The history of Acta Gastro-Enterologica Belgica

The history of Acta Gastro-Enterologica Belgica is long, rich... and cloudy. There is no centralised archive available. However, all currently active gastroenterologists in Belgium have been trained with the journal, have published abstracts or manuscripts in it, or at least know of its existence. Whereas it started as a national society's journal in 1933, it has grown to a competitive international journal with Impact Factor. We felt the need to reconstruct the journal's long history, since this was never done before. This review tried to highlight some of the important milestones, without claiming to be complete. Looking back helps to better foresee and anticipate the future. (Acta gastroenterol. belg., 2019, 82, 57-61).