About Der Onkologe

Der Onkologe

Der Onkologe is a German-language medical specialist journal for oncology, published by Springer Medizin in Berlin. Since 2022 the journal has continued under the title Die Onkologie, as part of a publisher-wide programme replacing older titles based on male professional designations with discipline-based names. It appears twelve times a year and is aimed at physicians working in cancer care in hospitals and private practice. Each issue is built around a single current main topic, covered in comprehensive review articles written by recognised specialists and planned by an independent editorial board. The journal also serves as an organ of the German Cancer Society (Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft) and offers certified continuing medical education (CME) in every issue, allowing readers to earn training credits online.

Overview

Die Onkologie, founded in 1997 as Der Onkologe, is one of the leading practice-oriented oncology journals in the German-speaking world. It is published by Springer Medizin Verlag, part of Springer Nature, which is headquartered in Berlin and Heidelberg and is one of the largest publishers of medical specialist literature in Germany. The journal follows a monthly rhythm, and by early 2026 it had accumulated more than 360 published issues across nearly three decades of continuous publication.

The editorial concept is deliberately practical rather than purely academic. Instead of original research papers, the core of each issue consists of extensive review articles on a current focus theme, such as a specific tumour entity, a new class of therapies, or an emerging diagnostic method. These reviews synthesise the state of scientific evidence and translate it into concrete recommendations for daily clinical work. The focus topics are selected by an independent board of editors, after which established experts write the coordinated contributions, so that each themed issue reads as a coherent whole rather than a loose collection of articles.

The readership is interdisciplinary. Oncology today is not a single specialty but a field that touches internal medicine, radiology, surgery, pathology, radiotherapy and psycho-oncology, and the journal explicitly addresses physicians across all of these disciplines who are involved in cancer treatment. Its language is German, which sets it apart from the many English-language oncology journals and makes it a standard reference for German-speaking practitioners who need reliable, evidence-based updates without working through international literature.

A fixed component of every issue is the section for certified continuing medical education. These CME articles present verified results of scientific research in a compact form and allow physicians to check what they have learned with a short test, earning CME points online. For practising doctors in Germany, who are required to document ongoing training, this feature makes the journal a practical working tool rather than just a reading object.

History

Der Onkologe was launched in 1997 by the Springer publishing group, at a time when oncology was rapidly expanding as a field and German-speaking physicians needed a practice-focused journal alongside the international research literature. From the beginning, the concept was built on themed issues with review articles, a format that proved durable and was retained through all later changes.

In the years that followed, the journal established itself in the German oncology community and became the official organ of the Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft (German Cancer Society), the largest oncological scientific society in the German-speaking countries. This partnership gave the journal direct access to the society's expert network and congresses and anchored it institutionally in German cancer care.

A major turning point came in 2022. In the course of a broad equality initiative, Springer Medizin decided to replace journal titles derived from male professional designations with titles referring to the discipline itself. Under this concept, titles such as Der Anaesthesist became Die Anaesthesiologie, Der Chirurg became Die Chirurgie, Der Internist became Die Innere Medizin, and Der Onkologe became Die Onkologie. The publisher announced the change in spring 2022, and from mid-2022 the journal has appeared under its new name, with volume numbering and editorial continuity fully preserved. The archive on the publisher's platform therefore spans the years 1997 to the present under one continuous volume sequence, with the earlier volumes carrying the old title.

The rename did not alter the journal's editorial direction, frequency or target audience. What changed was only the title, reflecting a conscious decision by the publisher to use gender-inclusive naming across its portfolio. For readers and authors, the transition was seamless: citations, subscriptions and the online archive carried over, and the journal continues to be indexed in major scientific databases under its lineage.

Coverage and Content

The content of Die Onkologie is organised around monthly focus topics that mirror current developments in cancer medicine. Typical main themes include new developments in the systemic therapy of specific cancers, such as lung cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer or haematological malignancies, as well as cross-cutting subjects like immunotherapy, precision medicine, supportive care, psycho-oncology, palliative medicine and the organisation of oncological care. The editorial board selects these topics with an eye to what is most relevant for practising physicians at that moment.

Within each themed issue, several review articles approach the topic from different angles. A common structure moves from diagnostics through the various treatment modalities to aftercare and patient communication, so that a reader who works through the whole issue receives a rounded, up-to-date picture of the subject. The articles are written by recognised specialists, and the review articles undergo a formal peer review process, while all other contributions are reviewed by at least two experts before publication.

Beyond the themed reviews, the journal contains regular sections that serve the daily needs of its readers. The CME section translates research findings into certified training, with an online test that lets physicians verify their knowledge and collect points. Congress reports summarise the most important presentations from major oncology meetings, including the meetings of the German Cancer Society and large international congresses, for readers who could not attend. News sections cover developments in oncology policy, guidelines and the healthcare system, and the journal publishes information from the German Cancer Society, whose organ it is.

All manuscripts reporting studies on patients must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki, reflecting the journal's standards for medical ethics. The journal is indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded, EMBASE and Scopus, which ensures that its review articles are findable and citable in the international scientific literature despite being written in German.

Organization and Ownership

The journal is published by Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, which is part of Springer Nature, one of the world's largest academic publishers. Springer Medizin is the group's German-language medical publishing arm and is based in Berlin and Heidelberg. It publishes a large portfolio of medical journals, specialist books, medical newspapers such as the Aerzte Zeitung, and digital information services for physicians.

The publisher describes the journal's focus topics as being planned by an independent editorial board (Herausgeberboard), with the individual articles written by established experts in each field. The names of the current editors-in-chief are not confirmed in publicly accessible publisher material, so no personal editorial attribution is made here. What is publicly confirmed is the institutional partnership: Die Onkologie is an official organ of the Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft e.V., the German Cancer Society, which means the society's structures and congresses feed directly into the journal's content planning.

Like other Springer Medizin journals, Die Onkologie is produced by a professional editorial staff working with external specialist authors, reviewers and the society's committees. The business model is the standard one for German medical specialist journals: institutional and personal subscriptions in print and online, supplemented by advertising from the pharmaceutical and medical-technology industries, which is presented separately from editorial content in line with German press and medical advertising rules.

Digital Presence

The journal's digital home is the Springer Medizin platform at springermedizin.de, where all issues from 1997 onward are archived and searchable. Readers can access the current issue, browse the archive by year and topic, and read the most-read articles, which the platform highlights automatically. Online-first articles are published ahead of the print issue and are citable via their digital object identifier (DOI), so new findings reach readers without waiting for the monthly print cycle.

The CME offering is fully integrated into the digital platform. After reading a CME article, physicians can complete the associated knowledge test online and receive their CME points directly, a workflow that has become standard for German medical journals and is particularly convenient for doctors in busy clinical practice. The platform also supports institutional access for hospitals and universities, as well as personal subscriptions that combine print and digital reading.

Springer Medizin maintains a broader digital ecosystem around its journals, including newsletters, topic pages and the springermedizin.de news service, in which content from Die Onkologie appears alongside material from the publisher's other oncology titles. The journal itself does not operate standalone social media channels under its own name that are publicly documented; its visibility on social platforms runs through the publisher's and the German Cancer Society's accounts. For authors and readers, the central point of contact remains the journal's page on the Springer Medizin platform, which also provides submission information and the journal's editorial policies.