About Zentralsterilisation

Zentralsterilisation

Zentralsterilisation is the international specialist journal for sterile supply processing, published every two months by the mhp Verlag in Wiesbaden. Appearing entirely in German and English since 1993, it is the official organ of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sterilgutversorgung (DGSV), the German Society for Sterile Supply. Its readership spans the managers and staff of central sterile supply departments, hygiene specialists, medical and administrative directors, nursing services and the medical-device industry. With a focus on the standardization of cleaning, disinfection and sterilization processes, practice reports and the recommendations of the professional societies, it describes itself as the first and only international specialist journal for the field.

Overview

Zentralsterilisation, styled ZENTRALSTERILISATION and published internationally as ZENTRALSTERILIZATION, is a German- and English-language trade journal for the processing of sterile medical supplies. It is published by the mhp Verlag in Wiesbaden and appears every two months, in February, April, June, August, October and December. The journal's print edition carries the ISSN 0942-6086. In the first quarter of 2026, the IVW recorded a sold circulation of 2,117 copies and a distributed circulation of 3,112 copies.

The journal's defining feature is its bilingualism: the entire magazine is published in German and English, and selected articles are additionally published in French online. This makes it accessible to an international readership in a field where standards, norms and best practices are increasingly harmonized across borders. The publisher describes it as the first and only international specialist journal for sterile supply processing, a claim that reflects the journal's unique position at the intersection of medical technology, hygiene and hospital management.

Zentralsterilisation is the official publication organ of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sterilgutversorgung e.V. (DGSV), the German Society for Sterile Supply. Members of the DGSV, as well as members of the Austrian and Swiss sister societies, receive the journal as part of their membership. The editorial leadership is in the hands of editor-in-chief Dr. Gudrun Westermann, with Wolfgang Kohnen, Wayne Spencer and C. Lambert named as editors. The journal addresses everyone professionally concerned with the reprocessing of medical devices: the managers and employees of central sterile supply departments, infection control experts, medical directors, administrative directors, technical managers, nursing services and the relevant industry.

History

Zentralsterilisation was founded in 1993 by Peter Heeg, at a time when the reprocessing of medical devices was emerging as a distinct professional discipline. The 1990s saw growing awareness of the risks associated with inadequately reprocessed instruments, the development of national and European standards for cleaning, disinfection and sterilization, and the professionalization of the staff working in central sterile supply departments. A dedicated journal was needed to give this emerging field a scientific and professional forum.

From the outset, the journal was conceived as an international publication. Rather than addressing only the German market, it published in German and English from the beginning, reflecting the international character of the medical-device industry and the cross-border relevance of sterilization standards. The mhp Verlag in Wiesbaden, a specialist publisher for medical and hygiene literature, took on the journal and has published it continuously since its founding.

Over the following decades, the journal accompanied the regulatory and technical development of the field: the introduction of European norms for washer-disinfectors and sterilizers, the validation and routine monitoring of automated cleaning and thermal disinfection processes, the recommendations of the Commission for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention (KRINKO), and the growing demands on quality management in sterile supply departments. The journal's close relationship with the DGSV deepened over time; as the society's official organ, it became the channel through which the society's guidelines, recommendations and professional debates reached practitioners.

The journal has also been a forum for the tensions inherent in a practice-oriented field. Records of the DGSV show that members have repeatedly debated the balance between scientific and practice-oriented articles in the journal, with the publisher maintaining that sufficient and flexible space is available for society contributions. This ongoing dialogue between the professional society, the readership and the publisher has shaped the journal's profile as a publication that serves both the scientific and the practical needs of sterile supply professionals.

Content and Sections

The thematic focus of Zentralsterilisation is the control and standardization of sterilization processes and of automated cleaning and disinfection. Each issue carries contributions on the validation of reprocessing procedures, the routine monitoring of washer-disinfectors and sterilizers, and the practical implementation of norms and guidelines in central sterile supply departments. Practice reports from hospitals and service providers show how standards are applied in daily work, while articles on new technologies keep readers informed about developments in equipment and processes.

The recommendations of the professional societies form another pillar of the content. As the official organ of the DGSV, the journal publishes the society's guidelines and position statements, including joint recommendations developed with partner organizations such as the German Society for Hospital Hygiene and the working group on instrument reprocessing. These publications give practitioners authoritative orientation on questions ranging from the classification of medical devices to the requirements for staff qualification.

Current topics from the industry round out the program: regulatory developments, quality management, staff training and education, and reports from congresses and professional meetings. The journal also publishes abstracts of presentations from professional gatherings and reports from the working groups that develop guidelines, documenting the scientific life of the field. The bilingual presentation, with the full text in German and English and additional French articles online, ensures that contributions reach readers beyond the German-speaking countries and that international developments are reflected in the journal's pages.

Publisher and Organization

Zentralsterilisation is published by the mhp Verlag GmbH, based at Marktplatz 13, 65183 Wiesbaden, with Andreas Klein as managing director. The mhp Verlag is a specialist publisher for medical, hygiene and sterile-supply literature, and the journal is its flagship title in the field of medical-device reprocessing. The editorial office is led by Dr. Gudrun Westermann as editor-in-chief, who has headed the journal's editorial work for many years, supported by the editors Wolfgang Kohnen, Wayne Spencer and C. Lambert.

The journal's institutional anchor is the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sterilgutversorgung e.V. (DGSV), whose official publication organ it is. The society's members, along with members of the Austrian and Swiss societies for sterile supply, receive the journal as part of their membership fee, which gives the publication a stable core readership rooted in the professional community. Advertising is handled by the publisher's own advertising administration, which markets the journal to the manufacturers of sterilization equipment, washer-disinfectors, packaging materials and related products.

The relationship between the publisher and the professional society is a defining feature of the journal's organization. The DGSV uses the journal as its primary communication channel, while the publisher maintains editorial responsibility for the publication. This arrangement, common in German specialist publishing, combines the society's professional authority with the publisher's editorial and commercial infrastructure.

Digital Presence

The journal's digital presence is centered on the mhp Verlag's online platforms, including the publisher's web shop at mhp-verlag.de, where subscriptions can be ordered and media data accessed. The publisher presents the journal's profile, circulation data and advertising rates online, addressing both potential subscribers and advertisers in the sterile-supply industry. The journal's website at zentralsterilisation.de serves as the publication's digital shop window.

For a specialist journal in a highly regulated technical field, the digital offering functions primarily as a professional working tool. Readers can access information about current issues, consult the publisher's media materials and order subscriptions or single issues. The online publication of French-language articles extends the journal's reach beyond its bilingual print core. As with many society-linked specialist journals, the print edition remains the anchor product, distributed to subscribers and society members, while the digital channels provide information, ordering facilities and supplementary content. The combination of a stable bilingual print journal, an institutional anchoring in the DGSV and a functional digital presence positions Zentralsterilisation as the central publication of the international sterile-supply community.