Contemporary reviews in toxicology.

Toxicological Sciences exists for the purpose of publishing primary research findings in all areas of toxicology. In support of that mission, it is often necessary to publish other types of articles, such as letters to the editor and editorials. It is also necessary to place the research findings into the appropriate contextwhether it is medicine, environmental protection, or public health. Our Forum articles provide an excellent method for our community tomake those important connections. Another key content item is our review articles. Reviews have the potential to summarize years of research, address controversy in the field, and provide a vision for future research. With the explosive growth of online journals, there are numerous outlets for review papers. Unfortunately, not all of the reviews in print merit the pages on which they are printed. There are a few reasons for this. One, publishers and editors have learned that printing a high volume of reviews is a good way to boost a journal’s impact factor as reviews tend to receive more citations than primary papers. Two, because these papers receive more citations, authors see them as an excellent way of increasing their own citations and h-indices. Given the competitive nature of journal publishing and science, whether in academia, government, or industry, bothmotivations can be justified and are somewhat understandable. Unfortunately, neither of these reasons adequately serve the scientific community nor advance the field of toxicology. Reviews should be written because the field needs them.We therefore propose a call for highly relevant and meritorious reviews that meet this high standard of quality. This is our vision for the Contemporary Reviews in Toxicology. Our field needs an outlet for outstanding reviews of recent and emerging trendswithin the discipline. As theOfficial Journal of the Society of Toxicology, the Contemporary Reviews in Toxicology have the imprimatur of the Society and its 8000 members. Our field needs this outlet and Toxicological Sciences plans to deliver it. To increase reach and influence, we will make these reviews freely available to readers. Toxicological Sciences will publish Contemporary Reviews in Toxicology because the field needs them. The series published by Annual Reviews are very well respected and provide authoritative and near exhaustive reviews of the literature. The Trends journals published by Cell Press provide a variety of review and opinion pieces in several fields. As many readers know, toxicology plays second fiddle to pharmacology in these and other venues. Not here. The Contemporary Reviews in Toxicology are here to serve the toxicology community. We do not anticipate publishing more than one review per issue, but wewant these reviews to be readable, memorable, and influential. What we are looking for: