LUNG Year in Review: 2021

The end of 2021 marked the conclusion of the second year of service of the current Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board of LUNG. Positive results achieved in 2020 were continued in 2021, as evidenced by an increasing number of article downloads and a rising journal impact factor. High-quality manuscripts were submitted by authors worldwide, resulting in an article acceptance rate of under 15%.

In keeping with initially stated goals [1], we published ten State-of-the Art review articles in our six issues of 2021 [2–11]. State-of-the-Art reviews are comprehensive, up-to-date reviews on specific topics contributed by experts in the field. Such articles are typically invited, however, outstanding, unsolicited reviews are also considered.

Among ongoing efforts at LUNG is the enhancement of critical care content of the journal. To that end, we were pleased to publish a number of high-quality articles, including studies examining ventilator-induced lung injury [12], acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) [13, 14], and weaning from non-invasive ventilation [15].

The year 2021 marked the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the volume was not nearly as high as in 2020, SARS-CoV-2-related submissions in 2021 were many, but acceptances were few. In keeping with our policy of 2020 [16–19], accepted articles in 2021 were limited to those providing new and useful insights into COVID-19. Such contributions included a review of COVID-19 in children with asthma [2], post-COVID-19 chronic cough and other symptom burden [20–22], as well as evaluations of therapeutic interventions [23, 24] and comparison of mortality compared with seasonal influenza [25].

In keeping with historical precedent, LUNG continues to give prominent attention to the important, and recently very active, field of cough. Indeed, 2022 promises to be a landmark year in the cough space, as we anticipate the approval of the first-ever drug indicated for the treatment of refractory chronic cough [26, 27]. Cough-related articles published in 2021 examined post-COVID-19 cough [20, 22], clinical antitussive drug trials [28], and the importance of the placebo response [7], relevance of speech-language pathology interventions in chronic cough therapy [29, 30], cough monitoring [31], cough mechanisms, and diagnostic evaluation [32–39].

The field of lung cancer investigation continues to grow and represents a major focus in pulmonary medicine. LUNG participated in the dissemination of evolving knowledge in this area by publishing a State-of-the-Art review on new developments in the diagnosis and management of small-cell lung cancer [10] in addition to a collection of articles examining lung cancer evaluation, therapy, complications, and survival [40–48].

Many contributions in the ever-expanding area of interventional pulmonology were received in 2021. The best of those studies investigated transthoracic needle aspiration [49], percutaneous lung biopsy [50], robotic-assisted [51] and 4D electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy [52], transbronchial cryobiopsy [53, 54], and therapeutic intervention with endobronchial coils [55].

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) remain subjects of active and increasing investigation. Reflecting this ongoing scientific production, LUNG published two relevant State-of-the-Art reviews [3, 8] as well as a number of original investigations examining diagnosis [56–58], management [59], environmental and toxin-associated disease [60, 61], familial disease [62], and outcomes [63, 64].

The journal saw a number of submissions on the topic of sarcoidosis in 2021. The best of those contributions examined various aspects of the disease, including pharmacological therapy [65, 66], assessment [67], and clinical characteristics [68].

Obstructive airways disease was again well represented in the journal. An eclectic collection of published articles examined various aspects of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma [2, 11, 15, 31, 55, 64, 69–73].

The growing field of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) received due attention within the pages of LUNG in 2021. In addition to a State-of-the-Art review on evaluation and management of adults with OSAS [4], clinical studies reported on associated comorbidities [74] and biomarkers [75]. Additional contributions included investigations of various aspects of pulmonary vascular disease [76, 77], lung transplantation [78, 79], pulmonary function testing [80], aspiration pneumonia [81], and vaping-associated conditions [82].

Our goal of featuring quality studies in pediatric pulmonology was fulfilled in 2021. In addition to a State-of-the-Art review on COVID-19 in children with asthma [2], investigations in cystic fibrosis [83, 84] and pediatric cough [37] appeared in our pages. We continue to invite high-quality submissions in the field of pediatric respiratory medicine.

The vital area of translational research was well represented in the form of preclinical investigations examining a range of clinically relevant topics, including a State-of-the-Art review on non-invasive measurement of pulmonary function [6], as well as studies involving β-2 adrenergic receptors [85, 86], pulmonary fibroblast cell growth [87], and hyperoxia-induced alveolar epithelial cell injury [88].

Throughout 2021, the editorial team at LUNG worked in earnest to build on successes achieved in 2020. We strive to maintain a positive trajectory in the enhancement of the quality and impact of our journal. To that end, we will remain dependent on our colleagues worldwide, working in the laboratory and in the clinic, to contribute their quality work to LUNG.

Declarations

Conflict of interest

Peter Dicpinigaitis, MD, is the Editor-in-Chief of LUNG. No other conflicts of interest related to the content of this editorial.