NMO Activity Report: Japan Society of Medical Physics (JSMP)

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Naoki Hayashi1,2, Shigekazu Fukuda3, 4

  1. Division of Medical Physics, School of Medical Sciences, Fujita Health University
  2. Chair of International Affairs Committee of JSMP
  3. Radiation Quality Control Section, QST hospital, Quantum Medical Science Directorate, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology
  4. President of JSMP

Introduction

The Japan Society of Medical Physics (JSMP) was established in March 2000 through a merger of the Japanese Association of Radiological Physicists (JARP) and the Japanese Association of Medical Physicists (JAMP). The origin of the JSMP can be traced back to March 1961, when it became a “physics subcommittee” under the Japan Society of Radiological Physics (JSMP). Figure 1 shows the number of JSMP members. The number of JSMP members has increased rapidly since the establishment of JSMP and now exceeds 2,500. This is because individuals must be JSMP members to be certified as medical physicists in Japan. For more information on the history of JSMP and the background of the increase in its numbers, please refer to an article in the Medical Physics International journal[1].


Figure 1. Number of JSMP members

JSMP activities includes as follows:1) Conference, 2) Journal publication, 3) Committee activities, 4) Collaboration with related organizations.

This paper describes these four topics.

1. Conferences

The JSMP has two congresses annually. The Spring Congress in April is part of the Japan Radiology Congress (JRC) and consists of the Japan Radiological Society (JRS), the Japanese Society of Radiological Technology (JSRT), the Japan Industries Association of Radiological Systems (JIRA), and the International Technical Exhibition of Medical Systems (ITEM). The JRS and JSRT are societies of radiologists and radiological technologists, respectively. The JSMP is a society of medical physicists, making the JRC the largest joint conference in the field of radiology. During the JRC, there are symposia by radiologists, radiological technologists, and medical physicists to discuss various topics in radiology as well as research presentations in each organization. During the conference, the largest exhibition of medical systems in radiology in Japan (ITEM) is held at the same venue. The JRC is held annually in Yokohama. Please refer to the report by the President of the Scientific Meeting[2-6]. As the poster of JRC2024 in Figure 2, the 127th Scientific Meeting of the Japan Society of Medical Physics (JSMP127) will be held in conjunction with the JRC in April 2024. Although the abstract submission period has closed, AFOMP members can still attend the meeting at the same price as the JSMP members. Please check the website if detailed information is required. JSMP127 homepage: https://www.jsmp.org/conf/127/en/

Figure 2. Posters of JRC2024 (Spring Meeting) and JKMP10 (Autumn Meeting).

The JRC is an international scientific conference that encourages presentations in English. By contrast, the Autumn Meeting, held in September, is a scientific conference for domestic members. We encourage young researchers to make presentations at the Autumn Meeting, and we try to create an environment that encourages discussions among young researchers. The Autumn Meeting is held somewhere in Japan and not in a fixed location like the JRC.[7, 8] This year’s Autumn Meeting will be held in Nagoya in September as the 128th scientific meeting of JSMP (JSMP128), and JSMP128 will be held in conjunction with the 10th Japan-Korea Joint Congress on Medical Physics (JKMP10), which is held once every three years for the purpose of exchange between Japan and Korea. Therefore, this year’s Autumn Meeting will be held as an international meeting, and attendees from the AFOMP region will be welcome. The poster of JKMP10 was published as Figure 2 and the homepage is opened: https://www.jkmp2024.com/

2. Journal publication

JSMP publishes the Japan Journal of Medical Physics, commonly known as “Igaku Butsuri,” as an academic journal in Japanese. The main topics of Igaku Butsuri are the scientific papers of our members and reports of scientific conferences. JSMP also publishes the Radiological Physics and Technology (RPT) journal. The RPT journal is jointly published with the JSRT as the official journal of both societies. The RPT journal has become the official journal of the AFOMP since 2018. The RPT journal has also been an official publication of the International Organization of Medical Physics (IOMP) since 2020. The RPT journal was recently recognized as a scientific journal with an impact factor of 1.6 in 2022. Please submit your article. https://link.springer.com/journal/12194

3. Committee activities

The JSMP has 13 standing committees including radiation dosimetry, education and training publication, radiation protection, international affairs, quality assurance, promotion, terminology, general affairs, ethics, supporting conferences, interdisciplinary exchanges, and medical physicists. Each committee has 10-15 members and discusses radiation measurement standards, medical physics education, journal editing, and radiation protection. These committee activities resulted in scheduled educational seminars and publications. In addition, the results of the committee discussions are presented at scientific meetings. I belong to the international affairs committee, which supports international academic activities.

4. Collaboration with related organizations

JSMP collaborates with related scientific societies and organizations in Japan and abroad, including the Japanese Society for Radiation Oncology (JASTRO), JSRT, the Japanese Society for Medical and Biological Engineering (JSMBE), the Japanese Radioisotope Association (JRIA) and so on, as well as participation in IOMP and AFOMP. Cooperation with these organizations will expand the scope of activities in the field of medical physics and allow us to organize joint conferences. Collaboration with JSMBE will enable scientific exchanges in the fields of medical physics and biomedical engineering. In the future, we aim to organize international conferences, such as the World Congress. In addition, by exchanging with overseas societies, joint meetings such as AOCMP and JKMP can be held continuously.[9, 10] In addition, we support medical physics education in the Asia-Oceania region through our participation in the IAEA’s RCA.[11]

JSMP, as the NMO of AFOMP, will continue to strive for academic activities for the progress of medical physics in the future.

References

  1. Hayashi N, Mizuno H, Fukuda S. Medical Physicists in Japan: Past, Present and Future Medical Physics International 2021; 8(3) 426-429.
  2. Oguchi H. [Report of the 115th Scientific Meeting of the Japan Society of Medical Physics]. Igaku Butsuri. 2018;38(2):100-105. Japanese. doi: 10.11323/jjmp.38.2_100. PMID: 30381706.
  3. Minohara S. [Report of the 117th Scientific Meeting of the Japan Society of Medical Physics]. Igaku Butsuri. 2019;39(2):50-53. Japanese. doi: 10.11323/jjmp.39.2_50. PMID: 31474668.
  4. Arimura H. [Report of the 119th Scientific Meeting of the Japan Society of Medical Physics]. Igaku Butsuri. 2021;41(1):40-43. Japanese. doi: 10.11323/jjmp.41.1_40. PMID: 33853983.
  5. Kanematsu N. [Report of the 121st Scientific Meeting of the Japan Society of Medical Physics]. Igaku Butsuri. 2021;41(3):76-81. Japanese. doi: 10.11323/jjmp.41.3_76. PMID: 34744137.
  6. Abe S. [Report of the 125th Scientific Meeting of Japan Society of Medical Physics]. Igaku Butsuri. 2023;43(3):81-83. Japanese. doi: 10.11323/jjmp.43.3_81. PMID: 37967967.
  7. Sato E. [Report of the 116th Scientific Meeting of the Japan Society of Medical Physics]. Igaku Butsuri. 2019;38(4):188-190. Japanese. doi: 10.11323/jjmp.38.4_188. PMID: 30828056.
  8. Kume K, Sasaki M. [Report of the 118th Scientific Meeting of the Japan Society of Medical Physics]. Igaku Butsuri. 2020;40(4):141-146. Japanese. doi: 10.11323/jjmp.40.4_141. PMID: 33390381.
  9. Fukuda S. [Report of the 120th Scientific Meeting of Japan Society of Medical Physics]. Igaku Butsuri. 2021;41(2):59-63. Japanese. doi: 10.11323/jjmp.41.2_59. PMID: 34193759.
  10. Fukuda S. [Report of the 9th Korea-Japan Joint Meeting on Medical Physics/122nd Scientific Meeting of Japan Society of Medical Physics]. Igaku Butsuri. 2022;42(1):48-51. Japanese. doi: 10.11323/jjmp.42.1_48. PMID: 35354737.
  11. Fukuda S. [Introduction to IAEA/RCA RAS6087 Project “Enhancing Medical Physics Services in Developing Standards, Education and Training through Regional Cooperation (RCA)”]. Igaku Butsuri. 2022;42(3):170-172. Japanese. doi: 10.11323/jjmp.42.3_170. PMID: 36184428.

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