The year 2010 has become the time for change for the International Journal of Cancer. As you may have noticed, we have changed the look of our journal -starting with the logo and cover but our articles have undergone a remake, too. We hope you will like it and enjoy reading IJC even more.
We have also revised and updated our author instructions -we refer you here in particular to the January 1 issue describing our initiative regarding cross contaminated cell lines -and have now added instructions for reviewers as well. You can expect to see our newly designed home page sometime soon, too.
Most importantly, though, IJC will have a new Editor-in-Chief as of January 1, 2010. When I took on this responsibility 10 years ago, my goal was to develop and improve the International Journal of Cancer in the best way possible. Together with an excellent group of Associate Editors and the support of a highly esteemed Editorial Board, we have made great progress in this endeavor -in terms of article quality, numbers of submissions, and increasing impact factor. I am very grateful to all the Associate Editors for the time and effort they have invested to make IJC the excellent journal that it is today, for their input, and for their expertise. Now, in order for dynamic development to continue, the time seems to be right for a change in editorship, too.
It is therefore with great pleasure that I hand over the position of Editor-in-Chief to Prof. Peter Lichter. Peter Lichter is a highly reputed researcher internationally in the field of cancer genetics and has served as Associate Editor of IJC since 2000. His scientific record and leadership qualities are undisputable: after earning his Ph.D. summa cum laude in 1986 from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, he received his postdoctoral lecture qualification shortly thereafter. Several years at Yale University doing postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Prof. David C. Ward, Dept. of Genetics, School of Medicine, rounded off his education and prepared him for his future tasks at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg. As Full Professor at the University of Heidelberg and Head of the Division of Molecular Genetics at DKFZ, he is a highly regarded member of the faculty. Indeed, he also served as Interim Director of the Management Board at DKFZ in 2003. His own research focus includes pathomechanisms of tumor etiology and development; tumor markers and signatures of diagnostic,