BioMed Central is pleased to partner with the Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy in publishing the open access journal Renal Replacement Therapy. The journal will publish its first articles in late 2015.

The journal will be led by Editor-in-Chief, Takashi Shigematsu, Professor and Director of the Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine at the Wakayama Medical University School of Medicine, Japan. He is also the Director of the Blood Purification Medicine and Clinical Engineering at Wakayama Medical University Hospital. His major research interests focus on bone and mineral metabolism such as chronic kidney disease-related bone and mineral metabolism, involving phosphate metabolism and vitamin D metabolism.

Takashi Shigematsu said: "The number of patients suffering from end-stage renal disease who require renal replacement therapy is increasing worldwide, not only in developed countries but also those that are developing. This is fast becoming a global health issue. With this growing problem, we consider this a good time to share the knowledge about high quality in renal replacement therapy with all. For this reason, we thought it was vital that Renal Replacement Therapy be an open access journal, to remove barriers in the sharing and dissemination of this valuable knowledge."

Renal Replacement Therapy will cover all aspects of hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, blood purification, renal transplantation and regenerative medicine. In addition, the journal will accept manuscripts from the fields of chronic kidney disease, acute kidney injury, anemia and iron metabolism, kidney infection, and hypertension. Although affiliated with the Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy, submissions will be accepted from anywhere in the world.

The Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy initially will cover all of the article-processing charges for the journal. Professor Kosaku Nitta, president of the society, explained their vision: "We believe that the publication of this journal through BioMed Central will undoubtedly contribute to renal replacement therapy by spreading our knowledge and experience. We hope to see it become one of the top journals of dialysis therapy in the future."

Todd Hummel, Editorial Director for Clinical Medicine at BioMed Central, said: "BioMed Central is glad to welcome the Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy as one of its publishing partners, and we're looking forward to Renal Replacement Therapy's successful launch. The journal joins our growing portfolio of clinical medicine titles published in partnership with learned societies."

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Notes for editors

1. BioMed Central is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector. http://www.biomedcentral.com

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