We live in a scientific universe in which subject boundaries are increasingly porous. Department definitions in many institutions are either close to meaningless or nonexistent, and many faculty count themselves as active participants in at least two, if not more, of the major disciplines of biology. Thus, it is with great pleasure that we announce a new cross-listing project for the JEM and the JCB.
An increasing number of papers in the two journals include subject matter vital to both immunologists and cell biologists. For these papers, we will include a listing not only on the table of contents of the hosting journal, but also on the online table of contents of the sister journal (both the JEM and JCB are published by the Rockefeller University Press). JCB subscribers will get free access to the listed JEM articles, and vice versa. The relevant papers will be identified by the editors, often on the recommendations of our reviewers or submitting authors. This arrangement addresses the need to bring together the fields of cell biology, immunology, human disease, and microbial pathogenesis.
Based on our subscription lists, the JEM and JCB readerships do not overlap much. Thus, the cross-listing will give extra exposure to papers at the interface between these subject areas, and make these papers accessible to readers who might otherwise not have seen a given paper, were it to have appeared in only one journal. Basic mechanisms of cellular motility and organization will be brought to the attention of those studying immune activation, immune cell interactions will be highlighted for those studying signaling, and a wide array of pathogens and human disease states will be featured as potential models for cell biology investigation.
The JEM and JCB are both leading journals in their fields, and immunology and cell biology represent two of the biggest fields in terms of the number of papers and journals published. Readers are struggling just to keep up with what is published in the top tier journals in their own field. We hope to do some of the work for these readers by alerting them to relevant content in another leading journal—a journal that they might not have time to scan in its entirety.
By cross-listing relevant content, we feel we will enhance the cause of communication between scientific communities that do not interact nearly as much as they should. Further, by increasing the visibility of papers at the interface of experimental medicine and cell biology, both the JCB and the JEM—not-for-profit journals edited by your colleagues and whose contents are available free online 6 months after publication—will become even more attractive choices for submitting your best work. Let the collaborations begin!
