The emergence of ‘The HUGO Journal’

In August 2007, a new bio-medical journal Genomic Medicine was launched to capture the key developments in genome sciences and technologies relevant to medicine and human health. Since then, several major journals emerged also to compete in the same conceptual space. Because, many of the leading biomedical journals are affiliated with major organisations (for example, the EMBO Journal, Journal of ASHG, Journal of ESHG, National Academy of Sciences, etc.), the future of Genomic Medicine depended on successful partnership with an institution or organisation. In 2008, the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO), one of the leading international science organisations, entered discussions with Springer (the publisher for Genomic Medicine), and the Editorial leadership of Genomic Medicine, to assume responsibility for the journal. This proposal was formally accepted by the governing HUGO Council held at the HGM2008 conference in Hyderabad, India (2008), and by the broad editorial board of Genomic Medicine. This merger was viewed as mutually beneficial to ensure a unique place for a journal in the competitive area of genomic medicine, and to provide HUGO with a publication vehicle for its concepts and ideas. The journal was renamed The HUGO Journal and rebranded as the official publication for this international organisation. The initial leadership of the journal was to be shared by Dhavendra Kumar (University of Cardiff), and Edison T. Liu (President, HUGO).

The HUGO Journal is focused on discoveries arising from the basic, clinical, and population explorations of the human genome, and genomes of organisms relevant to human health. As such we wish to publish primary research papers of the highest quality investigating topics in genomic medicine. In depth review articles on important topics pertinent to genomic medicine, human genetics, computational genomics, and genomic technologies will be featured. Because the HUGO Journal represents the voice of the Human Genome Organisation, we will be publishing key consensus reports and policy guidelines from HUGO Council and its subcommittees. Because of its history, The HUGO Journal will have the advantage of being fully indexed in PubMed from the outset thus providing visibility for all articles published in the journal.

Besides the current research articles, commentaries, and reviews, several new sections will be offered to enhance the exchange of information relevant to genomic scientists:

Data-bases: This section specifically encourages the publication of the description and utility of specific genomic databases. These reports will be fully indexed in PubMed.

Innovation Reports: These are short reports of <1,000 words that describe a specific finding of interest to the genomics community. The focus is on early publication of a highly innovative finding that may not have large scale validation. This includes case reports of unique genotype-phenotype associations.

The HUGO Journal welcomes article submissions in many of the following categories:

• Genomic sciences and human disease: e.g., pharmacogenomics, cancer genomics, genetics of Mendelian disorders, genetics of complex diseases

• Genome structure and genetic variation

• Comparative genomics between humans and other organisms

• Microbial genomics of organisms pertinent to human disease

• Population genetics

• Human evolution and migration

• Genome-to-systems strategies in systems biology

• Genomic technologies

• Genomics and genetic epidemiology

• Computational genomics

• Ethical, legal, and societal research relevant to genomics and human genetics

• Science policy analyses pertinent to genomics and genetics.

• Genomic and genetic research from emerging and developing countries.

Our goal is for The HUGO Journal to become one of the leading bio-medical journals reporting state of the art developments in genome sciences and technologies as applied to medicine and human health.