International Journal of Molecular Medicine

Edited by:
  • Demetrios A. Spandidos
12/yr. Europe $600 (institutional), $300 (personal); elsewhere $650 (institutional), $350 (personal)

Basic scientists, physicians and venture capitalists all agree that twenty-first century medicine will be based increasingly on our understanding of the molecular genetic causes of human disease. The scheduled completion of the human genome project in 2005, along with advances in human genetics, immunology, molecular pathogenesis, structural biology and gene therapy are creating an interdisciplinary field of molecular medicine that promises to revolutionize the ways that we investigate, diagnose, and treat many acquired and inherited diseases.

We are already beginning to identify the genes involved in prevalent diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and cancer. The discovery of these genes and their functions is providing important pathophysiologic insights, and molecular probes can accurately assess a patient's susceptibility for disease long before they become symptomatic. Of equal importance, access to these genes and their protein products provides new targets for rational drug design, drug screening and somatic gene therapy.

This revolution in molecular medicine has created a vacuum in the biomedical literature. And, as is usually the case, medical publishers have rushed in to fill the void. New molecular medicine journals, including Nature Medicine, Molecular Medicine, Human Molecular Genetics and Molecular Medicine Today, publish original research articles and reviews in this area. Meanwhile, established journals such as the Journal of Clinical Investigation are increasingly filled with molecular medicine manuscripts. Given this cornucopia of literature, one could justifiably ask if we need yet another journal on molecular medicine. Only time will tell, but a review of the first five issues of the International Journal of Molecular Medicine suggests that the answer may be yes.

This journal's goal is the rapid publication of original work and reviews concerning the molecular mechanisms of human disease. Of necessity, this is a wide purview, encompassing the fields of human genetics, immunology, virology, pharmacology, pathology and gene therapy among others. Manuscripts can be submitted directly for peer review or can be contributed by members of the editorial board, who are experts in fields related to molecular medicine. The journal includes basic papers dealing with the molecular pathways involved in pathological cell function, and more clinical papers describing novel pharmacologic and genetic therapies. Of equal importance, each issue contains three to five review articles that summarize a variety of interesting topics at the interface of molecular biology and clinical medicine. In general the articles are well written and the illustrations and graphics are first rate.

Compared with many other journals on the subject, the time from submission to acceptance is remarkably short, averaging less than one month in the issues under review. One of the most interesting aspects is the preponderance of articles submitted from outside the United States. This appears to reflect the international flavour of the editorial board and the increasing interest in molecular medicine in Europe and Asia. Some articles, however, could benefit from more careful grammatical editing.