About Kleintierpraxis

Kleintierpraxis

Kleintierpraxis is Germany's leading peer-reviewed specialist journal for small animal medicine, published twelve times a year in Hanover by the M. and H. Schaper publishing house. First issued in 1955, it publishes German-language original papers with peer review from all areas of small animal veterinary medicine, alongside a monthly continuing-education review recognised by the Academy for Veterinary Continuing Education. As the official organ of the German Society for Small Animal Medicine (DGK-DVG) and the surgery section of the German Veterinary Medical Society, the journal is the scientific reference medium for small animal practitioners, clinic veterinarians and researchers in the German-speaking world. Its editorial leadership rests with professors Barbara Kohn, Reto Neiger, Michael Fehr and Patrick R. Kirchner, and its digital home is the vetline.de veterinary portal.

Overview

Kleintierpraxis occupies a unique position in the German veterinary press as the only German-language journal publishing peer-reviewed original research specifically in small animal medicine. Its readership consists of small animal practitioners in private practice, veterinarians in animal clinics and university hospitals, specialists in disciplines from internal medicine and surgery to dermatology, cardiology and neurology, and veterinary students and researchers. The journal's editorial concept combines scientific rigour with practical relevance: original papers undergo peer review, ensuring methodological quality, while the topics are chosen for their significance to everyday clinical work with dogs, cats and other small animals.

The journal appears twelve times a year, monthly, in German, with the print ISSN 0023-2076. Its sold circulation is around 3,500 copies. Each issue carries original papers, case reports and review articles, and once a month a review article is published that enables recognised continuing education through the Academy for Veterinary Continuing Education, giving practising veterinarians a structured way to meet their professional development obligations. The journal's impact factor is listed at 0.1, reflecting its role as a national specialist journal rather than an international research periodical.

Kleintierpraxis is the official organ of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kleintiermedizin (DGK-DVG), the German Society for Small Animal Medicine, and of the Fachgruppe Chirurgie der Deutschen Veterinärmedizinischen Gesellschaft, the surgery section of the German Veterinary Medical Society. This double association linkage anchors the journal in the professional organisations of its readership and ensures that it reaches the core of the German small animal veterinary community. The publisher is M. and H. Schaper of Hanover, a traditional publishing house for veterinary and agricultural literature, whose managing director is Lutz Bandte.

History

Kleintierpraxis was first published in 1955, in the early years of the Federal Republic, when small animal medicine was emerging as a distinct discipline within German veterinary science. In the post-war decades, the dog and the cat were becoming companion animals for a growing middle class, and veterinary practice was shifting from its traditional focus on farm animals toward the medical care of pets. The new journal gave this emerging field its own scientific forum, publishing clinical observations, therapeutic experiences and surgical techniques for small animal practitioners.

The 1960s and 1970s saw the journal accompany the professionalisation of small animal medicine: the founding of specialist societies, the development of small animal clinics, and the establishment of continuing-education structures for practitioners. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kleintiermedizin adopted the journal as its organ, and the surgery section of the German Veterinary Medical Society followed, giving Kleintierpraxis its dual institutional anchoring. The journal documented the introduction of new diagnostic and therapeutic methods, from advances in anaesthesia and imaging to the development of specialised surgical techniques.

In recent decades, Kleintierpraxis has tracked the transformation of small animal medicine into a highly specialised, technology-intensive discipline. The journal has published on minimally invasive surgery, advanced imaging, oncology, cardiology and neurology, reflecting the standards of modern referral practice. The introduction of the monthly continuing-education review, recognised by the Academy for Veterinary Continuing Education, responded to the growing formalisation of professional development obligations for veterinarians. The journal's integration into the vetline.de portal, the Schaper publishing house's digital platform for veterinary medicine, has carried its content into the digital age while maintaining the monthly print rhythm that has defined the title for seventy years.

Content and Sections

The core of Kleintierpraxis is formed by German-language original papers with peer review from all areas of small animal medicine. Internal medicine contributions address the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of dogs and cats, from gastroenterology and endocrinology to infectious diseases and immunology. Surgical papers cover soft-tissue surgery, orthopaedics and neurosurgery, with detailed descriptions of techniques, case series and outcome studies. The journal also publishes on anaesthesia and pain management, diagnostic imaging, dermatology, ophthalmology, dentistry, cardiology, neurology and oncology, reflecting the full spectrum of modern small animal practice.

Case reports present unusual or instructive clinical cases with discussion of differential diagnoses and therapeutic decisions, offering practitioners learning opportunities from the experience of colleagues. Review articles summarise the current state of knowledge on specific topics, and once a month a review is designated as the continuing-education article recognised by the Academy for Veterinary Continuing Education, allowing readers to earn education credits. Society news from the DGK-DVG and the DVG surgery section keeps readers informed about conferences, guidelines and professional developments.

The editorial standards reflect the journal's scientific mission: manuscripts undergo peer review by specialists, and the editors, professors Barbara Kohn of the Free University of Berlin, Reto Neiger, Michael Fehr of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover and Patrick R. Kirchner, represent the academic leadership of German small animal medicine. The journal's bibliographic record is maintained in the publication databases of the veterinary universities, and its long run since 1955 makes its archive a unique documentation of the development of small animal medicine in Germany.

Publisher and Organization

Kleintierpraxis is published by M. and H. Schaper, a Hanover-based publishing house specialising in veterinary and agricultural literature. The company's managing director is Lutz Bandte. The journal appears twelve times a year, monthly, in German, with the print ISSN 0023-2076 and a sold circulation of around 3,500 copies. The editorial leadership is held by professors Barbara Kohn, Reto Neiger, Michael Fehr and Patrick R. Kirchner, who oversee the peer-review process and the scientific direction of the journal.

The journal is the official organ of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kleintiermedizin (DGK-DVG) and of the Fachgruppe Chirurgie der Deutschen Veterinärmedizinischen Gesellschaft (DVG). These associations represent the small animal practitioners and veterinary surgeons of Germany, and the journal serves as their scientific communication medium. The monthly continuing-education review is recognised by the Akademie für tierärztliche Fortbildung, the Academy for Veterinary Continuing Education, integrating the journal into the formal professional development system for German veterinarians.

Digital Presence

The digital home of Kleintierpraxis is its section on vetline.de, the veterinary portal of the Schaper publishing house, where current issues, articles and the journal's archive are presented. The portal serves the German veterinary community with news, continuing-education offerings and specialist information, and the Kleintierpraxis pages give subscribers and readers digital access to the journal's content. The journal's bibliographic data is indexed in the publication databases of the veterinary faculties, including the Free University of Berlin's veterinary publication database, ensuring its discoverability for researchers.

For the small animal veterinary community, the digital channels complement the monthly print journal with searchable access to seven decades of published research. In a discipline where evidence-based practice depends on access to the literature, Kleintierpraxis's combination of peer-reviewed print publication and digital availability maintains its role as the German-language reference journal for small animal medicine, serving practitioners, clinicians and researchers who work in German and publish for a German-speaking professional audience.