IPEM codes of practice and topical report series

Physics in Medicine and Biology (PMB) was founded 60 years ago by the UK-based Hospital Physicists' Association, now the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM, Keevil 2014). IPEM's vision is to constantly improve human health by the application of physics and engineering to prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease through research, innovation, education and clinical practice.

IPEM supports research and innovation partly through the three journals it owns (PMB, Physiological Measurement and Medical Engineering and Physics) in addition to a further endorsed journal (Biomedical Physics and Engineering Express). IPEM also produces scientific reports, which contain consensus guidelines on a wide range of topics. Recent titles include small field MV photon dosimetry, radiation protection in nuclear medicine and quality in clinical engineering. These reports can be found at: www.ipem.ac.uk/Publications/IPEMReportSeries

Alongside these textbook length reports, codes of practice have been published in PMB for over 50 years (Hospital Physicists' Association 1964). Current guidance covers kilovoltage and megavoltage photons, tomotherapy, electrons and high-dose-rate brachytherapy systems (Lillicrap et al 1990, Klevenhagen et al 1996, Thwaites et al 2003, Aukett et al 2005, Bidmead et al 2010, Thomas et al 2014).

In parallel to these reports and codes of practice, IPEM is now launching a complementary series of short topical reports. These aim to address a specific area of current or developing practice, with rapid production times, to benefit the clinical physicist or engineer 'at the coalface'. The first of these is published in this issue of PMB, and covers to use of flattening-filter free (FFF) beams in radiotherapy (Budgell et al 2016). Many departments are looking to introduce these modalities, mainly because of their higher dose rates and potential ease of modelling in the treatment planning system. As the use of hypofractionated regimes such as stereotactic body radiotherapy increases, FFF beams are an attractive proposition for a busy clinical department. However, as with all technological advances, it is essential that medical physics experts are aware of potential risks associated with their use, and commission their equipment safely and accurately. We hope this report will aid their work.

PMB welcomes the opportunity to publish IPEM codes of practice and topical reports, subject to the usual rigorous peer-review process and given the global reach of the journal, the requirement that the international context is addressed. We believe these publications will be of broad benefit to medical physics and bioengineering practitioners who strive to deliver the highest quality healthcare to patients.