Editorial

A welcome from the new Editor-In-Chief.

This January, 2004 issue of Laboratory Investigation marks the beginning of the seventh editorship of this journal. It is an honor and privilege to follow the leaders who have edited this journal over the past half century: Jon Morrow, Jose Costa, Jordan Pober and their team at Yale in the immediate past; and prior to that Emmanuel Rubin, Robert Heptinstall, Nathan Kaufman, Robert Stowell as Editors-in-Chief, and the Founding Editor Thomas Kinney and the Founding Associate Editor Nathan Kaufman. This journal was founded in 1952, and has maintained its focus on high-quality publications on the pathogenesis of human disease and the application of new methods to the understanding and diagnosis of diseases. This occurs both through original research articles and through a long-standing tradition of excellence in ‘Biology of Disease’ reviews.

But is ‘laboratory investigation’ where human pathobiology now lies? It is indeed true that a vast group of experimental models of human diseases have been developed in laboratory animals. Most importantly, these models have provided powerful insights into disease pathogenesis at the molecular and structural levels. Over the same interval, analysis of human tissue from the clinical setting has enabled identification of specific molecular defects in many human diseases. Such analysis comes back to the laboratory, whether it is a basic investigative laboratory or a clinical analytical bench. Hence, we now find ourselves managing a bidirectional flow of molecular and structural information between the investigative laboratory and the clinical setting.

Laboratory Investigation is ideally positioned to bridge this torrent of information. On the one hand, insights gained into the structural and molecular pathogenesis of disease in the laboratory setting are well suited for presentation in these pages. This includes insights gained in the clinical laboratory as well as in the basic experimental laboratory. On the other hand, Laboratory Investigation provides a forum for translation of investigative findings into diagnosis and assessment of human disease by means of any laboratory diagnostic methodology. This includes presentation of novel and significant technical advances in the diagnosis or investigation of human diseases. A further challenge will be providing prognostically useful information for the management of human diseases. To the extent that molecular and structural insights provide not only an understanding of pathobiology but are also predictive of the outcome, we will be providing even greater service to the founding premise of this journal.

It is thus with great pleasure that we take on the editorship of this journal. There are a number of notable enhancements in Laboratory Investigation, as we have a new publisher and ability to present information to you. I am delighted that Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is now our publisher, and we join a distinguished family of journals under this name. A number of improvements now occur, including:

• Management of all submitted manuscripts digitally via 〈mts-li.nature.com〉, a website that enables authors to track the status of their manuscript through all stages of the review process.

• Advance on-line e-publishing, usually within six weeks of manuscript acceptance.

• Linkage of Laboratory Investigation to the parent NPG website, which receives almost 3 million ‘hits’ per day. This enables viewers in turn to drill-down on topics of interest published in Laboratory Investigation.

• Free downloading of highlighted Laboratory Investigation articles for 1 month after publication (up to four per issue).

• Bidirectional cross-referencing to our sister journal, Modern Pathology.

The format of features will be as follows:

• Inside Laboratory Investigation: editorial comment on up to four highlighted articles per issue.

• Research Articles: original research from laboratory or clinical setting.

• Technical Reports: authors will have the option of submitting Technical Reports as a brief report or as a full manuscript, based on the premise that a technical advance may still require a full-length article.

• Pathology Elsewhere: a new feature to draw attention to articles in the recent literature of particular importance to investigative and practicing pathologists.

• Biology of Disease: definitive critical reviews of disease pathogenesis.

• Minireviews: critical briefs on topics of interest to the readership.

In service to the membership of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, we are also activating the concept of a ‘core 20%’ of this journal. As noted, up to four highlighted articles per issue will be identified on our own cover and given editorial comment in ‘Inside Laboratory Investigation’. This page will now be reproduced in the printed version of Modern Pathology. Hence, all members of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology will be alerted to recommended reading in this journal through their subscriptions to either Modern Pathology and Laboratory Investigation. This core reading may be original research articles, technical advances, and/or critical reviews. The interested reader can retrieve highlighted articles from the web through 〈www.labinvest.uscapjournals.org〉, for free, for 1 month. The converse will also be true in cross-reference to Modern Pathology. Hence, members of the Academy can benefit from the ‘core 20%’ of each journal, considered by the respective Editors to be ‘must reading’ for the membership.

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I welcome comments and suggestions about the journal as we move forward, either as readers of its pages or as members of the Academy. Laboratory Investigation gives special opportunity to investigative scientists of many disciplines to bridge basic laboratory research and human disease pathogenesis. For both authors and readers alike, we hope to continue the rich tradition of outstanding investigative science. We also hope that practicing pathologists can use Laboratory Investigation to better understand human disease and hence guide their own daily practice. In essence, Laboratory Investigation can be a key mechanism for their staying abreast of advances in molecular and structural understanding of human diseases, and of how these advances translate into diagnostic and prognostic applications.

The University of Florida editorial team includes Anthony Yachnis as Senior Associate Editor, and Raul Braylan, Michael Clare-Salzler, and Naohiro Terada as Associate Editors. These individuals bring broad expertise to bear, and themselves bridge both laboratory basic science and applied clinical science. In addition, two outstanding Associate Editors have agreed to oversee our special sections: Swan Thung for ‘Pathology Elsewhere’, and Mary Sunday for the critical review sections of ‘Biology of Disease’ and ‘Minireviews’. We welcome suggestions and inquiries about these special features, which can be directed to our editorial office at 〈labinvest@pathology.ufl.edu〉. Our new Managing Editor is Catherine Ketcham. I want to thank the superb efforts of the outgoing editorial team at Yale over the past 7 years, which in addition to Jon Morrow, Jose Costa, and Jordan Pober also includes Richard Bucala, Joseph Madri, Vincent Marchesi, and David Stern. Both we and the Yale team extend our special thanks to the Yale Managing Editor, Gretchen Korman. She has ably piloted the journal during the Yale years, and has been of immense help to us as we launched the journal at our new office.

I and the new editorial team look forward to serving you.