About Allgemein- und Viszeralchirurgie up2date

Allgemein- und Viszeralchirurgie up2date

Allgemein- und Viszeralchirurgie up2date is a German-language continuing-education journal for general and visceral surgery, published in Stuttgart by the Georg Thieme Verlag. Appearing four times a year, it is built entirely around training: every issue delivers four certified CME articles, supplemented by practical SOPs, step-by-step surgical guides and summaries of international studies, so that subscribers can earn up to 48 continuing-education points per year. With around 250,000 digital uses annually, it is one of the most intensively used training media in German surgery — a journal whose readers come not for news but to keep their certification current and their knowledge systematically up to date.

Overview

German physicians must document continuing medical education to maintain their specialist status, and surgeons in particular face a double requirement: they need certified CME points, and they need knowledge that is directly applicable in the operating room and on the ward. Allgemein- und Viszeralchirurgie up2date addresses both needs in a single product. Its defining feature is the structured curriculum: rather than publishing whatever manuscripts arrive, the journal works through the entire spectrum of general and visceral surgery systematically, guaranteeing that all relevant areas of the specialty are covered over time. Readers who stay subscribed stay current automatically — "we update systematically, you stay on track," as the publisher puts it.

Each issue contains four certified CME articles that have passed peer review and are didactically prepared with summaries, key messages and case examples. Around this core, the journal provides the practical formats surgeons use in daily work: standard operating procedures (SOPs) and workflows for quality assurance, step-by-step instructions for surgical techniques, and digests of international studies relevant to practice. SOPs deserve emphasis: in modern surgical departments, standardized workflows for frequent situations — perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis, thrombosis prophylaxis, the management of anastomotic leaks, enhanced-recovery pathways — are both a quality instrument and a legal safeguard, and the journal's SOP formats give departments templates they can adapt rather than invent from scratch. The language and design are deliberately clear, aimed at high reading comfort and retention — training that is meant to be enjoyed rather than endured, in contrast to the dense, jargon-heavy style of many research journals. The subscription model (rather than open access) reflects the journal's function as a professional training service: subscribers pay for the certification infrastructure, the peer review, and the curriculum that organizes their learning.

History

The up2date concept is Thieme's answer to the professionalization of medical continuing education in Germany. As CME certification became mandatory and structured, the publisher developed a family of up2date journals — each devoted to one specialty, each built on a curriculum, each delivering certified CME articles on a regular schedule. Allgemein- und Viszeralchirurgie up2date was launched in the mid-2000s — the 2025 volume is numbered 19, placing the founding around 2007 — as the surgical member of this family.

The journal's development mirrors the evolution of visceral surgery itself. Over its nearly two decades, the specialty has been reshaped by minimally invasive and robotic techniques, enhanced-recovery protocols, new oncological concepts in gastrointestinal surgery, liver transplantation advances, and the growing role of interventional endoscopy alongside — and sometimes in competition with — classical surgery. The journal's curriculum has absorbed each wave, translating technical revolutions into structured learning: when a new technique arrives, the up2date format asks not just how it works but when it is indicated, what the learning curve demands, and how departments should implement it safely. The CME format has also evolved with digitalization — from print-based questionnaires to the Thieme CME portal where points are earned, submitted and managed online. Through these changes, the journal has maintained its quarterly rhythm and its positioning as the systematic training journal for German visceral surgeons.

Coverage and Content

The journal's coverage follows its curriculum through the full breadth of general and visceral surgery: esophageal, gastric, hepatic, pancreatic, colorectal and endocrine surgery; hernia and emergency surgery; bariatric surgery; surgical oncology; transplantation; and the perioperative disciplines — anesthesia collaboration, intensive care, pain management, nutrition, and complication management — that determine surgical outcomes. The systematic approach means that over the subscription cycle, readers encounter the entire specialty rather than a random selection of topics.

Each issue's four CME articles are the centerpiece: guideline-conform, expert-authored, peer-reviewed, and didactically structured with conclusions, memory aids and case examples that translate evidence into decisions. The SOPs and workflows address the quality-assurance side of surgical practice — standardized processes for frequent clinical situations, from preoperative assessment to complication management. Step-by-step instructions cover operative techniques in the practical detail surgeons need. The study summaries filter the international literature for practice relevance, sparing readers the work of monitoring dozens of journals. Recent featured articles illustrate the range: a 2026 piece on kidney transplantation by a multi-author team, comparative analyses of resection techniques for gallbladder carcinoma, and — among the most-read articles — practical guidance on the external post-mortem examination and death certification, a duty every physician faces and few are trained for.

Organization and Ownership

Allgemein- und Viszeralchirurgie up2date is published by the Georg Thieme Verlag KG in Stuttgart, one of Germany's leading medical and scientific publishers, which operates the entire up2date journal family across medical specialties. The journal's articles are written by clinical experts from German university hospitals and major surgical centers — surgeons selected for their authority in the topic at hand — and all CME contributions pass through peer review before publication. The professional editorial staff manages the curriculum planning, the didactic preparation, and the coordination with the Thieme CME portal.

Commercially, the journal runs on subscriptions: personal and institutional, print with online access. The subscription price reflects the training value — up to 48 CME points per year, the peer-reviewed curriculum, the didactic preparation of every article, and the digital archive. Advertising follows the specialist medical-journal model, with the publisher's media data listing display formats, the "Blickpunkt Medizin" supplements, and content services such as reprints. The Pharmedia Anzeigen- und Verlagsservice handles advertising sales from Stuttgart. With 250,000 digital uses per year, the journal offers advertisers in surgical devices, pharmaceuticals and hospital equipment a highly engaged professional audience that returns to the title quarter after quarter, year after year, without interruption.

Digital Presence

The journal's digital life centers on the Thieme e-journal platform, where subscribers read current issues and access the archive, and the Thieme CME portal, where the certification happens: subscribers complete the CME questionnaires online, earn their points, and manage their continuing-education record. The eRef knowledge portal integrates the journal's content into Thieme's broader medical information environment, and the eRef app provides mobile access with offline reading — practical for surgeons consulting an SOP or technique guide between cases.

The connect.thieme.com platform presents the journal's profile, article highlights and manuscript-submission routes to prospective authors. The publisher also offers free trial issues ("Kostenlos testen"), letting prospective subscribers test the training format before committing — a sensible offer for a product whose value lies in its didactic quality, which is best judged by reading an issue. After nearly two decades, Allgemein- und Viszeralchirurgie up2date occupies a distinctive niche in German medical publishing: not a news journal, not a research journal, but a training instrument — the quarterly mechanism by which thousands of visceral surgeons keep their knowledge current, their departments' standards aligned, and their certifications complete.