Message from the editor

Abstract

I would like to thank the members of the oncology community for the increasingly strong support that you have been providing to Cancer. Over the past year, we have enjoyed a marked 11% increase in the total number of manuscripts submitted for evaluation. At the same time, the overall manuscript acceptance rate has been cut in half, such that currently, only 21% of all submitted manuscripts are accepted for publication. We hope that these changes result in reports that are more useful to you in your clinical practice or research. It also is gratifying to see a concomitant increase in the impact factor rating for Cancer. While Cancer does not tailor its editorial policy to affect the impact factor rating, it still is satisfying to see that work published in Cancer is reaching a broad audience, where it can have maximum utility. In addition, the majority of accepted articles are now published in print within four months of receipt of final manuscripts. This fast publication time serves the interests of our authors, our readers, and the oncology community. To further enhance the utility of accepted manuscripts, beginning with this year's July 1 issue, all manuscripts accepted for print publication in Cancer will be available online “as soon as ready.” The EarlyView system was a joint collaboration of the American Cancer Society and John Wiley & Sons, the publisher of Cancer. This web-based site will display all accepted manuscripts within 7–10 days of receipt of author-corrected page proofs. We are in the process of making another change that we hope is a positive one for Cancer. The inaugural article in a series focusing on issues in bioethics and legal oncology will be published in the July 15 issue of Cancer. Articles in this new section will focus on interdisciplinary concerns regarding the practice of oncology, as well as relevant ethical and legal issues. We anticipate that initially we will publish an article in this section at least once every 8–12 weeks, and we welcome suggestions regarding subjects of interest. Please let us know whether this new series “hits the mark.” Thank you again for your interest and participation in Cancer. I am confident that, working together with readers and authors, Cancer can continue to evolve and to meet your needs and expectations even better in the future!