2020: The year in review

The year 2020, to state the obvious, was a year like no other in recent memory. Norms were turned upside down in all aspects of our society, professions, and daily life. This impacted the journal’s priorities, which shifted temporarily to focusing on all things coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) while not neglecting our core mission of promoting the specialty.

We had issued a call for evidence-based articles addressing various aspects of COVID-19 and promised expedited reviews. We had an outstanding response with a large volume of submissions, which meant we had to overtax our reviewers and our editorial staff. Our reviewers rose to the occasion and were able to render insightful, thoughtful, and timely reviews. To those reviewers who went above and beyond, you have our heartfelt thanks and appreciation and I am sure our authors will join me in extending a big Thank You.

Given that this was the year of COVID-19, it was not surprising that most of our most cited and most downloaded articles in 2020 were related to the novel coronavirus. As listed in Table I, 7 of the top 10 downloaded articles were COVID-related. Similarly, 8 of the top 10 cited articles were COVID-related (Table II ).

Table I.

Top downloaded articles, JACI 2020

Article title	Authors	DOI	Cover date	No. of downloads
Risk factors for severity and mortality in adult COVID-19 inpatients in Wuhan	Li X, Xu S, Yu M, Wang K, Tao Y, Zhou Y, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.04.006	July 2020	15,757
A possible role for B cells in COVID-19? Lesson from patients with agammaglobulinemia	Quinti I, Lougaris V, Milito C, Cinetto F, Pecoraro A, Mezzaroma I, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.04.013	July 2020	15,427
Eosinophil responses during COVID-19 infections and coronavirus vaccination	Lindsley AW, Schwartz JT, Rothenberg ME	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.04.021	July 2020	10,864
Association of respiratory allergy, asthma and expression of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor, ACE2	Jackson DJ, Busse WW, Bacharier LB, Kattan M, O’Connor GT, Wood RA, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.04.009	July 2020	10,445
SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing—questions to be asked	Özçürümez MK, Ambrosch A, Frey O, Haselmann V, Holdenrieder S, Kiehntopf M, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.05.020	July 2020	7,889
Ruxolitinib in treatment of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a multicenter, single-blind, randomized controlled trial	Cao Y, Wei J, Zou L, Jiang T, Wang G, Chen L, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.05.019	July 2020	7,625
COVID-19: unanswered questions on immune response and pathogenesis	Maggi E, Canonica GW, Moretta L	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.05.001	July 2020	6,722
Next-generation ARIA guidelines for allergic rhinitis based on GRADE and real-world evidence	Bousquet J, Schünemann HJ, Togias A, Bachert C, Erhola M, Hellings PW, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2019.06.049	January 2020	5,335
Anaphylaxis—a 2020 Practice Parameter Update, systematic review and GRADE analysis	Shaker MS, Wallace DV, Golden DBK, Oppenheimer J, Bernstein JA, Campbell RL, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.01.017	April 2020	4,704
The microbiome and inflammatory bowel disease	Glassner KL, Abraham BP, Quigley EMM	10.1016/j.jaci.2019.11.003	January 2020	4,218

Table II.

Top cited articles, JACI 2020

Article title	Authors	DOI	Cover date	No. of citations
Risk factors for severity and mortality in adult COVID-19 inpatients in Wuhan	Li X, Xu S, Yu M, Wang K, Tao Y, Zhou Y, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.04.006	July 2020	342
Association of respiratory allergy, asthma, and expression of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor ACE2	Jackson DJ, Busse WW, Bacharier LB, Kattan M, O’Connor GT, Wood RA, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.04.009	July 2020	95
Elevated levels of IL-6 and CRP predict the need for mechanical ventilation in COVID-19	Herold T, Jurinovic V, Arnreich C, Lipworth BJ, Hellmuth JC, von Bergwelt-Baildon M, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.05.008	July 2020	90
Plasma IP-10 and MCP-3 levels are highly associated with disease severity and predict the progression of COVID-19	Yang Y, Shen C, Li J, Yuan J, Wei J, Huang F, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.04.027	July 2020	75
Ruxolitinib in treatment of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a multicenter, single-blind, randomized controlled trial	Cao Y, Wei J, Zou L, Jiang T, Wang G, Chen L, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.05.019	July 2020	49
A possible role for B cells in COVID-19? Lesson from patients with agammaglobulinemia	Quinti I, Lougaris V, Milito C, Cinetto F, Pecoraro A, Mezzaroma I, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.04.013	July 2020	49
Eosinophil responses during COVID-19 infections and coronavirus vaccination	Lindsley AW, Schwartz JT, Rothenberg ME	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.04.021	July 2020	42
Type I IFN immunoprofiling in COVID-19 patients	Trouillet-Assant S, Viel S, Gaymard A, Pons S, Richard J-C, Perret M, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.04.029	July 2020	41
Phase 2B randomized study of nemolizumab in adults with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis and severe pruritus	Silverberg JI, Pinter A, Pulka G, Poulin Y, Bouaziz J-D, Wollenberg A, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2019.08.013	January 2020	37
Upadacitinib in adults with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis: 16-week results from a randomized, placebo-controlled trial	Guttman-Yassky E, Thaçi D, Pangan AL, Hong HC-H, Papp KA, Reich K, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2019.11.025	March 2020	34

In an effort to avoid overlooking some of the most impactful articles across the specialty that were published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI) in 2020, the editors selected the top 10 articles that they thought will have an immediate or future impact on our discipline. The top choices are presented in Table III (arranged chronoligcally).

Table III.

Top 10 editors’ choice selections, JACI 2020

Article title	Authors	DOI	Cover date
Phase 2B randomized study of nemolizumab in adults with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis and severe pruritus	Silverberg JI, Pinter A, Pulka G, Poulin Y, Bouaziz JD, Wollenberg A, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2019.08.013	January 2020
Autophagy is critical for group 2 innate lymphoid cell metabolic homeostasis and effector function	Galle-Treger L, Hurrell BP, Lewis G, Howard E, Jahani PS, Banie H, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2019.10.035	February 2020
Rapid desensitization of humanized mice with anti-human FceRIa monoclonal antibodies	Khodoun MV, Morris SC, Angerman E, Potter C, Schuman R, Wunderlich M, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2019.12.003	March 2020
Dual transcriptomic and epigenomic study of reaction severity in peanut-allergic children	Do AN, Watson CT, Cohain AT, Griffin RS, Grishin A, Wood RA, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2019.10.040	April 2020
Vaccine against peanut allergy based on engineered virus-like particles displaying single major peanut allergens	Storni F, Zeltins A, Balke I, Heath MD, Kramer MF, Skinner MA, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2019.12.007	April 2020
Association of respiratory allergy, asthma, and expression of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor ACE2	Jackson DJ, Busse WW, Bacharier LB, Kattan M, O’Connor GT, Wood RA, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.04.009	July 2020
Type 2 inflammation in chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps: another relevant endotype	Delemarre T, Holtappels G, De Ruyck N, Zhang N, Nauwynck H, Bachert C, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.04.040	August 2020
An anti–IL-13 antibody reverses epithelial-mesenchymal transition biomarkers in eosinophilic esophagitis: phase 2 trial results	Gann PH, Deaton RJ, McMahon N, Collins MH, Dellon ES, Hirano I, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.03.045	August 2020
Single-cell transcriptomics combined with interstitial fluid proteomics defines cell type–specific immune regulation in atopic dermatitis	Rojahn TB, Vorstandlechner V, Krausgruber T, Bauer WM, Alkon N, Bangert C, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.03.041	November 2020
Efficacy and safety of mepolizumab in hypereosinophilic syndrome: a phase III, randomized, placebo-controlled trial	Roufosse F, Kahn JE, Rothenberg ME, Wardlaw AJ, Klion AD, Kirby SY, et al	10.1016/j.jaci.2020.08.037	December 2020

A major highlight of 2020 for JACI was the publication of the “2020 Focused Updates to the Asthma Management Guidelines,” which were in the December 2020 issue.¹ These guidelines were accompanied by a rostrum by Israel² and another rostrum by Szefler.³ In addition, we had 3 editorials addressing specific aspects of the guidelines.4, 5, 6

In 2020 we also saw the sunsetting of the Letter to the Editor format. As of July 1, 2020, JACI no longer accepts Letters to the Editor. These have been replaced by a “Brief Report” format. The rationale for this switch and the detailed description of the Brief Report format were detailed in a previous editorial.⁷

We are also introducing a new feature in 2021 titled “The Last Page,” which will feature a graphic display on the last page of the print issue. This is being introduced because we have received many interesting submissions of graphic displays that may not fit in any of our standard formats but may be of interest to our readers. The specifics are as follows:

“The Last Page” is dedicated to various graphic displays that relate to the scope of JACI. The content must not occupy more than 1 print page, and it will be citable with a DOI. Other formatting information includes the following:

• 1.
  Title page:

  • a.
    Title—up to 12 words.
  • b.
    Authors—no more than 3 and must meet the standard JACI criteria for authorship.
  • c.
    Corresponding author (mailing address, phone number, and email address).
  • d.
    Funding statement.
  • e.
    Disclosure statement (must include ALL authors).
• 2.The graphic display can be accompanied by no more than 200 words of text explaining the subject of the display.
• 3.One to 3 references may be used.
• 4.No Online Repository is allowed.
• 5.The image must be supplied in high resolution and adhere to our usual technical requirements for graphical displays.

We look forward to another year of continued service to our authors, our readers, and our specialty as we look forward to returning to pre-COVID normal.