Dawning of a New ASN Journal

Abstract

Never before have basic science and clinical nephrology been so integrated and interdependent. Unraveling the human genome, along with other dazzling advances in modern molecular and cell biology, has spawned epidemiologic and pharmacologic techniques that have greatly facilitated the study of renal and other diseases. The next 20 years promise that the expansion of our understanding of disease will be relentless and will undoubtedly create breakthroughs for novel and effective therapies. This daunting on-rush of new concepts, techniques, applications, and indeed a whole new lexicon leave many investigators and clinical nephrologists increasingly dependent on print and electronic media to assimilate this critically important explosion of information. The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) has created the Clinical Journal of the ASN (CJASN) to serve as a “home” for this emerging mass of clinical/translational research. Cutting-edge clinical investigation will be coupled with critical appraisals of these works and every attempt will be made to view these studies through the prism of the body of existing literature. Whenever possible, “application” to managing renal disease will be stressed. Clinical investigation and translational science are the lifeblood of nephrology. Success in digesting, critiquing, and transmitting this new knowledge is critical for the nephrologist to update his clinical armamentarium and maintain an excellent quality of delivered care. While CJASN′s primary mission will be to provide a forum for rapidly expanding clinical science, we will call upon our best educators to critique, simplify, and communicate rigorously conducted clinical research. Manuscripts addressing clinical trials methodology outcomes and novel diagnostic techniques will also be welcomed. In addition, we plan to periodically list ongoing clinical trials available for patient enrollment. Each issue will strive to provide educational opportunities for our readers through invited reviews, mini-reviews, a diagnostic and therapeutic corner, and a column representing controversies in nephrology in which leading experts with differing viewpoints on important topics will debate. These contributions will periodically cover renal economics, politics, and ethics as they apply to renal medicine. In recent years, several “orphan” areas of nephrology have not been sufficiently emphasized in published literature with respect to modern nephrologic clinical practice. CJASN therefore, will provide special emphasis on hypertension, transplantation and internal medicine for nephrologists, and intensive/critical care medicine. CJASN has now become the third component of the integrated educational opportunity that ASN provides its membership. The power of our three journals—CJASN, JASN, and NephSAP™—is “greater than the sum of its individual parts!” By integrating their content in a given month, one can read in JASN, for example, about a new biochemical basis for glomerular scarring, and then be prompted to read about a new clinical therapeutic trial for glomerulosclerosis in CJASN, and again be prompted to a critical review of the last 18 months of publications on glomerular disease in NephSAPTM. Coupling these publications with our electronic programs (HDCN and UpToDate) and with periodic attendance at ASN′s Renal Week Meeting, Board Review Course, and Renal Week Highlights meetings will provide a curriculum for knowledge and education that will be spectacular for clinicians and investigators alike. The CJASN Editorial Team was carefully chosen to represent the variety and diversity of specialties within nephrology. Recognizing that geographical borders are no longer a barrier to the rapid spread of new ideas, we have chosen our leadership to maximize input and material from all over the world. Furthermore, we recognize that fully 50% of attendees at our Renal Week meeting and almost 60% of submitted abstracts come from outside North America. The globalization of ideas is a reality and we believe that CJASN should promote it. We are committed to making CJASN a highly valued journal for all ASN members through the diversity and quality of the material it will contain. Submission of manuscripts is entirely electronic as is outlined in our instructions for authors. We will attempt to provide timely and critical reviews of manuscripts and to present invited material that should be of interest to all members of our society. Because education is also part of our mission, we will attempt to bring the best clinical material of Renal Week annually into CJASN in the form of original submissions and educational offerings to coincide with the regional presentations of Renal Week Highlights each year. As we begin this endeavor, we urge our readership to offer suggestions on how we may improve the journal and achieve the goal of becoming the second flagship journal of the American Society of Nephrology.