Editorial |
Editorial
DNA Research was first published in 1994, at a time when our understanding of the genomic structure of various organisms was just starting to unfold. In fact, the very first issue of DNA Research published a report of genome analysis of Bacillus subtilis. The issue also included a paper on the sequence analysis of a collection of human cDNAs. We had set the focus of our journal on this newly emerging field of research: our primary objective was to provide readers with hard-core genomic and related data from a variety of biological systems, hoping that they could be fully explored and the biological functions encoded therein efficiently exploited. Since then, papers of this category have constituted a major part, though not all, of the papers published in DNA Research, a trend that continues through to today. We believe that our journal has not only satisfied the original goals of its publication, but has exceeded our expectations, as evidenced by the fact that quite a large number of highly cited papers on genomic and other related biological resources have appeared in DNA Research (2006 Impact Factor was 3.066).
In the last decade, huge amounts of genomic sequence data have been gathered/deposited and stored in various sequence databases. Technologies allowing the accumulation and interpretation of data, particularly those involving computer software, have seen great advances. Some might say that the data accumulated to date are sufficient enough to cover every conceivable area of research as far as genomics is concerned. We believe, however, that there are still several fields of research where the current sequence data cannot be fully exploited and more pertinent information is urgently needed. One such area is of comparative studies of accumulated genomic data. For example, it is well known that the functions of a majority of the genes of many organisms, predicted from sequence data, cannot be clearly defined because similar sequences with known functions cannot be found in the databases. We therefore feel strongly that the genomic analysis of many more organisms is still needed and that the role of our journal to promote publication of genomic data has not been diminished.
At the editorial board of DNA Research, we feel it is equally important to promote publication of papers concerning newly developing technologies for more advanced analysis of genomic data from various perspectives. Furthermore, we would like to encourage researchers to submit papers exploring alternative approaches in genomics, which may complement some of the more conventional genome analyses of individual organisms. Metagenomic analysis of a mixed population of organisms in various habitats is one example of such an approach. We envision and sincerely hope that this type of research will continue in years to come, and will be very much welcome to our journal.
In January 2006, Oxford University Press became the publisher of DNA Research. Our journal is currently one of the ‘open access’ journals in which all published papers are freely accessible by readers and we ask the submitting authors of papers to pay a charge for its publication. At the same time, an online submission/administration system (Scholar One) was introduced to speed up and to make transparent the process of submission, editorial handling, and publication of papers.
In 2008, in order to attract and encourage more people to read DNA Research and to submit papers of superior quality, we introduced the following measures:
- Invitation of editors from foreign countries to the editorial board.
- Introduction of a new section ‘Current Status and Perspectives’ which deals with reviews on specific topics.
- Broadening of the scope of the journal in response to the expansion as well as fusion of genomics with other research fields.
- Updating of the design of the journal's cover.
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