E ditor - in - chief
William S. Hancock
editorial
Barnett Institute and Department of Chemistry Northeastern University Boston, MA 02115 617-373-4881; fax 617-373-2855
[email protected] Associate E ditors Joshua LaBaer Harvard Medical School György Marko-Varga AstraZeneca and Lund University Martin McIntosh Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Cons u lting E ditor Jeremy K. Nicholson Imperial College London E ditorial adv isory board Ruedi H. Aebersold ETH Hönggerberg Leigh Anderson Plasma Proteome Institute Rolf Apweiler European Bioinformatics Institute Ronald Beavis Manitoba Centre for Proteomics John J. M. Bergeron McGill University Rainer Bischoff University of Groningen Richard Caprioli Vanderbilt University School of Medicine R. Graham Cooks Purdue University Thomas E. Fehniger AstraZeneca Catherine Fenselau University of Maryland Daniel Figeys University of Ottawa Sam Hanash Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Stanley Hefta Bristol-Myers Squibb Denis Hochstrasser University of Geneva Michael J. Hubbard University of Melbourne Donald F. Hunt University of Virginia Barry L. Karger Northeastern University Joachim Klose Charité-University Medicine Berlin Matthias Mann Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry David Muddiman North Carolina State University Robert F. Murphy Carnegie Mellon University Gilbert S. Omenn University of Michigan Akhilesh Pandey Johns Hopkins University Aran Paulus Bio-Rad Laboratories Jasna Peter-Katalini´c University of Muenster Peipei Ping University of California, Los Angeles Henry Rodriguez National Cancer Institute Michael Snyder Yale University Clifford H. Spiegelman Texas A&M University Ruth VanBogelen Pfizer Global Research & Development Timothy D. Veenstra SAIC-Frederick, National Cancer Institute Scot R. Weinberger GenNext Technologies Susan T. Weintraub University of Texas Health Science Center John R. Yates, III The Scripps Research Institute
© 2007 American Chemical Society
A Message of Appreciation to Our Loyal Reviewers
T
he quality of our journal rests in large part on the efforts of busy scientists who perform the essential duty of reviewing papers. The reviewers decide whether an article is of sufficient novelty and quality to deserve publication. The editors largely administer the process and make the value judgments in the case of conflicting reviews—and then make the tough decision of accepting or rejecting the manuscript. In 2007, we expect >1000 submissions to the journal. With such a volume, the editorial staff cannot do an in-depth review of every paper. In many cases, we lack a sufficiently detailed knowledge of the subject. Remember, our papers range from medicine to agriculture, from statistics to quantum mechanics, and from blood to bile, just to mention a few. Proteomics is a rapidly growing field, which challenges our panel of experts to evaluate rapidly evolving technology. In some areas, a paper that is 6–12 months old can be outdated if superior approaches have entered the field in the meantime. It is a “simple” thing that we want from our unpaid and hardworking reviewers: just give us quick and high-quality feedback. Actually, this is not true. The journal has a clear focus on quality over speed. Nevertheless, we can speed up the process by avoiding (as much as possible) situations in which a reviewer cannot follow through on the commitment to evaluate a paper. Thus, we editors value being told promptly if a reviewer declines. It is much better to say no than to say yes but not deliver. And if you are unable to review, we greatly appreciate suggestions of colleagues who could serve in your place. Your evaluations are taken very seriously, and in the rare situation of a rejection being overruled, we will always try to get additional feedback from all reviewers who are willing to reevaluate the revised manuscript. It is a rare case when the paper is not substantially improved by the review process, and authors uniformly recognize this. A major role of the journal is to nurture the field of proteomics and related topics. In addition to our focus on publishing original research, we aim to mentor new authors in the field and support researchers in countries that have recently built up their proteomics infrastructure. None of these laudable goals would be possible without our loyal legion of reviewers. We thank you, and this editorial honors your contributions and hard work. Thank you, thank you!
This issue of JPR features a thematic article on systems biology by Jan van der Greef and co-workers (pp 1540–1559). Van der Greef is the winner of the Scheele Award, a prestigious Swedish pharma prize awarded to a researcher who has made a special contribution to science. The Swedish Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences decides on the nomination of the Scheele Award winner on an annual basis, and it is our pleasure to present this overview from van der Greef and his co-workers on the area of biology as seen from a systems approach with frontline technology platforms. GYÖRGY MARKO-VARGA AstraZeneca and Lund University (Sweden)
Journal of Proteome Research • Vol. 6, No. 4, 2007 1235
