We mark the completion of 2004, the first full publication year for this editorial team, with a strong sense that Laboratory Investigation is moving forward successfully. This journal is devoted to high-quality original research that advances the understanding of human disease, based on both human and experimental studies. Particular emphasis is given to original research exploring the mechanisms of disease, including insights gained into the structural and molecular pathogenesis of disease, and the biological basis for morphologic manifestations of disease. Opportunity is also given to major articles presenting technical advances in the investigation or diagnosis of disease.
Of the 155 peer-review papers published in 2004 (volume 84), approximately 10% each addressed diseases of the nervous system, cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract, and liver. In the 4 to 7% range were diseases of the hematopoietic system, bone and soft tissue, head and neck, kidney, breast, lung, and urogenital tract. Endocrine, skin, and infectious diseases made up the remainder. Full-length reports describing advances in the molecular diagnosis of human disease constituted 7% of the articles. This broad distribution reflects the diversity of human disease and its pathologic manifestations. Priority is given to high-quality articles specific to their disease/organ discipline and those which report scientific findings of more general interest to our diverse readership. We hold to the hope that monthly perusal of the journal will enable our readers to stay abreast of the breadth of scientific advances in the pathogenesis of human disease—certainly one of the requisites of being a top-quality pathologist. I can speak for the entire editorial group in stating that service as Editors constitutes one of the best educational experiences we have ever had in this marvelous discipline!
In selecting papers for publication, we have highlighted articles of clear general interest to our readership in the monthly feature entitled, ‘Inside Lab Invest’. This article gives background and comment on three to five articles per issue and can also be found online: www.laboratoryinvestigation.org. Another monthly column, ‘Pathology Elsewhere’, reports on recent key publications and that relevance to articles published in the same issue. Judging from the ‘web hits’ on these articles, these two features are widely read; time will tell whether our highlighted selections garner similar attention in the cited literature. Four ‘Minireviews’ were published in 2004, and we hope to increase the regularity of these reviews in the coming year.
There is every indication that Laboratory Investigation is garnering attention from a growing base of scientists worldwide. Under this editorial team (July 2003 to present), submissions have increased 50% when compared to 2002–2003. The quality of submissions is superb. Submitted manuscripts are subjected to rigorous editorial evaluation to determine appropriateness for the journal and to assign an initial scientific priority, drawing upon the diverse scientific expertise of our senior editorial team, with consultation from Editorial Board members as needed. Approximately 45% of manuscripts pass this initial review and undergo external peer-review evaluation. The turnaround time for initial editorial review averages 5 days. For external review, a decision is usually rendered within 30 days, with ‘in-house’ editorial processing time representing 5 to 7 of those days. Our overall ‘turnaround time’ for reaching an initial decision on submitted papers averages 16 calendar days. For a manuscript that is rejected with opportunity to resubmit, there is a 94% likelihood that the manuscript will ultimately be published in the journal; decision time on the resubmitted paper is usually less than 5 days. Finally, accepted articles are published online usually within 5 weeks, and hardcopy within 16 weeks. Thus, a successful article can go through the review/revision process and move to publication with a minimum of delay—67 days on average (including the authors’ revision time) from initial submission to date of online publication, and 112 days until hardcopy publication. We consider this level of performance an absolute requisite for serving authors who submit their manuscripts to the journal. We thank more than 380 outstanding external referees who have provided comprehensive reviews of manuscripts (listed below).
The journal has benefited immensely by becoming a member of the Nature Publishing Group family—a relationship that began with our January 2004 issue. The electronic journal platform supports the rapid review process described above. The journal ‘look’ has been well received, from cover art to format of the published articles. The journal web site is part of the Nature web site family of journals, one of the most prominent publishing houses in the scientific and medical literature. The monthly visitor count to the journal home page has increased eight-fold when compared to the fall of 2003, and the number of registrants receiving electronic notification of the journal's Table of Contents has increased 18-fold. For nonsubscribers visiting the journal web page, highlighted articles (as denoted by ‘Inside Lab Invest’) can be downloaded for free from the journal web site. Perhaps most importantly, the Nature Publishing Group provides outstanding support to the Editorial team, thus helping to ensure that the highest quality product is presented to our readers.
In closing, we feel that Laboratory Investigation holds a solid position in the ranks of pathology and research/experimental medicine journals, with every opportunity to gain a pre-eminent position moving forward. Over the past year, we have had the privilege of publishing first-rate experimental research, bona fide ‘bench-to-bedside’ research articles, and some stunning ‘bedside-to-bench-to-bedside’ advances in the diagnosis of human disease. Human and experimental disease is awe-inspiring in both its molecular and morphologic manifestations. Our goal is to reveal the scientific reasons for these manifestations, and to support advances in the diagnosis and understanding of patients with these disease processes. We look forward to serving you in the coming year.
List of Reviewers for Volume 84, 2004
Acker, Till
Acs, Geza
Adler, Kenneth B
Ahmed, Asif
Albini, Adriana
Aldenborg, Frank
Alpini, Gianfranco
Alvarez, Fernando
Andoh, Akira
Antonescu, Cristina
Aoki, Masahiro
Aplin, John D
Apte, Minoti V
Asa, Sylvia
Atkinson, Mark
Auerbach, Robert
Bahn, Sabine
Bar, Tzachi
Barbaro, Giuseppe
Barber, Alistair
Basson, Marc
Batstone, G Richard
Baum, Bruce
Baumann, Heinz
Benjamin, Laura
Bennett, Anton M
Benya, Sergei
Berg, Daniel
Berliner, Judith
Bernstein, Kenneth
Birembaut, Philippe
Bodine, David
Bosman, Fred
Botchkarev, Vladimir
Brain, Susan
Braunschweig, Richard
Breyer, Matthew
Bridge, Julia
Büchler, Markus
Bueb, Jean-Luc
Burden, Steven J
Burton, Graham
Buxbaum, Joel
Campbell-Thompson, Martha
Camps, Jordi
Cassatella, Marco
Chader, Gerald J
Chan, Wing
Chang, Chia-Yau
Chang, Lung-Ji
Chen, Anping
Chen, Phang-Lang
Choi, Sun-Jin
Coleman, William
Corless, Christopher
Crane-Godreau, Mardi
Crestani, Bruno
Croitoru, Kenneth
Croker, Byron
Czerniak, Bogdan
Dahlgren, Liselotte
Dalla-Favera, Riccardo
D'Amore, Patricia
Daugherty, Allan
Daum, Severin
DeArmond, Stephen
Dimri, Goberdhan
Dixit, Vishwa
Doetschman, Thomas
Dong, Lijin
Drinkwater, Norman
Duchmann, Rainer
Ebina, Masahito
Eble, Johannes
Efferth, Thomas
Eiserich, Jason P
El-Rifai, Wael
Ensoli, Barbara
Farkas, Daniel
Fassler, Reinhard
Fearon, Eric
Feng, Carl
Feron, Olivier
Finnegan, Alison
Fisher, Aron
Fisher, Susan
Fletcher, Jonathan
Fogt, Franz
Forrester, John
Fox, James
Franklin, Rich
Freund, Jean-Noel
Fridman, Rafi
Friedman, Joel
Friess, Helmut
Fujiwara, Hisayoshi
Futscher, Bernard
Gabbiani, Giulio
Gallagher, Hugh
Galli, Stephen
Gao, Shan
Garcia, Marcel
Gariano, Ray
Garkavtsev, Igor
Gibson, Michael K
Gilkeson, Gary
Gilligan, Diana
Ginsberg, Stephen
Gladson, Candece
Goggins, Michael
Goldenring, James R
Grando, Sergei
Grau, Georges
Greiner, Timothy
Gröne, Hermann-Josef
Grotendorst, Gary
Gulley, Margaret
Hammerman, Marc R
Hansen, Peter Riis
Hardikar, Anandwardhan
Harfe, Brian
Harris, Nancy
Hassanein, Ashraf
Heffelfinger, Sue
Hemby, Scott
Hes, Frederik
Hickey, William
Hinton, David
Hogarty, Michael
Holliday, Shannon
Homer, Robert
Hopfner, Karl-Peter
Horii, Akira
Horkko, Sohvi
Housset, Chantal
Huppertz, Berthold
Hutt-Fletcher, Lindsey
Iczkowski, Kenneth
Iiai, Tsuneo
Ikeda, Eiji
Ingbar, David
Iruela-Arispe, Luisa
Jaeschke, Hartmut
Jaffe, Elaine
Jager, Dirk
Jahrling, Peter
Jain, Rakesh
Jennette, J Charles
Johnson, Colin
Kalluri, Raghu
Kamp, David
Kane, Agnes
Kanwar, Yashpal
Karpus, William
Kasahara, Hideko
Kasinath, Balakuntalam
Kelly, Darren
Kelvin, David
Ketteler, Markus
Killian, J Keith
Kim, Hyeyoung
Kimmel, Paul
Kiss, Robert
Kiuru-Enari, Sari
Kleinman, Hynda
Klocker, Helmut
Knudsen, Beatrice
Kobori, Hiroyuki
Kobzik, Lester
Körbling, Martin
Kovacs, Kalman
Krane, Stephen
Krause, Diane
Kreipe, H Heinrich
Kuhajda, Francis P
Kuver, Rahul
Lagunoff, David
Lakhani, Sunil
Lakkis, Fadi
Lamps, Laura
Lasota, Jerzy
Lecour, Sandrine
Lehmann, Alan
Leung, Donald
Leung, Po Sing
Ley, Klaus
Li, Jin-Ping
Li, Jisu
Liao, Daiqing
Lichtenberger, Len
Lim, Megan
Lingen, Mark
Liou, Gregory
Litherland, Sally
Little, Randie
Liu, Chen
Locker, Joseph
Lorentz, Axel
Louie, Diane
Louis, David
Ludwig, Andreas
LuValle, Phyllis A
Madaio, Michael
Madsen, Karen
Makino, Hirofumi
Malkas, Linda
Mandell, Kenneth J
Manne, Upender
Marc, Ladanyi
Maria-Engler, Silvya
Martin, John
Martinez-Hernandez, Antonio
Masini, Emanuela
Masliah, Eliezer
Mattie, Mark
Mazzanti, Roberto
McCuskey, Robert
McIndoe, Rick
McKenna, Robert
McKinnon, Peter
McManus, Bruce
Mehal, Wajahat
Melief, Cees
Menko, Sue
Michalopoulos, George
Miettinen, Markku
Mignatti, Paolo
Milstone, David
Mischel, Paul
Mokry, Jaroslav
Monaco, Salvatore
Mora, Jaume
Morel, Laurence
Morris, Andrew
Moscinski, Lynn
Moses, Marsha A
Mufson, Elliott
Murphy, George
Mustoe, Tom
Nakano, Toru
Nakshatri, Harikrishna
Nanda, Navreet
Nanus, David
Nardone, Gerardo
Natarajan, Viswanathan
Neel, Benjamin G
Newsome, Philip
Nicosia, Roberto
Nicosia, Santo
O'Connor, Kevin
Odorisio, Teresa
Odze, Robert
Oh, Paul
Ohashi, Ryuji
Ohgaki, Hiroko
Ohshima, Toshio
Olovsson, Matts
Olson, Susan
Oppenheim, Joost
Otonkoski, Timo
Ovstebo, Reidun
Owens, Gregory
Pardo, Annie
Paschen, Wulf
Patterson, Paul
Pearse, David B
Peck, Ammon
Pepper, Michael
Perez-Fontan, J
Pinzani, Massimo
Piris, Miguel A
Polverini, Peter
Popp, Mick
Poppema, Sibrand
Proost, Paul
Prystowsky, Michael
Pyne, Susan
Quinn, Frederick
Qumsiyeh, Mazin
Rahman, Sakhawat H
Raines, Elaine
Ramadori, Giuliano
Rand, Kenneth
Ray, Patricio
Reddi, A Hari
Reddy, Janardan
Reddy, Pavan
Reifenberger, Guido
Reimann, Jörg
Reutelingsperger, Chris
Reynolds, Albert B
Robertson, Keith
Roskams, Tania
Roylance, Rebecca
Rubin, Mark A
Sahni, Sanjeev
Sapi, Eva
Saubermann, Lawrence
Schmitt-Graff, A
Schneider, Barbara
Schnitt, Stuart
Schulte-Hermann, Rolf
Seetharam, Bellur
Sen, Malini
Seruca, Raquel
Seth, Arun
Shi, Shan-Rong
Shih, Ie-Ming
Shupe, Thomas
Siegal, Gene
Siemann, Dietmar
Silliman, Christopher
Siminovitch, Katherine
Sladky, John
Snell, William
Soto, Carlos Enrique
Spencer, Melissa
Spiegel, Sarah
Spitz, Francis
Sporn, Michael
Stagg, Andrew
Steinman, Ralph
Stolz, Donna
Striker, Gary
Strongin, Alex
Sugrue, Steve
Suhr, Ole
Svetlov, Stanislav
Swift, Galvin H
Tamm, Ernst
Tang, Dean
Telford, Sam
Theise, Neil
Thorgeirsson, Snorri
Tidball, James
Tokita, Kazutaka
Trucco, Massimo
Tsao, Ming
Tsilibary, Effie
Tuder, Rubin
Uitto, Jouni
Ushio-Fukai, Masuko
Van der Velden, Vincent HJ
Vignery, Agnes
Visakorpi, Tapio
Visner, Gary
Vito, Pasquale
Vlodavsky, Israel
Walsh, Kenneth
Walter, Michael
Wang, Kevin
Warmann, Steven
Washington, Mary K
Watanabe, Hideomi
Weiss, Lawrence
Wells, Rebecca
White, III, Charles
White, James
Whitehouse, Chris
Wick, Mark
Wiendl, Heinz
Winters, Gayle
Winter, William
Wright, George L, Jr
Wunderlich, John R
Yamashita, Uki
Yang, Lily
Yasukawa, Masaki
Yeh, I-Tien
Yin, Zhinan
Yuen, Kwok-yung
Zavolan, Mihaela
Zelterman, Daniel
Zhong, Robert
Zhou, XJ Joseph
Zimmermann, Arthur
Zucker, Stanley
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Crawford, J. Editorial. Lab Invest 85, 1–3 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/labinvest.3700224
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/labinvest.3700224