Institute of Pathology, Charite, Berlin, Germany.
Diagn Pathol. 2011 Dec 19;6:124. doi: 10.1186/1746-1596-6-124.
Application of virtual slides (VS), the digitalization of complete glass slides, is in its infancy to be implemented in routine diagnostic surgical pathology and to issues that are related to tissue-based diagnosis, such as education and scientific publication.
Electronic publication in Pathology offers new features of scientific communication in pathology that cannot be obtained by conventional paper based journals. Most of these features are based upon completely open or partly directed interaction between the reader and the system that distributes the article. One of these interactions can be applied to microscopic images allowing the reader to navigate and magnify the presented images. VS and interactive Virtual Microscopy (VM) are a tool to increase the scientific value of microscopic images.
The open access journal Diagnostic Pathology http://www.diagnosticpathology.org has existed for about five years. It is a peer reviewed journal that publishes all types of scientific contributions, including original scientific work, case reports and review articles. In addition to digitized still images the authors of appropriate articles are requested to submit the underlying glass slides to an institution (DiagnomX.eu, and Leica.com) for digitalization and documentation. The images are stored in a separate image data bank which is adequately linked to the article. The normal review process is not involved. Both processes (peer review and VS acquisition) are performed contemporaneously in order to minimize a potential publication delay. VS are not provided with a DOI index (digital object identifier). The first articles that include VS were published in March 2011.
Several logistic constraints had to be overcome until the first articles including VS could be published. Step by step an automated acquisition and distribution system had to be implemented to the corresponding article. The acceptance of VS by the reader is high as well as by the authors. Of specific value are the increased confidence to and reputation of authors as well as the presented information to the reader. Additional associated functions such as access to author-owned related image collections, reader-controlled automated image measurements and image transformations are in preparation.
The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1232133347629819.
虚拟幻灯片（VS）的应用，即完整玻片的数字化，尚处于应用于常规诊断外科病理学的初期阶段，并且与基于组织的诊断相关的问题，例如教育和科学出版。
病理学中的电子出版为病理学中的科学交流提供了新的功能，这些功能是传统纸质期刊无法获得的。这些功能中的大多数都基于读者与分发文章的系统之间的完全开放或部分定向交互。这些交互之一可应用于显微镜图像，允许读者浏览和放大呈现的图像。VS 和交互式虚拟显微镜（VM）是提高显微镜图像科学价值的工具。
开放获取期刊《诊断病理学》http://www.diagnosticpathology.org 已经存在大约五年了。它是一份同行评审的期刊，发表所有类型的科学贡献，包括原创科学工作、病例报告和评论文章。除了数字化的静态图像外，适当文章的作者还被要求将基础玻璃载玻片提交给一个机构（DiagnomX.eu 和 Leica.com）进行数字化和记录。这些图像存储在一个单独的图像数据库中，该数据库与文章有适当的链接。正常的审查过程不涉及。为了最大限度地减少潜在的出版延迟，这两个过程（同行评审和 VS 获取）同时进行。VS 没有提供数字对象标识符（DOI）索引。包含 VS 的第一批文章于 2011 年 3 月发表。
在能够发表包含 VS 的第一批文章之前，必须克服几个物流限制。逐步实施自动获取和分发系统，以相应的文章。读者对 VS 的接受程度以及作者的接受程度都很高。特别有价值的是，作者的信心和声誉以及向读者提供的信息得到了提高。正在准备其他相关功能，例如访问作者拥有的相关图像集合、读者控制的自动图像测量和图像转换。
本文的虚拟幻灯片（多个）可在此处找到：http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1232133347629819.
