About Aktuelle Urologie

Aktuelle Urologie

Aktuelle Urologie is a German-language specialist journal for urology, published in Stuttgart by the Georg Thieme Verlag and now in its 57th volume. With six issues per year and a print run of around 5,000 copies, it reaches all practicing urologists in Germany and enjoys 100 percent name recognition in the specialty, consistently ranking second among urology journals in the LA-MED readership survey. Its program combines original and review papers with critically commented summaries of international research, and it is distinguished by the "Operative Techniken" rubric — step-by-step surgical technique guides with detailed operation sketches that earn continuing-education (CME) points. Edited by A. Merseburger and Borkowetz, the journal presents itself as the forum for practice-relevant urology.

Overview

Aktuelle Urologie serves the urologists working in German clinics and practices — one of the most procedurally active physician groups in the country, spanning oncological surgery, endourology, andrology, pediatric urology, functional urology and uro-oncology. Urology is a specialty in constant technical motion: robotic surgery has reshaped radical prostatectomy, focal therapies are challenging traditional treatment paradigms for localized prostate cancer, new drug classes are transforming the management of advanced urothelial and prostate cancer, and endourological and minimally invasive techniques continue to evolve. For the practicing urologist, staying current across this breadth is a genuine professional challenge, and the journal's entire concept is built around meeting it.

The editorial program is organized around practice relevance and continuing education. Each issue brings original and review papers with practice-relevant scientific findings, plus the journal's signature "referiert und kommentiert" section: decisive results from international research, summarized to the point and critically commented by renowned German urologists. Readers get not just the findings but an expert assessment of what they mean for German practice — a filter that busy clinicians value. The "Operative Techniken" (operative techniques) rubric, with CME accreditation, walks through the techniques of important standard operations step by step, with first-class operation sketches and understandable explanations plus the tips and tricks of experienced experts. Additional rubrics address the full professional reality: "Fragen für den Facharzt" (questions for the board exam) supports young urologists preparing for their specialty certification, "Aus der Rechtsprechung" (from case law) navigates the legal landscape, and "Management und Recht" covers the business and regulatory side of urological practice. The "Forum der Industrie" provides a press service for pharmaceutical and medical-technology industry topics.

Published in German under a hybrid model (print ISSN 0001-7868, online ISSN 1438-8820), the journal appears six times per year. Its impact factor of 0.5 (2025) and h-index of 15 are solid for a practice-oriented national journal. The publisher's media data documents its market position with unusual precision: 71.9 percent reach among German urologists, second place in the LA-MED survey, and complete coverage of the practicing urology community — numbers that make it one of the most efficient advertising media in German specialist medicine.

History

Aktuelle Urologie's roots reach back to around 1970 — the 2026 volume is the 57th, and journal databases record coverage beginning in the early 1970s. The founding era was one of rapid development for German urology: the specialty was establishing its modern identity, with endourology emerging, oncological urology expanding, and the German urological societies professionalizing. A journal devoted to the practical needs of the working urologist filled a gap that the more research-oriented titles of the time did not address.

Across the following decades, the journal accompanied urology's technical revolutions: the rise of transurethral resection techniques, extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy, laparoscopic and then robotic surgery, the prostate-specific antigen era and its controversies, and the molecular revolution in uro-oncology. Each transformation generated a need for practical guidance — how to adopt new techniques safely, how to integrate new drugs into practice, how to counsel patients amid changing evidence — and the journal's program of reviews, commented research summaries and surgical guides was designed precisely for these needs.

The "overhauled concept" ("mit überarbeitetem Konzept") that the journal now advertises reflects a deliberate renewal: the sharper focus on commented international research, the systematized surgical-technique training with CME accreditation, and the professional-development rubrics addressing exams, law and practice management. The editorship of A. Merseburger and Borkowetz — leading experts in German urology and uro-oncology — anchors the journal's scientific authority. Through the digital transformation of medical publishing, the journal added the digital services that now complement the print issues while maintaining its six-issue rhythm and its positioning as German urology's practice forum.

Coverage and Content

Each issue's program reflects the specialty's current agenda. Original papers present practice-relevant findings from clinical research; reviews and focus topics provide overviews of the key themes of daily practice — the management of localized and advanced prostate cancer, bladder cancer, renal cell carcinoma, urolithiasis, benign prostatic hyperplasia, incontinence, erectile dysfunction, andrological and pediatric topics, and the organizational questions of urological care. A glance at a recent issue's program illustrates the range: original work on whether preoperative renal tumor biopsy affects outcomes in partial nephrectomy, reviews on angioembolization of renal hemorrhage, CT-guided brachytherapy for renal tumors, prostatic artery embolization for benign prostatic hyperplasia, image-guided irreversible electroporation and cryoablation for kidney and prostate tumors.

The "referiert und kommentiert" section distills international research into summarized, critically assessed findings — urge incontinence studies, stent-free management after radical cystectomy, high-intensity focused ultrasound versus prostatectomy, new data on metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, neuromodulation after spinal cord injury, ultrasound precision in testicular torsion. The "Operative Techniken" rubric delivers the step-by-step surgical guides — in one recent issue, ureterolysis, intraperitonealization, ureter-ileum interposition and pyelovesical bypass for retroperitoneal fibrosis or long-segment ureteral stricture — with the operative sketches that surgeons use to prepare and refresh their technique. Each rubric earns CME points, with subscribers able to collect up to 18 per year. "Fragen für den Facharzt" prepares residents for the specialty examination; "Aus der Rechtsprechung" and "Management und Recht" address legal and practice-management questions; the "Forum der Industrie" covers pharma and medtech topics.

Organization and Ownership

Aktuelle Urologie is published by the Georg Thieme Verlag KG in Stuttgart, one of Germany's leading medical and scientific publishers, with its specialist-medicine editorial offices in Stuttgart. The editors named by the publisher, A. Merseburger and Borkowetz, are leading figures in German urology and uro-oncology whose names carry authority in the specialty — a signal to readers that the journal's content is selected and assessed by the field's top clinicians. The professional publishing staff handles production, digital distribution, and the CME and subscription infrastructure.

Commercially, the journal follows the specialist medical-journal model: subscriptions (personal and institutional, print with online access), single-issue and article sales, and open-access fees under the hybrid model. Advertising is a central pillar: with a print run of 5,071 copies and 5,029 distributed, reaching effectively the entire German urology community with 100 percent awareness and the number-two position in the LA-MED ranking, the journal offers pharmaceutical and medtech advertisers one of the most concentrated specialist audiences in German medicine. The publisher's rate card lists display formats, inserts, advertorials, study recommendations and special advertising forms, alongside content services such as reprints. The Thieme Media unit markets the title to business customers as the efficient route to urology decision-makers.

Digital Presence

The journal's digital home is the Thieme e-journal platform, where subscribers access current issues and the archive of all issues published since 2000. The eRef app extends access to mobile devices with offline reading — a practical feature for surgeons consulting technique guides. The Thieme CME portal provides the infrastructure through which subscribers earn, submit and manage their continuing-education points, with up to 18 points available annually through the journal's CME-accredited content. The connect.thieme.com platform presents the journal's profile and manuscript-submission routes to prospective authors.

The journal is indexed in Scopus and other databases, with an h-index of 15 and an SJR ranking in the urology category bringing its articles to international researchers. For the German readership, the digital channels deliver the currency of the "referiert und kommentiert" section between print issues and make the archive searchable for clinical questions. After more than half a century in print, Aktuelle Urologie operates as a hybrid publication serving one of German medicine's most clearly defined professional communities: six print issues providing the forum's rhythm and identity, digital platforms delivering speed, searchability and training, and the CME-accredited surgical guides forming a continuing-education backbone that few national specialty journals can match.