Foreword: message from the Editor

We have come to the final issue of volume 5 of Lung Cancer Management and would like to thank all the authors and reviewers, along with our editorial and production teams (both internal and external) for their contribution in making volume 5 another great one! We certainly value their hard work, dedication and cooperation throughout this year.

The journal has been well supported by our knowledgeable and helpful Editorial Advisory Board, headed by our Editor-in-Chief David J Sugarbaker, Baylor College of Medicine, USA. Their time and effort, be it in an ambassadorial, advisory or authorship role, on behalf of Lung Cancer Management, are very much appreciated and valued, and we extend a big thank you to them all.

As with all the past volumes of Lung Cancer Management, the standard of content published in volume 5 has been very high – having been assessed using our rigorous peer review and revisions process. We have published a wide range of article types in volume 5, from the shorter opinion and discussion-based editorial and commentary articles, case reports and original research, as well as the longer reviewer articles, covering a variety of subject areas including, neurotrophic tyrosine kinase gene fusions, oligometastatic lung cancer, advanced NSCLC, immunotherapy, symptom burden, liquid biopsy, immune checkpoint inhibitors and surgery.

Many articles proved to be popular with our readers through this year and some of the most read articles so far include:

• Review: Nintedanib in advanced NSCLC: management of adverse events (by Lemmens) [1];

• Clinical Trial Protocol: Community hospital experience using electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy system integrating tidal volume computed tomography mapping (by Raval and Amir) [2];

• Editorial: Neurotrophic tyrosine kinase gene fusions: another opportunity for targeting in lung cancer (by Raez and Rolfo) [3];

• Editorial: Lymphnodal micrometastases in NSCLC: where do we stand? (by Viti, Terzi, Bogina and Bertolaccini) [4];

• Review: Liquid biopsy and NSCLC (by Trombetta, Sparaneo, Pio Fabrizio and Muscarella) [5];

• Commentary: DNA repair in lung cancer: potential not yet reached (Mamdani and Jalal) [6].

Highlights in the last two issues of volume 5 include a commentary on the cost–effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors in NSCLC according to PD-L1 expression [7], an original research article looking at the clinical and economic outcomes of peripheral bronchoscopic biopsy at a community hospital [8], a review outlining surgery in oligometastatic NSCLC patients [9] and an interview based on the AURA 3 trial and the potential of osimertinib to become the new standard of care for a specific population of NSCLC patients [10].

A review article featuring in this final issue explores some of the ‘preclinical rationale and clinical trial data we have to date on combining various systemic therapies with immunotherapies’ [11], while another review discusses aspects of lung cancer screening [12].

Emerging Sources Citation Index

The end of 2015 saw Lung Cancer Management accepted onto Thomson's newest indexing service, Emerging Sources Citation Index. Emerging Sources Citation Index journals are included in Web of Science, and not only will this increase their discoverability, it will also aid in their subsequent assessments for SCIE. It can be considered a ‘first stop’ on the way to SCIE coverage and is also a definite marker of quality for our young journal.

Social media

We believe that it is very important to engage with the online community via twitter and our editorial team have worked very hard to do so. We have had much success in reaching various major stakeholders in the field of lung cancer research – including academics, clinicians, charities and patients. We aim to continue to improve on this success through 2017 and if you have not already done so, we would love to welcome you as a follower on Twitter (@fsglmt).

Oncology central

Toward the end of 2015 we announced that Lung Cancer Management, along with our other seven oncology management journal titles (Breast Cancer Management, CNS Oncology, Colorectal Cancer, Hepatic Oncology, International Journal of Endocrine Oncology, International Journal of Hematologic Oncology and Melanoma Management) had been partnered with Oncology Central [13]. Oncology Central is an online resource by Future Science Group and registration is free. This resource is designed to meet the specific needs of our audience of medical professionals, aiming to deliver high-quality and relevant content in an accessible and innovative way – all endorsed by an expanding board of expert Ambassadors. Through Oncology Central, we endeavor to keep our audience up to date with the latest developments in cancer research by providing unparalleled free access to the latest news, opinion, peer-reviewed journal articles, multimedia and exclusive content. This new partnership means that all members of Oncology Central will have full free access to articles published in Lung Cancer Management and the other titles listed above.

If you would like to be a member of Oncology Central yourself, you will receive free access to timely news and expert opinion, along with all content published in Oncology Central-partnered journals. Please feel free to contact us via email: oncology.management@futuremedicine.com.

Conclusion

We will really be focusing on improving our journals in 2017 and some of our many exciting plans include updating our Aims and Scope, exploring the prospect of engaging a broader range of authors to reach a wider audience and of course looking at new possibilities in terms of article types and coverage.

We will be representing Lung Cancer Management and our other seven oncology management titles, along with our online knowledge hub Oncology Central at The European Cancer Congress in Amsterdam this year. Please do come and visit our stand if you are attending. If not, we hope to see you at other conferences we will be at during the coming year.

Our readers are very important to us; please do not hesitate to contact us regarding subject areas you would like to see featured in our journal and any other feedback you may have. We also welcome unsolicited article proposals and would be delighted to hear from you, particularly if you do have plans to submit original research articles and case reports, as we are looking to feature more of these specific article types in line with our scope as an oncology management journal.

Thank you for your interest in our journal; we have achieved much this year and we look forward to another successful year ahead for Lung Cancer Management.