that took place on 7 June 2021, several important changes were ratified. The road to these transformations was paved in 2019 when, after many years, a new constitution was presented and approved for the first time by the General Assembly. This constitution is fully compliant with the current charity laws and more effective for the present needs of the association, allowing more flexibility for ongoing initiatives fully in line with the new code of conduct. One of these is a name change from ERA-EDTA to ERA, which was indeed approved in 2021, on the grounds that present-day communications demand shorter and simpler names for professional societies. Another important change that was introduced following the 2021 General Assembly is granting more independence to the Editors in Chief of the ERA journals by releasing them from the Council. The Council elected the new CKJ Editor in Chief Maria Jose Soler (Spain) who shall start her term in June 2022, as the first woman Editor of an ERA Journal.

BRINGING NEPHROLOGY CLOSER TO NEPHROLOGISTS

Recent years witnessed a decline in the interest in nephrology careers among residents worldwide, possibly due to perceptions of the field and training aspects. ERA was always aware of the importance of promoting interest in nephrology training among young physicians to strengthen the nephrology community and sustain a workforce adequate to meet the projected demands, new initiatives are being set up to address this important future need. ERA also focuses on the needs of nephrology trainees and dedicates several initiatives to this cause. From February 2020, the Specialty Certificate Examination (SCE) in Nephrology and the European Certificate in Nephrology, which was initially developed between ERA and the UEMS Renal Section and Boards, became a single examination called the European Specialty Examination in Nephrology (ESENeph). Its primary goal is to promote the harmonization of training across the European Union while maintaining a high standard of education. Furthermore, the ERA Fellowship program has been successfully supporting clinical research in nephrology, particularly favoring the growth of young clinical investigators. From 2017 to 2021, a total of 12 long-term and 23 short-term fellowships have been completed. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has temporarily suspended the program, which is expected to be restored as soon as global travel and health circumstances are restored. The YNP, on the other hand, continued assisting young professionals in building and improving their careers in nephrology through mentorship programs and opportunities to present their scientific works at the ERA annual congress. In 2021, a joint meeting was held between the YNP and the Japanese Society of Nephrology for the first time, featuring talks by eminent lecturers from Europe and Japan. Last but not least, a series of training courses in diagnostic and interventional nephrology, the N-Path initiative, was launched in 2021, to bring certain skills back and closer to nephrologists. The program consists of four courses dedicated to kidney biopsy and histopathology, vascular access management, ultrasound techniques and surgical techniques for correct peritoneal catheter placement, and is projected to last until 2023.

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 

ERA activities have tremendously increased and diversified in the last years, further establishing the society as the most important professional nephrologists’ organization in Europe. Many important figures from ERA’s history were mentioned in this report, but many without whom ERA would not be thriving remained unnamed, including the staff who worked for ERA and the many members from all regions who contributed to the task forces, committees, and other groups. ERA has always relied not only on the productive cooperation with national nephrology societies, but also on the successful collaboration with numerous international associations, and will continue to do so in the future.

The transforming effects of the digital era have influenced the ERA’s approach to communications since the first electronic educational journal, NDT-Educational, was installed two decades ago (now NEP). Regular ERA communications with the membership are now condensed into a fortnightly ERA newsletter, keeping additional e-mail communications to a minimum for greater impact. The website remains the primary source of information and will undergo a serious restructuring in 2022 to enhance the User Experience (UX). At the same time, ERA is steadily increasing its activity on social media and is now present on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Finally, in 2020, some previously planned initiatives have been accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These include a very successful e-seminar program that now comprises both a freely available list of titles, as well as specific ones for members only that receive EACMEE accreditation. A series of special and “practical” e-seminar courses, still with EACMEE accreditation, is also expected to be available soon.

Finally, in 2021, in view of complete transparency, the ERA Council has made major changes in the evaluation procedure of all the output and projects (including surveys) of all ERA bodies that now must go through the evaluation of the SAB. Very importantly, no current Council member is part of the SAB in order to avoid any kind of potential conflict of interest in this new evaluation procedure. We hope to see the association evolve further in the coming years and continue to promote important initiatives such as providing more space for young professionals, gender equity in nephrology, cooperation with renal patients’ associations and overall sustainability and transparency of the association.

On era-online.org, you can find more detailed reports from specific bodies and activities of ERA in the previous years as well as the current and future ones.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A special word of thanks goes to all the members of the ERA family. The society’s success and growth would not be possible without our highly valued members. CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT None related to this specific work. 

APPENDIX 

The ERA Council: Christoph Wanner, Danilo Fliser, Ivan Rychlik, Roser Torra, Ronald Gansevoort, Alberto Ortiz, Pantelis Sarafidis, Albert Ong, Mario Cozzolino, Alexander Rosenkranz, Serhan Z. Tuglular and Giovanni Gambaro. On behalf of the ERA Headquarters: Monica Fontana, Laura Azzolini, and Caroline Vinck. 

REFERENCES 

1. Drukker W. The founding of the EDTA: facts and lessons. Nephrol Dial Transpl 1989; 4: 401–407

2. Andreucci VE. The history of the ERA/EDTA. Memories of a former president. Clin Kidney J 2012; 5: 180–186 

3. Foreman KJ, Marquez N, Dolgert A et al. Forecasting life expectancy, years of life lost, and all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 250 causes of death: reference and alternative scenarios for 2016–40 for 195 countries and territories, Lancet 2018; 392: 2052–2090 

4. Gojowy D, Wieçek A. The history of the European Renal Association - European Dialysis and Transplant Association. G Ital Nefrol 2018; 35: 61–64 

5. Wing AJ, Brunner FP. Twenty-three years of dialysis and transplantation in Europe: experiences of the EDTA Registry. Am J Kidney Dis 1989; 14: 341–346