Introducing Biospecimen Briefs

In this issue you will notice a new category, Biospecimen Briefs. Two articles were accepted as the initial contributions, both by Mathay, et al.: “Short-Term Stability Study of RNA at Room Temperature” and “Automatic Buffy Coat Extraction: Methodology, Feasibility, Optimization and Validation Study.” These articles both describe initial laboratory efforts to address biospecimen science questions that will be of interest to our readership, and may be a timely introduction to new methods that can be considered for use in other biobanks and laboratories. And as follow-up studies are performed, hopefully full-length research articles will follow from the original authors and others. As we introduce this new category, we will continue to encourage submission of full-length research articles and reviews as our gold standards.

Biospecimen Briefs was suggested as a new concept for the journal by Fay Betsou of the Integrated BioBank of Luxembourg and Helen Moore of the U.S. National Cancer Institute, both of whom have been regular contributors to Biopreservation and Biobanking and leaders in the field of biospecimen science. Earlier this year we decided to consider this category as a new way to publish short manuscripts, which usually appear as Brief Reports. As we continue to try to attract the highest-quality biospecimen and biopreservation research articles to the journal, we felt that a new category name with strict submission criteria would be one way to emphasize this commitment to the science of biospecimens. The “Briefs” are intended to disseminate information derived from early “pilot” biospecimen science studies. Given the shorter length we hope to provide a fairly quick turnaround from submission to publication, while maintaining rigorous peer review and acceptance criteria. The “Briefs” will be considered for publication within the following guidelines:

• These biospecimen research studies fall into the category of “pilot studies,” i.e., small scale studies conducted on a small number of samples and describing initial increments of work on biobanking method validation, preanalytical impact on downstream analyses formats, and the stability of biospecimens under varying conditions.

• Although the number of samples used may be small, analysis of statistical significance is required for the studies to be accepted for publication.

• The maximum permitted length is 1500 words, including abstract, main text, references, and figure legends. The abstract is no more than 70 words, and the number of references are limited to 10.

• Manuscripts may be accompanied by supplementary information.

• The other usual requirements for acceptance apply. Manuscripts will be peer-reviewed using the same strict criteria used for other submissions.

As the initial submissions arrived for this new section, in order to obtain a consistent assessment, we asked several reviewers to review all of the manuscripts, as well as provide feedback to me on their overall impression of this first round. Their assessment was that these first articles were of generally high quality, but that we need to be careful to maintain high standards for acceptance. The manuscripts accepted for publication cannot be “quick and dirty” submissions that would not otherwise be considered for publication in Biopreservation and Biobanking.

Initially we will limit Biospecimen Briefs to two articles per issue. In upcoming issues we will be evaluating the quality and timeliness of submissions to this new category in comparison to full-length research articles, as well as working with our editorial board to gauge interest in this and other new features we are considering for the Journal. In all of these efforts we will be trying to place Biopreservation and Biobanking into a stronger position to increase our impact factor, and reach our goal of applying for and achieving Medline indexing during the next 18 months. These are the goals that many of you emphasize in your discussions and emails with me.

However, achieving these goals requires that we're mindful of several important factors. I believe that we are performing a critical service to the biobanking and biopreservation communities by publishing significant, informative articles that our readers will not see in other journals, and this will continue to be a major commitment. While promoting new ways to quickly publish biospecimen science articles such as the Biospecimen Briefs, our long-term goals still will require high-quality, full-length original research articles as well as comprehensive review articles. Our strong base of authors and reviewers will be critical resources to meet those goals. Recently I distributed a message to our editorial board asking all to consider organizing “theme” issues and submitting review articles over the next year. I have been contacted recently by several members of the editorial board with excellent ideas. I look forward to hearing from any of you with ideas that will benefit the Journal's future course (email me at jvaught@lieberpub.com). The new Biospecimen Briefs represent one effort in our broader strategy, and I look forward to working with all of you as we take the necessary steps to implement that vision.