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Cancer Research for the New Millennium

Editor-in-Chief, Cancer Research

It is an honor and a privilege to address you in these pages as the incoming Editor-in-Chief of Cancer Research, I am very enthusiastic about this opportunity to serve both the AACR membership and the broader readership of Cancer Research, and I pledge to devote my full energies to continuing and accelerating the evolution of the journal as we enter the new century. In the coming year you will notice that a fundamental component of my strategy—and, I hope, our shared goal—is that the momentum for change in Cancer Research be expanded and accelerated. Most noticeable will be a renewed dedication to our authors, readers, and reviewers and a move to place the journal at the forefront of electronic submission, review, and publication. Inherent in these proposed changes is the recognition that the fundamental nature of traditional peer review, information transfer among scientists and with the public, and the very nature of scientific publishing is changing rapidly. Cancer Research must stay at the forefront of this information evaluation and technology transfer revolution while remaining completely responsible and responsive to the needs of the readership as well as the fiscal goals of the Association. The overriding goal and founding philosophy will always be to make Cancer Research into the most important vehicle for timely dissemination of state-of-the-art biomedical research devoted to cancer.

The fundamental principles which must be adhered to in order to achieve this goal include the following: Cancer Research must be able to 1) identify and attract the best science; 2) subject it to rapid and fair peer-review in a system that promises absolute integrity; and 3) publish it in a timely manner both in print and electronically.

First and foremost, we must continue to broaden the scientific content and scope of Cancer Research and continue the creation of a truly comprehensive cancer research journal. In the first few years of the new millennium, this will be dictated and influenced primarily by the dramatic changes ongoing in biomedical science, including the imminent completion of the human genome and its role/impact in cancer genetics, the continued and accelerating covergence of molecular, cellular, and clinical disciplines/techniques in cancer research, and the advent of big science/bioinformatics/whole genome-proteome scanning-driven approaches to cancer research both basic, translational, and clinical. In the area of molecular biology and tumor biology we must attract manuscripts addressing the genomics of cancer, comparative cancer genome and comparative large-scale cancer transcriptomics using arrays and bioinformatics-based approaches of gene expression, murine- and lower organism-based models of cancer, developmental biology-based approaches to cancer-gene function, and the fusing of molecular biology- and molecular therapeutics-based approaches for cancer treatment. In the areas of translational and preclinical research we must build upon the continued success of Cancer Research in publishing seminal articles on molecular markers of transformation, progression, molecular correlates of therapeutic responses, the biology of human tumors in model systems, preclinical drug evaluation in model human tumor systems, pharmacogenetics of human tumor drug/radiation responses, human tumor-based models of gene therapy, and cellular/animal models of cancer prevention and its correlates. The area of experimental therapeutics should remain a strong component of the Journal content. However, it must be broadened to include the best small molecule-based therapeutics strategies including combinatorial approaches as well as therapeutics directed at oncogene/tumor-suppressor gene mechanisms. In the areas of clinical and epidemiology-based research we should pursue the publication of clinical research which extensively integrates molecular genetics, molecular epidemiology, and use of molecular markers in both therapeutic as well as prevention studies. Even in the face of the proliferation of specialty journals, Cancer Researchmust build on its strengths and remain comprehensive in scope and maintain the ability to attract and publish across all disciplines of cancer. I trust that via these changes we can attract top quality manuscripts from scientists that previously have not considered Cancer Research to be an appropriate venue for their work.

Second, it is imperative that we continue to refine the submission, review, and decision processes to ensure that authors are provided confidential, fair, and comprehensive reviews in a timely fashion. Of course, this process must be coupled with a rapid publication time accompanied by high-quality reproduction of data, both in print and online. We are dedicated to the rapid implementation of procedures for electronic submission, manuscript tracking, and decentralized manuscript assignment, and we hope that this will have an immediate impact on some of these issues.

In addition to the credibility of its review/editorial processes and the quality of the papers it accepts for publication, the ultimate source of a journal’s influence resides with the expertise and dedication of the Editorial Board. I am extremely grateful for the work of the Editorial Board and realize and appreciate the enormous energy required to coordinate external review and render editorial decisions. As the scope of the journal changes, the Editorial Board will be continually evaluated such that its expertise reflects the published content of the journal and is broad and comprehensive enough to evaluate all articles critically. Changes which we would like to consider include the appointment of Senior Subsection Editors for each of the broad disciplines and, possibly, a more formalized triage process involving multiple Senior Editors. I would also like to challenge the Editorial Board to take a much more active role in identifying/soliciting manuscripts of top quality for consideration by Cancer Research.

Third, one of my major goals as Editor-in-Chief will be to increase the overall value of Cancer Research to researchers by including a consistent and high-quality spectrum of "value-added" material which will address all facets of the science/business/politics of doing cancer research in this day and age. In the past, this type of material appeared sporadically in the form of meeting reviews and occasional award lectures. The new material will include material such as short summaries of selected papers in each issue, a News and Views-like section for commentary and interpretation, reports of recent AACR Special Conferences, and Annual Meeting Highlights or short Plenary Session/Minisymposium Reviews. This will be implemented in concert with a planned centralized AACR science writing initiative. Equally important for this change in Cancer Researchcontent will be a global change in format and layout of the Journal including a new AACR logo and cover themes that focus on science. I am confident that these changes will create a contemporary image and will enhance the value, readability, and overall impact of Cancer Research.

As I begin this new challenge and new phase in the evolution of the journal, I am very pleased to have as colleagues Dr. Margaret Foti, the members of the AACR Publications Committee, and the AACR Publications staff, and I look forward to a close dialogue with them as our plans move ahead. I would also like to highlight the attention and dedication of Dr. Carlo Croce, who has left us in an excellent position to implement these changes and achieve these goals. During his tenure as Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Croce raised the quality of Cancer Research significantly, bringing it up to the fifteenth most highly-cited journal out of 4,000 journals in all areas of science. He very successfully broadened the scope of science presented in the Journal, implemented the popular and successful Advances in Brief format and expanded and globalized the Editorial Board and its functions. Please join me in extending sincere gratitude to Dr Croce for his enormous efforts on behalf of Cancer Research.

I hope that these new innovations that I have highlighted above will continue to place Cancer Research as the preeminent, comprehensive cancer journal. I realize that these efforts depend on the continued enthusiastic participation of our readers and authors, and I welcome your input as we work together to maintain the journal’s premier status.

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