Copyright © 2009 George P. Patrinos and Emanuel F. Petricoin. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Human Genomics and Proteomics (HGP) is a new genomics and systems biology journal that is affiliated with an international, open
access database. In addition to publishing original research articles and
review articles, the journal will also include short descriptions of genetic
datasets pertaining to population/ethnic-specific mutation frequencies. HGP is
the first scientific journal from SAGE-Hindawi Access to Research, a partnership designed to
create a family of open access journals between the publishers SAGE and Hindawi.
HGP is an international, peer-reviewed journal, providing a forum for discussion of
research on human genomics and proteomics, systems biology, and various aspects
of personalized medicine. The journal will publish high-quality original
research articles and review articles comprising research on human genomics and
proteomics, or innovative methodological and bioinformatics/resource papers
that enable the practice of personalized medicine. In particular, HGP’s main
focus will be on pharmacogenetics/genomics, nutrigenomics, and metabolomics, proteomics,
pharmacoproteomics, and systems biology. Furthermore, the journal will feature
articles on the identification of the molecular genetic basis of inherited
disorders and the available technology for their diagnosis at the DNA level,
bioinformatics tools and databases, and finally molecular diagnostics-related
issues.
A unique feature of HGP will be the affiliation with FINDbase
(http://www.findbase.org/), a public, population-specific genetic
database that charts causative mutation frequencies and their associated
disorders in several countries around the world [1]. As the first journal with
an affiliated database in this discipline, HGP offers a unique opportunity to authors to open up access to
their research on the characterization of causative mutation and/or biomarker
frequency spectra to the widest possible community. In addition to original
research and review articles, HGP will accept submissions of genetic datasets, pertaining to the spectrum of
causative mutations or biomarkers, for example, pharmacogenetic, forensic
markers, in various populations and ethnic groups. These submissions will also
be peer-reviewed and, if accepted, will be featured in the journal as a Mutation
and Biomarker Dataset with links to the full dataset in FINDbase.
As a modern research journal, we will not only ensure
that the subjects we cover are of great interest to scientists in the fields of
human genomics, proteomics, and personalized medicine but also remain alert for
new trends. Also, in order to complement our strengths in human genomics and
proteomics research community, we aim to affiliate with a major human genetics society.
This way, HGP will not only provide a forum for researchers of the postgenomic era,
but will also increase the chances of human variation data capture and provide a centralized system for
population-specific data storage and retrieval [2].
Furthermore, HGP’s stated goal is to provide authors with
fair and rapid peer review and prompt publication. In an effort to facilitate
seamless and rapid international scientific communication in this fast-paced field,
HGP offers a state-of-the-art web-based submission and peer-review tool,
allowing decision-making on submitted manuscripts within 6–8 weeks, and
rapid electronic publication on average of 6 weeks upon acceptance. The online
submission and peer-review system is accessible from our home page: http://www.sage-hindawi.com/journals/hgp/.
Online help is just a click away. All submissions are kept strictly
confidential. Referees’ accessing to the manuscripts is through the system’s
web server, and they share their comments on a convenient, standardized, and
secure web form. The refereeing process is managed by an internationally
renowned editorial team consisting of world-leading experts recognized for
their contributions in the fields of human genomics and proteomics.
We envisage that HGP will provide the proof of principle for closely related efforts towards
developing other “database-journals.” Also, the HGP-FINDbase affiliation can serve
as a nonprofit model for sustainable database funding, in a field that currently
suffers significantly from the lack of sustainable long-term funding
opportunities for genetic database projects [3, 4]. The editorial team of HGP and the publishers SAGE-Hindawi are proud
to provide this new discussion forum to the human genomics and proteomics
research community, and we encourage authors, referees, and readers to take
advantage of it.
George P. Patrinos
Emanuel F. Petricoin
References
- S. van Baal, P. Kaimakis, M. Phommarinh, et al., “FINDbase: a relational database recording frequencies of genetic defects
leading to inherited disorders worldwide,” Nucleic Acids Research, vol. 35, database issue, pp. D690–D695, 2007.
- G. P. Patrinos, “National and ethnic mutation databases: recording populations' genography,” Human Mutation, vol. 27, no. 9, pp. 879–887, 2006.
- G. P. Patrinos and A. J. Brookes, “DNA, diseases and databases: disastrously deficient,” Trends in Genetics, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 333–338, 2005.
- “WayStation to HUGOBase,” Nature Genetics, vol. 37, no. 8, p. 783, 2005.