Medical and biological science is progressing, and this informs the role and position of modern scientific journals. In the face of a growing number of submissions to Blood representing increasingly diverse content, we feel that it has become important to revisit the orientation of the Journal. Every week, the Editors receive presubmission inquiries from investigators about their scientific work: “Is our work suitable for Blood?” “Does it fit the scope of the Journal?” Against this background, we briefly readdress here the focus of Blood. The directional thrust of the Journal is hematologic. The Journal strives to publish studies of high impact, novelty, originality, and quality that we believe will be of the greatest interest to our readers who represent all areas of hematology.
Blood has a major commitment to reporting studies on clinical effectiveness in hematology. This includes traditional randomized and nonrandomized trials, studies with adaptive trial designs and sophisticated surrogate end points, observational studies, meta-analyses, diagnostic studies, preventive studies, and clinical studies correlating outcomes with molecular or animal data. We are particularly interested in studies that are likely to influence patterns of care. This area has always been, and continues to be, a priority for the Journal.
The Journal welcomes interesting clinical studies in any hematologic subdiscipline, including those that address clinical issues in hemostasis, thrombosis and vascular medicine, red or white blood cell disorders, or therapeutic trials in leukemia, myeloma, and lymphoma. We aim to provide practice-changing data to our many readers in clinical practice who treat patients with hematologic disease on a day-to-day basis.
Maintaining a rapid review time is a priority for Blood. First review of new submissions is completed within an average of 21 days, and fast-track reviews are usually completed in less than 10 days; we are constantly striving to improve our performance in this regard. For investigators engaged in ongoing clinical trials of broad interest, we suggest that it may be useful to notify the Editors at an early stage, so that a pathway of expedited review can be set. We welcome clinical studies and would like to increase our publication of them.
The Journal has a special position among hematology publications in that it offers a platform for both clinical and basic and experimental studies. The Journal publishes experimental animal and in vitro cell biological research that reveals new mechanistic insights into physiological and pathological processes in hematology. Blood has acquired a unique position as a journal because it represents the whole of hematology. Now, the “under one roof” principle is perhaps more relevant and attractive than ever before. The ongoing explosion of genomic, bioinformatic, cell biological, and technological research offers abundant translational perspectives and provides opportunities for basic science discoveries to inform clinical developments. In light of this rapid progress and with the purpose of adapting to the diverse needs of our readers, the Journal also offers various article formats that range from Blood Spotlight reviews to regular Review Articles and Perspectives, and from How I Treat and Evidence-Based Focused Review articles to Original Research and Blood Forum sounding-board papers. Some of these article types show an evident focus on clinical practice, and should in particular serve our readers working in clinical practice.
Blood publishes studies in any scientific subdomain of hematology including stem cells and hematopoiesis, leukocyte, platelet, and red cell biology, coagulation, hematologic neoplasia, immunobiology, transplantation, transfusion medicine, and vascular biology. We consider each of these subdomains equally important, but covering the breadth of hematology means that we must stress quality, novelty, and direct relevance to hematology. Scientific work in the field of vascular biology, immunobiology, and AIDS that emphasizes basic immunology, infectious disease, basic angiogenesis, solid tumor angiogenesis, or virology may sometimes be better served by other specialty journals. Although the borders of these scientific areas can never be defined in absolute terms, we have clarified the guidelines for these specific areas in more explicit detail in an effort to serve our authors (for details, see the Author Guide). It is unavoidable that these guidelines will always have some gray zones. As in the past, the Editors remain receptive to presubmission inquiries if there are questions and uncertainties about specific submissions.
When Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1450, he laid the foundation for the wide dissemination of new knowledge. Blood owes a great debt to this heritage, but we are aware that we need to recognize the continuing need for change and development reflecting our modern realities. We are continuing to expand our digital presence, and invite readers to experience the continued enhancements to the Blood website over the coming months. Furthermore, as we urged upon our taking the reins of the Journal 6 months ago, we remain open to suggestions from our readers and authors about how we can best deliver exciting innovations of scientific or practical value to our readers.
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