Looking for Breakthrough in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Research by Changing Recruitment, Support and Publication Algorithms

Abstract

Despite major breakthroughs and significant improvements in treating most cancers, pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) therapy is still badly lagging behind. This article employs selected funding breakdown and publication metrics to analyze the directions and the results of PAC research. I proceed to pinpoint the factors that contribute to the failure of the basic, preclinical effort to combat this terrible disease, in contrast to other major malignancies. Briefly, every research project is a result of a series of choices and decisions, starting with the choice of the field of research interest and ending with a choice of what, how, and where to publish the results. In this author's opinion, it is the criteria of academic promotions and, consequently, the demands of the publication media that hamper meaningful progress in this area. Finally, I suggest several practical measures to rectify the PAC research deficiencies.