British Journal of Cancer

Contents

British Journal of Cancer The British Journal of Cancer is a peer-reviewed medical journal focusing on oncology, clinical research, and translational science. Established in the mid-20th century, it has published studies spanning molecular oncology, epidemiology, and therapeutic trials that intersect institutions such as Royal Society, Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK, University of Oxford, and University College London. The journal functions at the intersection of laboratory science and clinical practice, drawing submissions from investigators affiliated with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Karolinska Institutet, and Institut Curie.

History

The journal was founded shortly after World War II amid a global expansion of biomedical publishing that included titles like The Lancet, British Medical Journal, Nature, Science (journal), and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Early volumes featured work from researchers associated with Cancer Research UK predecessors, the Medical Research Council, and British university hospitals such as King's College London and University of Cambridge. Over decades the journal paralleled developments reported in venues such as Journal of Clinical Oncology, Annals of Oncology, JAMA Oncology, New England Journal of Medicine, and The BMJ. It survived shifts in publishing exemplified by consolidation undertaken by companies like Wolters Kluwer, Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Taylor & Francis while adapting to innovations traced to conferences like the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting and the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress.

The journal covers basic, translational, and clinical research on malignancies including topics also prominent in specialized outlets such as Leukemia (journal), Gastroenterology (journal), Journal of Thoracic Oncology, Neuro-Oncology, and Gynecologic Oncology. Subject areas include molecular pathways characterized in labs at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, and Sanger Institute; biomarkers validated alongside groups at National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Institut Pasteur; and clinical trials similar to those coordinated by European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer, National Cancer Institute (United States), and Group Europeen de Curiethérapie. The journal publishes original articles, reviews, meta-analyses, and guidelines akin to documents issued by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, American Association for Cancer Research, and World Health Organization advisory panels.

The editorial structure mirrors that of major biomedical journals connected with organizations such as Royal Society of Medicine and academic departments at Imperial College London and University of Edinburgh. An editor-in-chief supported by associate editors and an international editorial board draws expertise from institutions including Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, University of Toronto, Peking University, and The University of Tokyo. The peer-review workflow resembles processes used by The Lancet Oncology and BMJ Open, with policies influenced by recommendations from Committee on Publication Ethics, International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, and funding mandates from Wellcome Trust and National Institutes of Health (NIH). The journal employs a hybrid open-access model comparable to offerings from Nature Communications and PLOS Medicine, allowing authors to choose open or subscription access in line with mandates from funders such as European Research Council and Horizon 2020.

The journal is indexed in major bibliographic services alongside titles like Embase, PubMed Central, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Citations appear in databases used by researchers at Cochrane Collaboration, Clarivate Analytics, and governmental libraries such as the British Library and the Library of Congress. Indexing enables discoverability by practitioners connected to specialist societies like American Society of Clinical Oncology, European Society for Medical Oncology, International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, and Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer.

The journal's influence is reflected in citation metrics reported in aggregated analyses alongside Journal Citation Reports and bibliometric studies conducted by groups such as Hutchins Laboratory researchers and organizations like Altmetric. Work published in the journal has informed clinical guidelines produced by bodies including National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and European Society for Medical Oncology, and has been cited in policy documents from World Health Organization and national health services such as NHS England. The journal's reputation has been discussed in editorials and commentaries appearing in outlets like Nature, Science (journal), and The Lancet Oncology.

Noteworthy contributions mirror landmark reports found in journals such as New England Journal of Medicine and Journal of Clinical Oncology: seminal studies on molecular drivers that relate to work from The Cancer Genome Atlas and International Cancer Genome Consortium; pivotal clinical trial reports paralleling those run by European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer and National Cancer Institute (United States); and influential epidemiological analyses akin to research by investigators at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Yale School of Public Health, and Karolinska Institutet. The journal has published influential reviews and meta-analyses that have been cited by guideline panels at National Comprehensive Cancer Network, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and European Society for Medical Oncology, and has disseminated translational findings linked to technologies developed at Broad Institute and Sanger Institute.

Category:Oncology journals