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Editorial
New directions for EJCC D. WELLER MBBS(ADEL), MPH, PHD, FRACGP, FRCGP, FAFPHM, FRCP(EDIN) James Mackenzie Professor of General Practice University of Edinburgh & Chair, Cancer and Primary Care Research International Network (Ca-PRI), Edinburgh, UK WELLER D. (2013) European Journal of Cancer Care 22, 699–700 New directions for EJCC Over the past 20 years the European Journal of Cancer Care has occupied an important niche in the cancer research publishing arena. Whilst no journal can claim ownership of any particular area, we believe our strength lies in multidisciplinary approaches to cancer control. As new models of cancer treatment and follow-up emerge, the importance of multidisciplinary approaches appears to be growing. There’s no doubt things have changed over the last several decades; in the UK, for example, it’s now taken for granted that newly diagnosed patients will have their treatment considered by a multidisciplinary team, with a range of healthcare perspectives examined. While we must continually strive for better evidence to underpin these approaches (Taylor et al. 2010), they are likely here to stay. It’s now recognised that the treatment of cancer patients is multi-faceted and requires a joining up of health and social care. It requires co-ordination between a range of specialist cancer services, community based outreach services and primary care. The impact of patients’ social circumstances is much better recognised along with the need to address important issues such as family finances and occupational issues. Good multidisciplinary care requires considerable effort to bring the very broad range of players, including oncologists, nurses, carers, GPs, allied health care professionals and providers of social care together. Patients with cancer have complex healthcare needs and disaggregated models of care do not address these needs well.
Correspondence address: D. Weller, University of Edinburgh & Chair, Cancer and Primary Care Research International Network (Ca-PRI), Edinburgh, UK (e-mail: [email protected]) DOI: 10.1111/ecc.12148 European Journal of Cancer Care, 2013, 22, 699–700
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
The current issue of our Journal demonstrates this complex landscape of cancer services, with an eclectic mix of research topics and methodologies; as always, multidisciplinary approaches to cancer control feature highly; we have a number of papers on survivorship, including a helpful framework for rehabilitation in cancer survivorship (Pearson & Twigg, pp. 701–708) and an examination of relationship dynamics amongst Danish cancer survivors (Assing Hvidt et al., pp. 726–737). Psychological issues relating to cancer also feature frequently in our journal, and this issue includes papers on depression (Aukst Margetic´ et al., pp. 807–815) and psycho-oncology research in China (Chambers et al., pp. 824–831). Over the next several issues we intend to tackle some of the major trends in cancer worldwide: • We are keen to encourage papers on prevention, early diagnosis and screening – perhaps the words ‘cancer care’ in our title are a little misleading, but we recognise the huge growth and interest in early diagnosis research over the last decade. There are associated campaigns to improve early diagnosis in the community – indeed, worldwide there are efforts to improve cancer survival through more timely diagnosis, with strategies encompassing symptom awareness-raising, greater involvement in cancer screening, and more timely diagnosis of cancer in primary care (Department of Health 2013). • There is growing pressure on the health system to deliver increasingly expensive treatments, while the population ages and the number of cancer survivors increases – highlighting the need for a strong research evidence base looking at cost effective models of care (Mariotto et al. 2011). • Increasingly we are taking risk stratified approaches to cancer control; there is a recognition that accurate assessments of cancer risk or recurrence can help in prevention and survivorship approaches.
EDITORIAL
• The role of primary care has grown in importance and recognition over the last decade or so – it’s now recognised that primary care has important roles to play at all stages of the cancer journey from primary prevention through early diagnosis and screening to survivorship and palliative care – and the need to integrate primary and secondary care services is now well recognised. • The issue of health disparities and differences in survival remains pertinent throughout the world; a great deal more research is needed on strategies to reduce these disparities. • The need for data in cancer control is increasingly recognised; effective strategies need excellent cancer intelligence – not just up to date cancer registries but the capacity to link data to explore patterns of incidence, treatment and survival. So these are just some of the contemporary issues we intend to tackle; our aim is to produce a journal which is at the forefront of these issues and trends. There are many players in the cancer research publishing field but we believe we have the unique strengths in multidisciplinary research. We emphasise our interest is across the cancer trajectory from primary prevention to palliation. We believe we also have an important place in policyrelevant research and studies examining psycho-social interventions. What kind of journal do we want to be? First and foremost we want to publish high quality research in areas
REFERENCES Department of Health, National Cancer Action Team, and Cancer Research UK (2013) National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative. Available at http:// www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/ spotcancerearly/naedi/AboutNAEDI/ (last accessed 11 October 2013).
700
with significant potential to have positive impacts on cancer outcomes in patients. By our nature, we have a limited focus on laboratory based studies and, while we encourage a range of methodologies from clinical trials to complex intervention studies, qualitative research and mixed methods approaches, we don’t intend to publish individual case studies or case reports. Beyond our aspiration of improving cancer outcomes, we wish to engage closely with our research community and provide a ‘researcher-friendly’ vehicle for publication of high quality research – that involves good feedback to our contributors and swift turn-around of submitted papers. We don’t intend to be obsessed by impact factors (although we won’t complain if our ‘IF’ increases!). Over the coming months, we are planning a number of themed issues and guest editorials. These will address some of the ‘big issues’ mentioned above. We will also encourage submissions from developing and resource poor regions of the world – after all the majority of the world’s burden of cancer comes from these regions (and they are producing a growing number of high quality studies). As we emphasised in our previous editorial (Knott et al. 2013), we wish to promote high quality submissions to our Journal; we will strive for quick turnaround times and, indeed, rapid rejection of papers which don’t meet the mark. So we have lofty ambitions; we have a new editorial team and are in the process of recruiting new members to our editorial board. We hope our readership and our authors are ready to join us on this journey!
Knott V.E., Debruyne P.R., Pattison N.A., Weller D. (2013) Appointment of new Editor-in-Chief: a time for reflection upon our past and future. European Journal of Cancer Care 22, 561–563. Mariotto A.B., Yabroff K.R., Shao Y., Feuer E.J., Brown M.L. (2011) Projections of the cost of cancer care in the United States: 2010–2020. Journal of
the National Cancer Institute 103, 117– 128. Taylor C., Munro A.J., Glynne-Jones R., Griffith C., Trevatt P., Richards M., & Ramirez A.J. (2010) Multidisciplinary team working in cancer: what is the evidence? British Medical Journal 340, c951.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Editorial
New directions for EJCC D. WELLER MBBS(ADEL), MPH, PHD, FRACGP, FRCGP, FAFPHM, FRCP(EDIN) James Mackenzie Professor of General Practice University of Edinburgh & Chair, Cancer and Primary Care Research International Network (Ca-PRI), Edinburgh, UK WELLER D. (2013) European Journal of Cancer Care 22, 699–700 New directions for EJCC Over the past 20 years the European Journal of Cancer Care has occupied an important niche in the cancer research publishing arena. Whilst no journal can claim ownership of any particular area, we believe our strength lies in multidisciplinary approaches to cancer control. As new models of cancer treatment and follow-up emerge, the importance of multidisciplinary approaches appears to be growing. There’s no doubt things have changed over the last several decades; in the UK, for example, it’s now taken for granted that newly diagnosed patients will have their treatment considered by a multidisciplinary team, with a range of healthcare perspectives examined. While we must continually strive for better evidence to underpin these approaches (Taylor et al. 2010), they are likely here to stay. It’s now recognised that the treatment of cancer patients is multi-faceted and requires a joining up of health and social care. It requires co-ordination between a range of specialist cancer services, community based outreach services and primary care. The impact of patients’ social circumstances is much better recognised along with the need to address important issues such as family finances and occupational issues. Good multidisciplinary care requires considerable effort to bring the very broad range of players, including oncologists, nurses, carers, GPs, allied health care professionals and providers of social care together. Patients with cancer have complex healthcare needs and disaggregated models of care do not address these needs well.
Correspondence address: D. Weller, University of Edinburgh & Chair, Cancer and Primary Care Research International Network (Ca-PRI), Edinburgh, UK (e-mail: [email protected]) DOI: 10.1111/ecc.12148 European Journal of Cancer Care, 2013, 22, 699–700
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
The current issue of our Journal demonstrates this complex landscape of cancer services, with an eclectic mix of research topics and methodologies; as always, multidisciplinary approaches to cancer control feature highly; we have a number of papers on survivorship, including a helpful framework for rehabilitation in cancer survivorship (Pearson & Twigg, pp. 701–708) and an examination of relationship dynamics amongst Danish cancer survivors (Assing Hvidt et al., pp. 726–737). Psychological issues relating to cancer also feature frequently in our journal, and this issue includes papers on depression (Aukst Margetic´ et al., pp. 807–815) and psycho-oncology research in China (Chambers et al., pp. 824–831). Over the next several issues we intend to tackle some of the major trends in cancer worldwide: • We are keen to encourage papers on prevention, early diagnosis and screening – perhaps the words ‘cancer care’ in our title are a little misleading, but we recognise the huge growth and interest in early diagnosis research over the last decade. There are associated campaigns to improve early diagnosis in the community – indeed, worldwide there are efforts to improve cancer survival through more timely diagnosis, with strategies encompassing symptom awareness-raising, greater involvement in cancer screening, and more timely diagnosis of cancer in primary care (Department of Health 2013). • There is growing pressure on the health system to deliver increasingly expensive treatments, while the population ages and the number of cancer survivors increases – highlighting the need for a strong research evidence base looking at cost effective models of care (Mariotto et al. 2011). • Increasingly we are taking risk stratified approaches to cancer control; there is a recognition that accurate assessments of cancer risk or recurrence can help in prevention and survivorship approaches.
EDITORIAL
• The role of primary care has grown in importance and recognition over the last decade or so – it’s now recognised that primary care has important roles to play at all stages of the cancer journey from primary prevention through early diagnosis and screening to survivorship and palliative care – and the need to integrate primary and secondary care services is now well recognised. • The issue of health disparities and differences in survival remains pertinent throughout the world; a great deal more research is needed on strategies to reduce these disparities. • The need for data in cancer control is increasingly recognised; effective strategies need excellent cancer intelligence – not just up to date cancer registries but the capacity to link data to explore patterns of incidence, treatment and survival. So these are just some of the contemporary issues we intend to tackle; our aim is to produce a journal which is at the forefront of these issues and trends. There are many players in the cancer research publishing field but we believe we have the unique strengths in multidisciplinary research. We emphasise our interest is across the cancer trajectory from primary prevention to palliation. We believe we also have an important place in policyrelevant research and studies examining psycho-social interventions. What kind of journal do we want to be? First and foremost we want to publish high quality research in areas
REFERENCES Department of Health, National Cancer Action Team, and Cancer Research UK (2013) National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative. Available at http:// www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/ spotcancerearly/naedi/AboutNAEDI/ (last accessed 11 October 2013).
700
with significant potential to have positive impacts on cancer outcomes in patients. By our nature, we have a limited focus on laboratory based studies and, while we encourage a range of methodologies from clinical trials to complex intervention studies, qualitative research and mixed methods approaches, we don’t intend to publish individual case studies or case reports. Beyond our aspiration of improving cancer outcomes, we wish to engage closely with our research community and provide a ‘researcher-friendly’ vehicle for publication of high quality research – that involves good feedback to our contributors and swift turn-around of submitted papers. We don’t intend to be obsessed by impact factors (although we won’t complain if our ‘IF’ increases!). Over the coming months, we are planning a number of themed issues and guest editorials. These will address some of the ‘big issues’ mentioned above. We will also encourage submissions from developing and resource poor regions of the world – after all the majority of the world’s burden of cancer comes from these regions (and they are producing a growing number of high quality studies). As we emphasised in our previous editorial (Knott et al. 2013), we wish to promote high quality submissions to our Journal; we will strive for quick turnaround times and, indeed, rapid rejection of papers which don’t meet the mark. So we have lofty ambitions; we have a new editorial team and are in the process of recruiting new members to our editorial board. We hope our readership and our authors are ready to join us on this journey!
Knott V.E., Debruyne P.R., Pattison N.A., Weller D. (2013) Appointment of new Editor-in-Chief: a time for reflection upon our past and future. European Journal of Cancer Care 22, 561–563. Mariotto A.B., Yabroff K.R., Shao Y., Feuer E.J., Brown M.L. (2011) Projections of the cost of cancer care in the United States: 2010–2020. Journal of
the National Cancer Institute 103, 117– 128. Taylor C., Munro A.J., Glynne-Jones R., Griffith C., Trevatt P., Richards M., & Ramirez A.J. (2010) Multidisciplinary team working in cancer: what is the evidence? British Medical Journal 340, c951.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
