What is the purpose of launching the World Journal of Experimental Medicine?

Abstract

The first issue of the World Journal of Experimental Medicine (WJEM), whose preparatory work was initiated on May 26, 2011, will be published on December 20, 2011. The WJEM Editorial Board has now been established and consists of 104 distinguished experts from 30 countries. Our purpose of launching the WJEM is to publish peer-reviewed, high-quality articles via an open-access online publishing model, thereby acting as a platform for communication between peers and the wider public, and maximizing the benefits to editorial board members, authors and readers.

Key Words: Experimental medicine, Biomedical sciences, Peer-reviewed, Open-access, Journal

INTRODUCTION

I am Atsushi Mizoguchi, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Molecular Pathology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital (Figure 1), together with De-Ling Kong, PhD, Professor, Institute of Molecular Biology, Nankai University, and Baohong Zhang, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biology, Department of Biology, East Carolina University, we will be the co-editor-in-chief for the World Journal of Experimental Medicine (World J Exp Med, WJEM, online ISSN 2220-315X, DOI: 10.5493). I am very pleased to announce that the first issue of WJEM, whose preparatory work was initiated on May 26, 2011, will be published on December 20, 2011. The WJEM is a bimonthly peer-reviewed, online, open-access, journal supported by an editorial board consisting of 104 experts in experimental medicine from 30 countries. It is my great honor to introduce the WJEM as a new forum for exchanging thoughts and experiences about any approaches to solving problems in research in experimental medicine. Congratulations to the publisher, members of editorial board of the journal, all the authors and readers for this memorable event!

Figure 1 Editor-in-Chief of the World Journal of Experimental Medicine. Atsushi Mizoguchi, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Molecular Pathology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, CNY149-6024, 13th Steert, Charlestown, MA 02114, United States.

Experimental medicine is an essential part in medical research to provide solid rationale to cultivate novel, effective and safety measures for a wide spectrum of clinical purposes - prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, rehabilitation and nursing. In addition, recent advances in genetic and engineering technologies, such as medical devices and imaging, along with the expertise of experimental medicine have provided significant contributions for bringing novel concepts into diverse disease conditions that range from autoimmune diseases to cancer. Indeed, a growing body of evidence in the field of experimental medicine indicates more complicated mechanisms in the majority of diseases than previously predicted, suggesting the requirement of further extensive research. For example, many factors such as genetic, immune and environmental influences are all responsible for determining the induction as well as the progression of diseases. This fact clearly highlights the requirement of “personalized medicine” in the management of patients who have different genetic backgrounds and been exposed to different environmental factors. I believe that much more accumulation of data is needed from various fields within experimental medicine to successfully construct a data-base platform for such personalized medicine.

SCOPE

In order to achieve this long-term goal, the aim of the WJEM is to rapidly report new theories, methods and techniques for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and nursing in the field of experimental medicine. The WJEM covers topics concerning clinical laboratory medicine (applied and basic research in hematology, body fluid examination, cytomorphology, genetic diagnosis of hematological disorders, thrombosis and hemostasis, and blood typing and transfusion), biochemical examination (applied and basic research in laboratory automation and information systems, biochemical methodology and biochemical diagnostics), clinical microbiology (microbiological laboratory quality control and management; microbiological specimen collection and its influencing factors; conventional, automatic or molecular detection of clinical microorganisms; monitoring of bacterial and fungal drug resistance, drug resistance mechanisms and rational application of antibiotics; monitoring and control of nosocomial infections), immunodiagnostics (laboratory diagnosis of infectious diseases, tumor markers and their application, laboratory diagnosis of autoimmune diseases and immunotechnology), clinical laboratory management (laboratory quality control and management, traceability and calibration, information management systems and laboratory automation, and laboratory biosafety management) and experimental medicine-related traditional medicine, integrated Chinese and Western medicine. The journal also publishes original articles and reviews that report the results of experimental medicine-related applied and basic research in fields such as immunology, physiopathology, cell biology, pharmacology, medical genetics and pharmacology of Chinese herbs.

CONTENTS OF PEER REVIEW

In order to guarantee the quality of articles published in the journal, WJEM usually invites three experts to comment on the submitted papers. The contents of peer review include: (1) whether the contents of the manuscript are of great importance and novelty; (2) whether the experiment is complete and described clearly; (3) whether the discussion and conclusion are justified; (4) whether the citations of references are necessary and reasonable; and (5) whether the presentation and use of tables and figures are correct and complete.

COLUMNS

The columns in issues of the WJEM will include: (1) Editorial: to introduce and comment on the substantial advance and its importance in the fast-developing areas; (2) Frontier: to review the most representative achievements and comment on the current research status in the important fields and propose directions for the future research; (3) Topic Highlight: this column consists of three formats, including (A) 10 invited review articles on a hot topic, (B) a commentary on common issues of this hot topic, and (C) a commentary on the 10 individual articles; (4) Observation: to update the development of old and new questions, highlight unsolved problems and provide strategies on how to solve the questions; (5) Guidelines for Clinical Practice: to provide guidelines for clinical diagnosis and treatment; (6) Review: to systematically review the most representative progress and unsolved problems in the major scientific disciplines, comment on the current research status and make suggestions on the future work; (7) Original Articles: to originally report the innovative and valuable findings in experimental medicine; (8) Brief Articles: to briefly report the novel and innovative findings in experimental medicine; (9) Case Report: to report a rare or typical case; (10) Letters to the Editor: to discuss and reply to the contributions published in the WJEM, or to introduce and comment on a controversial issue of general interest; (11) Book Reviews: to introduce and comment on quality monographs of experimental medicine; and (12) Guidelines: to introduce consensuses and guidelines reached by international and national academic authorities worldwide on research in experimental medicine.

We welcome any articles that set a challenge to current concepts in translational, pre-clinical or clinical fields. Our editorial board members are looking forward to your submissions and anticipate working with you to achieve our mission.