Introducing JCO Oncology Advances with Dr. Jonathan Friedberg and Dr. Pamela Kunz

JCO Editor in Chief, Dr. Jonathan Friedberg interviews Dr. Pamela Kunz, Editor in Chief of the new premier open access journal, JCO Oncology Advances. Dr. Friedberg and Dr. Kunz discuss what is to come from the journal and the benefits of an open access journal. 

TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: Hello and welcome to another episode of JCO After Hours. I'm your guest host, Jonathan Friedberg, Editor in Chief of JCO, and today we have a very special episode with Pamela Kunz, Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Oncology at Yale School of Medicine and Yale Cancer Center. As the new editor in chief of JCO Oncology Advances, she is with us today to share a new opportunity for authors to submit to ASCO’s new online open access journal.  

Pam, welcome.

Dr. Pamela Kunz: Thank you.

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: I guess my first question to you is, why did you take this role of editor in chief? People have asked me the same question, and I'm still, I think, trying to figure out the answer. So how did you decide to do this?

Dr. Pamela Kunz: That's a great question, and I might ask you the same thing. I think as I've gone on in my career, I really like saying I think about what I say yes and no to, and like saying yes to things that I think can make a difference and have real impact. And as a clinical trialist and someone who really hopes to advance the field scientifically, I think it was really exciting to think about helping to craft the future of the science of oncology and to also do it in a way, as we will later talk about open access, but do it in a way that really thinks about a broad audience, because open access really requires us to think about meeting the needs of our audience, as the articles will likely have broader reach.

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: So, I mean, I can say I'm very excited about this journal. We do have a number of outstanding papers that we're not able to accept at JCO and knowing that there'll be a good home for these papers is heartwarming for me.  

Can you tell me a little bit about your vision and goals for this journal? You're really starting with a blank palette. It must be exciting to try to craft what this is going to be about. 

Dr. Pamela Kunz: It is really exciting. It's a little scary, I'll be honest, to have a blank slate, but I'm appreciative of you and the other editors in chief and staff for helping to provide some guidance. I think that in the beginning, as you were speaking to, there's an opportunity for us to really keep some great science in the JCO family. And so at least early on, we're hoping to really attract and think about publishing some earlier phase trials that may not quite meet the bar of getting published in JCO. So, phase I, phase II trials, even secondary analyses that yield important data from some of the larger phase III trials. This will be an evolution, I think, also. I think that what we may look like this year may look a little bit different in future years, but at least initially, we'll be focusing on some of the earlier phase clinical trials. I'm now framing this around beyond the clinical trial of secondary analyses quality of life, PROs. One thing that's exciting, a new article type will be plain language summaries. So really interpreting the clinical trial for patients and the lay public, I think that's an initial way that we're going to be thinking about it.

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: And who do you see as the audience for this journal?

Dr. Pamela Kunz: Well, the opportunity that we have with open access is that we really have a much broader audience than we will have had historically with some of the non-open access journals. And I think that means that we have an obligation to be thinking about who that audience is. So, it's a great question. I think our audience will certainly be some of our typical readers, really, the oncology scientific community, but it will likely also be other physicians, primary care physicians, community oncologists, global oncology, and even patients, patient advocacy groups. So, I think that we have to be, as we're crafting and thinking about new article types, those article types, and the content that we create really has to meet the needs of the audience.

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: And to that end, I know we've discussed, you had some discussions with your group about brief reports as another article type that is somewhat differentiating for the journal.

Dr. Pamela Kunz: Yes, exactly. And I think this also speaks to really trying to attract science that may be earlier in its development. And maybe an author, a team has an idea or a smaller scientific report that they'd like to publish. It may not quite meet the bar for JCO, but maybe we think that this is something that's exciting, that will lead to future studies, and that's exactly what we're hoping to attract. 

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: And I guess folding into maybe some of the input from your new editor team and editorial board, what features do you look for when reviewing novel research for publishing? How do you decide what gets in and what doesn't?

Dr. Pamela Kunz: Well, we are newly open, so this is something that we are also really, as a team, thinking about in real time. And I think that we certainly want JCO Oncology Advances to be the premier open access journal. So, we really still want the bar to be high in terms of high-quality science. As we have crafted and are still building our editorial team and editorial board, we are developing diverse expertise. So, we want content expertise. We have expertise in biostatistics. That's really critically important. So, we still want the biostats to be strong, and we want to ensure that, I think, that the conclusions are still really valid. So, I think really having a bar that's high for the science is still going to be critically important.  

I think another thing that we may be looking at, again, given that we're looking at earlier phase clinical trials, is really the potential for impact, because, you know this, but JCO will really be publishing the large majority of the randomized clinical trials, and we may be thinking about publishing some of the earlier trials. So potential for impact will be important as well. 

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: Yeah, and I guess that gets into the next question, and I'll give an editorial opinion, I can't resist, I guess, as an editor, on what authors should think about as far as submitting. I really like the way you framed impact, and impact of a manuscript might go beyond changing practice in clinic tomorrow, but an important negative study which changes the way the trials are done in the future, or a preliminary study that leads to important phase II and phase III trials are very impactful for the field. And I guess one of the things I always advise authors is to help the reader and the editor understand what the next step is for their work. That can go in the discussion, it can go in the cover letter, but because of these results, the field should do X, Y, and Z. I think that's a really important thread that the reader should be able to see. I trust you might agree with that. But do you have any other insights for authors as they're preparing manuscripts for this journal that you'd like to share? 

Dr. Pamela Kunz: That's a great idea, and you just gave me an idea to really maybe formally include that. I think one thing along those lines that we've been thinking about as it relates to our audience is to formally have, even in our manuscripts that aren't formally a lay language or plain language summary, to really have a short section that translates it. And I think translating the science is critically important as we're thinking about bringing in other community members, whether it's patients, patient advocates, primary care physicians, or those who may not be experts in oncology, but are really hoping to learn about the science of oncology. So that's an element that we're thinking of introducing to the manuscripts.

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: Yeah, I think knowing your audience is critically important. And that said, I think that oncology practitioners are interested in broad topics as long as you can distill it down, it's not only clinical trials. 

Dr. Pamela Kunz: That's right. 

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: You've mentioned a couple of times this term, open access, and this has been a real, I think, revolution during a transformational time in publishing. Maybe just for the people who are a little bit less familiar, define that, and what's the potential benefit of an open access Journal?

Dr. Pamela Kunz: open access publishing is a way; I think there are both advantages and disadvantages. It's certainly been a trend in oncology publishing. And in fact, I think some of the research that the JCO staff did found that over the last five years, about 30% of manuscripts are now being published via open access. Open access means, practically speaking, that the authors take on an article processing fee. So, there is a charge to the authors. However, the downstream benefit of that, there are benefits to authors, there are benefits broadly to the scientific community, and benefits to society. They sort of fall in those three categories.  

The benefits to the authors are that there is certainly a chance of higher citations to the scientific community. There's an opportunity for broader scientific dissemination of the science. And then for society, we talked about the audience really shifts when there is open access. There's no paywall for patients or patient advocacy groups or non-oncology providers to get access to the content. I think it is a real paradigm shift, and I think it's both an opportunity, but also as an editor in chief and as the publishing community, we have an obligation to also think very intentionally about where there may be some potential for disparity. So, for example, if there is an article processing fee, we need to be sure that that's not a barrier. And if it is a barrier, is it disproportionately affecting certain populations, like low middle income countries or under or unfunded researchers? So, I hope that we can really be deliberate and thoughtful about that, as we are tracking this.

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: I guess just some of the nuts and bolts. I know that you've put a lot of thought into trying to keep the fees as low as possible. And can you just maybe talk about how you've benchmarked them and maybe groups that get discounts?

Dr. Pamela Kunz: Yes. So, we are really trying to target a little bit around the median or below. So, we will be very competitive in terms of our peer journals, and in addition, there will be discounts that are really based on World Health Organization standards for low-middle income countries. And we certainly, on a case-by-case basis, can discuss with authors if there are hardships that we need to be aware of. So, I think we really don't want that to be a huge barrier. And I think, and I'd love your thoughts on this, too. I think that with this paradigm shift in publishing, I think there's an obligation for our institutions to really think about how they're going to support authors at their own institutions for this.

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: Yeah, I agree, and I know that the ranges that you've discussed are certainly in line with many other oncology journals. And to that end, given the number of papers that are being published in this space, I think it speaks to resources being appropriately directed toward that. 

Dr. Pamela Kunz: Can I ask you a question?

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: Sure. 

Dr. Pamela Kunz: So, because I think this was one of your ideas of really getting this journal started, why was it the right time for JCO to have an open access journal?

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: So, I've been at the job now close to three years, and we take a look at where papers that don't quite meet the bar for JCO go. It's a very interesting analysis, but although JCO has four other journals in the family, each of those journals are fairly specialized with a narrow scope that includes some of what JCO publishes. But I would say in total, only about 15% of the articles that we reject might be appropriate for one of those four journals. So that leaves 85% of the papers finding a home elsewhere outside of the JCO family. So, I think certainly we felt that there were a lot of great papers that we'd like to find a place for in the JCO family. And that was one source. 

I think the other is an appreciation that I'm still learning about this transformative time in medical publishing. And the old model of people subscribing to a magazine that they get once a month, and what publishing is, is really being turned on its head. People consume content based on a tweet or a link. There's a lot of graphics and video that goes into presenting this content. Funders as well as sponsors of research are really insisting that papers be made available to the broad public immediately, kind of questioning the copyright model and the need for subscription journals. So, I think really getting involved in this space and having a robust open access journal in the ASCO family is a critical direction to go. And based on all of the research that we've done; we really feel it is a great time. 

Dr. Pamela Kunz: Great. 

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: One last question for you, as we're kind of leaving the audience with something. So, in addition to those benefits, based on your very early experience working with the ASCO staff and knowing about ways that ASCO and the JCO journals can promote manuscripts, our websites and search functions, what's the hook that people should choose this journal over another oncology open access journal?

Dr. Pamela Kunz: Great question. I mean, I think there are a number. Certainly, the JCO brand is strong and really top in the field. And I think that that in and of itself should be a draw for authors. I think that also our link with a professional society, with ASCO, is critically important. And I think that many oncology professionals see ASCO as their professional home. And I think having a journal and a journal family that's really linked with that professional society is important. And you and I have talked about really doing more to really enhance that link with ASCO. And I think that we will be doing that some at the annual meeting this year with promoting JCO Oncology Advances. 

And I think that also, given that oncology really has become this global community, and ASCO has certainly become a global community, and the spirit and philosophy of open access, I think that really aligns nicely, and I think that it'll help us reach a broader community by having open access. And I think that that's a real advantage for authors.

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: Yeah, I totally agree. And I think that as we continue to survey the landscape and come up with new content and areas of new focus like artificial intelligence and machine learning, which has been a big new trend, I think you're going to be able to have access to these cutting-edge manuscripts that will impact the field for sure moving forward. Any last comments for our listeners? 

Dr. Pamela Kunz: Just to please submit your work. We're open for business, and I'm excited. So, thanks, Dr. Friedberg and to the team. I'm excited for the opportunity and we look forward to our first publications, hopefully, will be out this summer. 

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: Well, thank you so much for taking the time and thank you to our listeners. To learn more about JCO Oncology Advances, how to submit, the scope of the journal, just go to ascopubs.org. There's a whole detailed section there. We look forward to seeing your manuscripts. Thank you so much.

The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions.  

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