Editorial announcing PubMed indexing of Oncolytic Virotherapy.

I am delighted to announce that Oncolytic Virotherapy has been accepted for indexing with PubMed. This is an exciting first step in the life of a new life sciences journal, when the scientific quality of its articles is proven high enough to meet the National Library of Medicine’s standards for archiving. All articles published in Oncolytic Virotherapy are available through PubMed Central (as well as Dove Medical Press) and are now discoverable through National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) suite of databases, meaning increased exposure for our authors and their research.

The field of oncolytic virotherapy has moved rapidly since the 1990s when the advent of genetic engineering renewed interest in the adaptation of viruses for cancer gene therapy.1 Publications in this field reached an all-time high in 2012,2 the same year that Oncolytic Virotherapy was launched. The journal has published high-quality reviews, case reports, and original research articles across a wide range of topics. Our most viewed article is currently “Oncolytic viral therapy for pancreatic cancer: current research and future directions”,3 while the review “Oncolytic viral therapy: targeting cancer stem cells”4 has generated the most citations.

The past four years have seen the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Commission approve the first oncolytic virus therapy for cancer treatment, talimogene laherparepvec. This approval represents an important landmark in cancer therapeutics; with many other oncolytic agents currently in development, there is potential for the emergence of a new and diverse class of anticancer therapies in the near future. The growing body of research into the effects of antitumor immune responses on oncolytic agents is revealing another approach that involves combining cancer gene therapies and immunotherapies for more effective treatments. This is an exhilarating time for all involved in the field of cancer gene therapy. I would like to congratulate everyone who has contributed to the success of Oncolytic Virotherapy and look forward to the developments the future will bring.

Oncolytic Virotherapy is the perfect publication avenue for your studies focusing on the application of oncolytic viruses for the treatment of cancer. Manuscripts submitted to the journal undergo stringent, fair, and fast peer review. Publish your research in Oncolytic Virotherapy for maximum visibility and recognition. The journal is open access, allowing every researcher with access to the Internet to read your work free of charge.

We welcome your submissions to Oncolytic Virotherapy.