JASN’s Silver Jubilee

Anniversaries are times to look back at the path and provenance of what was achieved and to preview what may lie ahead. As JASN celebrates its 25th anniversary of continuous publication this month, its Editors-in-Chief reflect on these issues and quite warmly thank all of JASN’s authors, readers, reviewers, and editors as well as the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) for sustaining the mission and success of the journal.

The origins of JASN lay in the decision of the ASN Council in 1989 to introduce a journal that would “inform and educate a growing number of kidney specialists worldwide.”¹ JASN’s start was shaky: when JASN announced in January 1990 that it would be accepting papers, only seven papers were in review at the end of the first month, and at the time of its first issue in July 1990, only the subsequent months of August and September were filled with accepted manuscripts.¹ Respite from this exigency was provided by the Program and Abstracts of the 1990 Annual Meeting of the ASN, which fully comprised the October 1990 issue. From this tenuous beginning, JASN strengthened, matured, and grew in stature. Indeed, JASN’s success led in 2006 to the inception of CJASN, a companion clinical ASN journal, which achieved its present prominence and influence under the superb and successive leadership of Drs. William Bennett and Gary Curhan.

JASN currently receives some 1200 papers per year and publishes 15%–20% of these manuscripts, and at the time of this writing, the February 2016 issue is already being planned. JASN’s reach and readership extend worldwide, and the majority of submissions now emanate from outside the United States. JASN’s international community is reflected by not only the provenance of its published papers but also, JASN’s attention to the concerns and issues germane to global nephrology. Among kidney journals, JASN has consistently achieved the highest impact factor.

Each new editorial team since the beginning of JASN refreshed the journal, imparting its own approach and style.^2–10 Ushered in by a new cover and often accompanied by added features and new rubrics for papers, the changing of the guard brought some variation in the types of papers editorialized and highlighted, the topics covered by invited material, and the percentage of papers triaged and accepted. However, there was an overarching constant from which none of the editorial teams ever wavered: the commitment to both the science and practice of nephrology and the enduring endeavor of selecting the very best work from such a compass. This commitment stemmed from the shared view that current research informs future practice and that progress in nephrology is best served by the repetitive cycling of questions and findings between its research and clinical arenas; engagement between these arenas is thus fostered by a forum that showcases both. In providing such a forum, each editorial team found its own mix and balance of clinical articles, which often appeal to a broader readership, and scientific papers, which speak to a smaller, even esoteric, readership but critically drive forward a given field. The importance of such scientific contributions cannot be sufficiently emphasized, because transformative clinical work often has its origins in seemingly obscure scientific findings.

A great part of the privilege and joy of serving JASN is the opportunity to view novel work as it appears and to influence the extent to which such work is highlighted on the landscape of nephrology’s literature. The latter has markedly advanced in the past 25 years. This issue of JASN contains, for example, articles involving topics largely unknown in 1990, including microRNAs as a mechanism of regulating gene expression; epigenetic determinants of kidney disease; specific proteins relevant to renal injury (sirtuins, MDM2, and FGF23); certain renal signaling pathways (Notch and WNK); specific pathogenetic processes as a cause for disease (chronic allograft loss resulting from antibody-mediated rejection); novel urinary constituents as biomarkers of disease (exosomes); genetic techniques for assessing disease risk (exome–wide association analysis); and novel therapeutic strategies for CKD (oral absorbents to remove uremic toxins). Similarly, in 1990, the phrase AKI was a long way from being introduced, and the need for biomarkers of such injury was not yet generally appreciated. JASN’s current issue includes studies on the long–term predictive effects of one of the most sensitive AKI biomarkers to date, which involves an index based on two proteins (TIMP2 and IGFBP7), one of which (IGFBP7) was still undiscovered in 1990. This dynamism of our discipline, driven by increasingly powerful tools for scientific and clinical research, makes for exciting times in nephrology and underpins a realistic expectation for the emergence of novel therapies for kidney disease. Witnessing this dynamism firsthand during the review process is a special privilege, as is the responsibility of adjudicating what to accept and what to highlight.

Nephrology’s continued advance, however, is clouded by issues that increasingly press upon nephrology’s vitality. JASN has continually directed attention to these issues: the decline in the United States in research support from the National Institutes of Health and other extramural sources; health care reform and its unpredictable effects on the practice of nephrology in general and at academic health centers in particular; declining recruitment of and support for physician-scientists; the education crisis reflected, in part, by a substantial number of training programs in nephrology remaining unfilled each year; the specter of splintering of nephrology as other subspecialties infringe on aspects of its practice; and the rising cost of developing new drugs and devices along with the increasing time taken for their introduction into clinical practice. Although the course and true effect of these issues and others confronting nephrology remain uncertain, JASN has long believed that service to its community requires thoughtful and forthright analyses of these issues.

During JASN’s 25 years, a remarkable transformation occurred in the publishing of biomedical research—from hard copies of submitted manuscripts (stapled and unstapled) and decision letters, photocopiers, fax machines, and FedEx to the eminently accessible world of electronic submission and communication, ScholarOne, electronic websites, open access journals, and the use of social media. Such dynamism in publishing will likely continue as the need for a printed journal is questioned, the prudence of a monthly periodicity in publishing is examined, and indices for evaluating journals are broadly explored. It is difficult to predict how these issues and others under scrutiny in publishing will ultimately affect JASN in the years ahead. However, in the foreseeable future, JASN’s current format and formulation will likely remain largely unchanged.

As we celebrate JASN’s silver jubilee in this issue, we are evermore thankful for the unique privilege of serving the journal and making JASN, as it were, both a “forum and tower”¹¹ in nephrology’s forward march. Importantly, we most gratefully recognize and quite warmly thank JASN’s entire community—in particular, its authors, readers, and reviewers—for all of their contributions and for making the journal such a resounding success.

Disclosures

None.