Movin’ On Up!

This month marks an important development for JNCCN. Historically, the journal was organized around the NCCN Guidelines, and it made sense that the NCCN Guidelines Panel Chairs would serve as the only Editorial Board. The NCCN Guidelines will always be an important part of JNCCN, but a few years ago, we started to shape the journal differently. In addition to providing the NCCN Guidelines, we aimed to also make it a home for research in health services, outcomes, comparative effectiveness, and quality improvement, with a nice counterbalance in clinical science provided by our feature titled “Molecular Insights in Patient Care.” Even if I do say so myself, I think we were pretty successful. Our submissions for original research have increased nearly 5-fold, our page views have doubled, the impact factor has risen nearly a full point, and, as of writing, we are the 4th ranked oncology journal for average issue readers in a national independent readership survey.¹

For all these reasons, we felt it was important to select new Associate Editors to handle this upward trajectory. After an extensive national search among NCCN Member Institutions, we have selected a very talented group of experts to assist in the editorial process. This issue represents their debut. I'm proud to welcome the following Associate Editors to our team: Sara H. Javid, MD, University of Washington/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance; Ticiana A. Leal, MD, University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center; June M. McKoy, MD, MPH, JD, MBA, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University; Anthony J. Olszanski, MD, RPh, Fox Chase Cancer Center; Oxana Palesh, PhD, MPH, Stanford Cancer Institute; Jeffrey Peppercorn, MD, MPH, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center; Kanishka Sircar, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; and Grace L. Smith, MD, PhD, MPH, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Of course, I would be remiss not to extend a heartfelt thank you to my former Executive Editorial Board, composed of a subset of NCCN Guidelines Panel Chairs. They have guided me through many decisions and provided invaluable advice over the past few years. Please join me in thanking Al B. Benson III, MD, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University; Mary B. Daly, MD, PhD, Fox Chase Cancer Center; Crystal S. Denlinger, MD, Fox Chase Cancer Center; and Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; and previous members Robert J. Morgan, MD, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the late Jimmie C. Holland, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Finally, don't think that the NCCN Guidelines Panel Chairs are off the hook. They remain with us as the NCCN Guidelines Editorial Board and are pressed into service often to suggest topics or weigh-in on editorial decisions involving any aspect of the guidelines.

I'm pretty excited about these changes. They represent a really important step for the journal, and I know this new Board will help JNCCN become even more successful and competitive. Just like the theme song from The Jeffersons sitcom says, “We're movin’ on up!”