Molecular Therapy's First Year
Authors: Fintan R. Steele, Inder M. Verma
Journal: Molecular Therapy (2001)

The year 2000 was ushered in with an immense worldwide celebration to welcome the new millennium. It was a party that not only remembered the past, but was also filled with optimism for the future. Although hardly on the scale of the planetary welcome of the New Year baby, January 1, 2000, also saw the birth of Molecular Therapy, born out of a solid past of research and optimism for the future of gene therapy. It was not an easy beginning. Many questioned the need for “yet another gene therapy journal.” The field itself was reeling from the initial fallout of rumors and speculations following the tragic death of Jesse Gelsinger in the OTC trial at the University of Pennsylvania. It is never easy to start a new scientific journal, and the added burden of negative press reports, increased regulatory and public scrutiny of gene therapy, and uncertain researchers made it even tougher. Nevertheless, here we are at 1 year old. As former New York Mayor Ed Koch used to say to his constituents, “How are we doing?” A lot of things came together to make this journal not only appear, but to succeed beyond even our highest expectations for the first year. First of all, we have an outstanding Editorial Board, who have worked hard to solicit, review, and even contribute interesting and exciting manuscripts. This initial support can't be underestimated: The growing number of manuscripts received in the editorial office is a direct result of their work. The complete independence of the editorial process from any particular group or interest in the field has helped to establish a reputation for fairness and impartiality. Another major factor was Academic Press, our publisher. They have been very open to trying new things, which helped us not only have an aesthetically pleasing (indeed, award-winning!) journal, but also set an early standard for manuscript turnaround, both in review time and in the time from acceptance to publication. We can and will continue to do even better, but for a new journal, this is a pretty impressive feat in itself. But the real reason this journal is succeeding is the American Society of Gene Therapy membership. This is no surprise: It is, after all, your journal, and your interest and support in sending in your manuscripts and in reviewing others' manuscripts is the key to Molecular Therapy's success to date. We anticipate that your interest and involvement will only increase as the journal becomes more established. That said, it is no time to rest on our laurels—we need to continue to improve the journal. The first and most obvious way is to continue to publish the best papers possible in the shortest time possible. To that end, there are many areas of molecular medicine from which we would like to publish more, and we all need to encourage colleagues to consider submitting to Molecular Therapy. Initial fears that the journal (1) may not last (it will), (2) may not be indexed in Medline or Current Contents (it is), or (3) won't have many good papers (it does) are unfounded and thus should not present an obstacle to sending your good “stuff” here. It is also important that everyone take the job of peer-review seriously and willingly. It is one thing to peer-review a paper for someone else's journal or send manuscripts to such journals, but Molecular Therapy is your journal. We also need to provide more insight, via timely reviews, commentaries, and editorials. Suggestions for these are always welcome and taken seriously. We are always looking for good topics and authors. These need not be strictly scientific: we are also interested in the wider social and ethical implications of the work we do. In the near future we will be adding some new features, including brief synopses of other important manuscripts in the literature, a series on historical perspectives in the field, and occasional special supplement issues. All of these are aimed at making Molecular Therapy the most rounded and best journal possible in service to the field of gene therapy and the members of ASGT. Finally, we want to hear from you: we have to know what you like, don't like, and would like. This is “The Official Journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy,” i.e., your journal. One year olds need a lot of care and attention. We've just taken our first steps, and with your continued support and interest we will soon be walking and even running.