Radiography (ISSN 1078-8174) is an international peer reviewed journal of radiography and radiation therapy. In 2015, as the official Journal of the Society and College of Radiographers, Radiography was circulated in print to over 23,000 people. In 2015 there were over 10,000 institutions in 116 countries that had a ScienceDirect account that included access to the Journal and during 2015 more than 200,00 articles were downloaded from this platform.
Each year, like many journals, Radiography’s editors select the best papers in their opinion. This is done objectively using set criteria. Last year, four papers were selected with one considered to be the best paper and three being highly commended / second place. Two of these four top papers were co-authored by Professor Peter Hogg and Dr Claire Mercer from the School of Health Sciences.
In first place was “Breast composition: Measurement and clinical use”, Radiography, Volume 21, Issue 4, November 2015, Pages 324-333, E.U. Ekpo, P. Hogg, R. Highnam, M.F. McEntee. The paper was worked up by a multinational team from Nigeria, UK, New Zealand and Australia and is an extensive critical review of the relationship between breast cancer and breast density. It explains the value of breast density estimations using mammography and how such estimations can be used to help classify women into low and high risk groups for cancer development and therefore screening.
Joint second place is “A 6-year study of mammographic compression force: Practitioner variability within and between screening sites”, Radiography, Volume 21, Issue 1, February 2015, Pages 68-73, C.E. Mercer, K. Szczepura, J. Kelly, S.R. Millington, E.R.E. Denton, R.Borgen, B. Hilton, P. Hogg. This article builds on earlier research into how breast cancer screen practice can vary, in which our group was the first to prove that compression forces used in mammographic imaging can vary widely; such variability in pressure can have implications for pain and discomfort during imaging. By testing at various screening centres, we were able to expand on our earlier findings. Authorship included Wythenshawe Hospital, Countess of Chester Hospital, Burnley General Hospital, University of East Anglia, Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital and the University of Salford.
Various research groups around the world have started building on our observations to further investigate the problem and to seek possible solutions. We are collaborating with several international organisations to take this work forward.