JCI Editor’s update, January 2021

Dear Colleague,

As the year 2021 begins, I would like to take the opportunity to update you on recent JCI activity. The Journal continues to build on its history of publishing outstanding biomedical research that garners wide attention (highlighted below my signature).

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the JCI’s operations in many ways:

• Due to the pandemic’s disruption of research activities, the editorial board instituted new policies to streamline the review and decision processes, and to allow authors enough time to complete additional experiments requested by reviewers (see the related editorial).
• The number of research submissions increased by almost 25% in 2020 compared with 2019.
• Among a total of 424 research articles, the JCI published 19 on COVID-19.

In the Clinical Medicine (CMED) category, now in its eighth year, the JCI continues to welcome submissions reporting diagnostic advances, new medical therapies and interventions, and observational studies that have the potential to improve medical practice and health outcomes. In 2020, the JCI published 57 CMED articles, including:

• Clinical and immunological features of severe and moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (times viewed: 48,645)
• Early safety indicators of COVID-19 convalescent plasma in 5000 patients (times viewed: 8,344)

JCI Viewpoint articles have showcased experts and thought leaders in medicine, academia, nonprofit organizations, and industry, and representatives of the JCI and the ASCI on subjects of topical and long-term interest to scientists and society at large. In January, the Journal published a series of Viewpoints on the effects of climate change on human health. A July Viewpoint, Preventing cytokine storm syndrome in COVID-19 using α-1 adrenergic receptor antagonists, attracted nearly 16,000 views. Other Viewpoint articles have dealt with COVID-19; translational medicine; the effects of vaping; marijuana use in pregnancy; alternative medicine; and racism, diversity, and health equity. Watch for a Viewpoint series on team science to be published early this year.

The Journal published four Review Series, edited by members of our board:

• Big Data’s Future in Medicine
• Immunotherapy in Hematological Cancers
• Latency in Infectious Diseases
• Hypoxia-Inducible Factors in Disease Pathophysiology and Therapeutics

Individual Reviews covered a range of subjects, from COVID-19 to gene therapy to metabolism.

Reminders:

• ASCI members who are the corresponding author of a first-round submission to the JCI, and whose dues are current, may designate one submission per calendar year to be guaranteed for external peer review. For details, visit the JCI Information for Authors page.
• Authors may transfer manuscripts from the preprint server bioRxiv and medRxiv for submission to the JCI.

I wish you a happy and productive New Year, and look forward to reading your best work.

Sincerely,

Rexford S. Ahima, MD, PhD
Editor, The Journal of Clinical Investigation

Corresponding authors who are ASCI members are indicated in bold.

Top-viewed JCI articles, 2020

Source: Google Analytics, December 29, 2020