Scientific Publishing

Cancer Discovery: Celebrating a Decade of Discoveries

In 2021, the AACR commemorated the tenth anniversary of the launch of Cancer Discovery. Initially conceived as a broad-based forum for emerging insights across the spectrum of basic, translational, and clinical research, the journal has published practice-changing clinical trials as well as some of the most important advances in precision medicine and immunotherapy. This focus on cutting-edge cancer science and medicine is reflected in the journal’s current impact factor of 39.397, which ranks sixth among more than 240 oncology journals.

The AACR celebrated the journal’s decade of success with a series of initiatives:

• Landmark Articles. The editors identified the most important studies published in the journal over the last ten years and interviewed the authors of those articles about their impact. The interviews were published to the Cancer Discovery website.

• Special Anniversary Issue. The April issue of the journal was dedicated to “A Decade of Cancer Discovery.” In a series of reviews and perspectives articles, leaders in rapidly evolving areas of the field discussed some of the biggest unanswered questions and made predictions for the next ten years of cancer science.

• Tenth Anniversary Symposium. In June, editors-in-chief Lewis C. Cantley, PhD, FAACR, and Luis A. Diaz, MD, moderated a two-day virtual symposium in which key thought leaders addressed the emerging areas of cancer research that will significantly move the field forward in the next ten years, including dietary intervention for cancer prevention; cancer immunotherapy; aging and cancer; resistance to targeted therapy; and the next phase of oncology drug development.

Cancer Research Communications: A Vital New Forum

The AACR expanded its world-class portfolio of scientific journals to include an open-access publishing option with the October launch of Cancer Research Communications. Under the leadership of founding editors-in-chief Elaine R. Mardis, PhD, FAACR, and Lillian L. Siu, MD, FRCPC, the new online-only journal will provide a rapid publication outlet for high-quality research that spans the full spectrum of cancer science and medicine.

The new journal will provide a forum for thought-provoking negative results that help answer critical questions in the field but may not have a place in traditional journals. It will also publish studies from disciplines such as computational biology, engineering, mathematics, and physical sciences, highlighting the increasing importance of these areas to preventing, understanding, detecting, and treating cancer. With its expanded scope, wider availability, and rapid turnaround, Cancer Research Communications will stimulate the exchange of innovative ideas and approaches that advance the frontiers of cancer science and medicine.

Changes in Editorial Leadership

Since its launch in 2002, Molecular Cancer Research has been a premier journal of the molecular and cellular biology of cancer—a position due in large part to its superior editorial leadership. In a year of editorial transition, the AACR gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the editors-in-chief who served the journal in 2021:

• Karen E. Knudsen, PhD (Editor-in-Chief, 2013–2021). Since her appointment as editor-in-chief began in 2013, Karen E. Knudsen, PhD, had focused Molecular Cancer Research on the fundamental basic science that has the power to advance our understanding of cancer. Her goal for the journal was to publish transformative basic cancer research discoveries that revealed novel mechanistic insights into pathways linked to cancer risk, development, and progression. Dr. Knudsen also worked to transform the way research was disseminated in the journal, launching the Rapid Impact section that provided expedited review and publication for brief studies of the highest significance, timeliness, or novelty.
  

  Dr. Knudsen's vision and leadership elevated the status of Molecular Cancer Research in the field; by the end of her tenure, the journal had posted the highest impact factor ranking of its 20-year history.

• Massimo Loda, MD (Editor-in-Chief, 2021- ). In August, Massimo Loda, MD, assumed the role of editor-in-chief of Molecular Cancer Research. He had previously served the journal as senior editor and had served as deputy editor since 2020. Dr. Loda is the David D. Thompson Professor of Pathology, chair of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and deputy director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine; pathologist-in-chief at the New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center; and professor of Pathology, emeritus, at Harvard Medical School. He is the chair of the AACR Pathology Task Force, and he was a member of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project team that won the AACR Team Science Award in 2020. His goal as editor is to highlight innovative, impactful basic science in Molecular Cancer Research that will help move the field forward.