Building the Prestige of Archivum Immunologiae et Therapiae Experimentalis: From a Little Known to an Internationally Recognized Journal

Archivum Immunologiae et Therapiae Experimentalis (AITE) was founded in 1953 by Ludwik Hirszfeld, a world famous Polish physician and scientist in the field of microbiology and immunology. Initially, AITE was published in Polish, but within a few years, it changed to English to increase the range and number of international readers. In its over 65 year history, AITE has had several Editors and a number of Publishers. In the period 1977–1991, AITE was listed in the system of scientific information Current Contents/Life Sciences, but for several years, its impact on the international readership of the Journal was negligible. The political and economic crisis in Poland in late 1980s led to serious delays in printing of successive AITE issues, so the Journal was removed from the Current Contents. Year 1991 was a turning point for the Journal, guided since then by prof. Dubowska-Inglot, who changed its image and format, and allowed acceptance of review articles. In 1999, prof. Górski became the Editor-in-Chief, giving a new impulse for further development of the Journal. In a consequence, AITE was accepted to Science Citation Index Expanded (in 2001) and to Institute for Scientific Information Master Journal List (in 2002). Eventually, AITE has evolved to become a truly international, multidisciplinary journal, publishing original articles, and reviews relating to basic and clinical immunology, experimental therapy, immunogenetics, transplantology, microbiology, immunochemistry, as well as bioethics. Currently, AITE is cited in a number of major scientific information databases. Since 2011, the Journal is published by Springer Publishing House, it has achieved international recognition with its latest impact factor (for 2017) of 3.018. AITE, whose Editors are professors of Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, strengthens the status and position of the Institute as one of the leading scientific institutions in Poland.