PITTSBURGH, August 7 -- A team of physician-scientists at the University of Pittsburgh will serve as the editorial board of the research journal JCI Insight for the next five years, under the leadership of Oliver Eickelberg, Dorothy P. and Richard P. Simmons Professor of Pulmonary Research and executive vice chair for academic affairs, Department of Medicine.
He brings 20 years of editorial experience, including serving as associate editor since 2010 of the prestigious American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
“Our constituency is the physician-scientists across the world. I think we want to serve that community very well,” Eickelberg said.
“We’re honored to be chosen for this role, which reflects our standing in the research community, affirming Pitt’s reputation for research excellence,” said Anantha Shekhar, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean, School of Medicine.
Benjamin Humphreys, the 2023-24 ASCI president, served as the chair of the committee that recommended the selection of Eickelberg. "He presented a compelling vision for leading JCI Insight, and he assembled a great team to implement it," Humphreys said.
JCI Insight is known for its high-quality, high-impact research that contributes to the understanding of the biology and/or treatment of disease, with an emphasis on clinically relevant basic and translational research. It is a sister journal to the Journal of Clinical Investigation, or JCI.
Both are owned and published by the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), a nonprofit honorary scientific society of which about 75% of the scientists on Pitt’s editorial board are members.
“ASCI holds, in the field of medicine, around the world, but particularly in the U.S., a huge reputation,” Eickelberg said. “Many Nobel laureates are ASCI members. It is the preeminent honorific scientific society of our day, in medicine.”
The online journal publishes twice a month with about 20 articles in each issue, though Eickelberg said the journal typically receives about 2,400 submissions per year. Those are evaluated through the peer-review process, he said.
Pitt has assembled a deep bench of about 30 editors who will meet regularly to work on the journal, and each issue will go through a detailed review by the executive team, he said.
Deputy editors will be Toren Finkel, Alison Morris, Anne Marie Lennon and Stephen Chan.
Finkel is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine, the G. Nicholas Beckwith III and Dorothy B. Beckwith Professor of Translational Medicine, School of Medicine, and director of the Aging Institute of the University of Pittsburgh/UPMC.
Morris is the UPMC Professor of Translational Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and chief, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine.
Lennon is professor and chair, Department of Medicine.
Chan is the Vitalant Professor of Vascular Medicine and director of the Vascular Medicine Institute.
The journal, initially hosted at Duke University, has been hosted at the University of Michigan for the past five years.
John Hawley, ASCI's executive director, said that he and the rest of the ASCI team are excited for the start of Eickelberg's tenure. “Like other academic societies, ASCI changes journal leadership on a regular basis—in our case, every five years. It's an opportunity for new ideas and directions, and we're currently working on a number of changes to be ready when the board begins.”
The onboarding of the new editorial board is planned for Aug. 13, and Pitt will take over the journal’s operation as of Sept. 1.