Apoptosis or Programmed Cell Death has been among the fastest growing fields in the last decade. Indeed, the number of publications has increased from fewer than 100 in 1990 to over 13 000 in 2000, see Figure 1.

Figure 1
figure 1

Number of publications per year on ‘apoptosis’ or ‘cell death’. The value for the year 2000 (13 052) has been predicted based on the first 38 weeks (9538). Data are from Web of Science-ISI, Philadelphia, PA (2000)

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The total number of publications over this decade to date is 55 074, and a log scale has been used to demonstrate that the current trend seems to be reaching a plateau (Figure 1). The current number of papers per year (13 000) corresponds to about 1.8% of all papers published in life sciences, an extraordinary proportion. Is this plateau real and does it predict a subsequent decrease? More importantly, to what extent does this reflect a true plateau of the importance with which scientists view cell death or does it merely represent an increase in the quality of published manuscripts? In general, 40% of all publications receive no citations in the subsequent literature, and two thirds of them receive less than two citations. This proportion is similar in the field of cell death.1 Nevertheless, the immense expansion over the last decade is witness to the perceived relevance of the area, and the corresponding spread into the understanding of molecular mechanisms together with its relationships with other relevant areas of biology including practical medical applications.

Out of 1014 cells in the human body, about 107 are now known to undergo apoptosis daily. This awareness is reflected in the shift in regard of apoptosis from a curiosity (in the 1980s) to a highly relevant biological event, whose inappropriate regulation leads to an array of pathologies. The ‘Golden Age’ of the Nineties has left all of us with a detailed knowledge of molecular mechanisms, for example, the families of Bcl-2, caspases, DNA damage pathways, signaling cascades, receptor regulation, cell cycle, mitochondria and regulation of cell clearance. This leap in academic understanding has expanded into more practical areas such as the role of apoptosis in development and in pathologies of the neuronal and immune systems. Further detailed description of these aspects is to be found in more specialized reviews (see for reviews2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11).

Cell Death and Differentiation (CDD) was started in 1994 to act as a forum for this new field. Figures 2 and 3 show how the journal has gradually but continuously increased its number of papers, total number of citations, and most importantly its quality over time, reaching 6.19 citations per paper (Figure 2C). The journal is cited by, and cites, all relevant and respected scientific media (Table 1), with some CDD papers achieving impressive numbers of citations/paper (Table 2). Despite some technical difficulties, such as for example a late entry into PubMed (see Table 3), the journal is now a major reference for its field. This has been achieved only through synergistic efforts between all editors and the publisher, to whom CDD is greatly indebted. The plan for the future aims to strengthen further the role of Cell Death and Differentiation in the scientific community.

Figure 2
figure 2

Performance of Cell Death and Differentiation on a 5-year basis. (A) Total number of papers published every 5 years. (B) Total number of citations every 5 years. (C) Average number of citations per paper on a 5-year basis. Data are from ISI, Philadelphia, PA (2000)

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Figure 3
figure 3

Number of papers received (lower columns, in black) and published (upper columns, in grey) in Cell Death and Differentiation every year. The figure shows only papers, not added material (e.g. editorial, meeting reports, book reviews, letters). The rejection rate is based on final decision, not on the first evaluation. The rejection rate is also based on the year, even though material received in autumn, and often in summer, ends in the following year. The value for the year 2000 has been predicted based on the first 40 weeks

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Table 1 Citation of Cell Death and Differentiation
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Table 2 Citation of papers published in Cell Death and Differentiation
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Table 3 Most cited papers in Cell Death and Differentiation
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For this coming year the journal will improve its organization. First, the Editorial Board will have new members. We therefore welcome J Abrams (US), S Lipton (US), M Peter (US), D Altieri (US), H Ichijo (J), M Naito (J), M Miura (J), RC Bleackley (CAN) and JC Martinou (CH). Special thanks goes to those editors who have left the journal this year, as part of the normal rotation which allows for the introduction of new blood. As in previous years, collaboration with ex-editors will actively continue but on a less formal level. Second, a new Editorial Office will be opened in Tokyo, and will include both Japanese and Australian Editors. Third, the journal has recently opened a new section for airing discussion and comment of topical issues. Fourth, as every year, the journal will strive to continue the improvement at both the scientific and editorial levels. All three offices will further improve speed and homogeneity of decision, while the publisher will continue to improve marketing and develop new media technologies. Finally, the journal will continue to publish parallel reviews aimed at summarizing the current state of knowledge. Some of the recent areas covered include mitochondria (see for example12,13,14,15,16,17), Drosophila apoptosis (see for example18,19,20,21), neurodegeneration (see for example22,23,24), the p53 family (see for example25,26), and caspases (see for example27,28,29).

At the beginning of this new millennium, Cell Death and Differentiation would like to take this opportunity to thank sincerely all readers, contributors, editors, assistants and publishers for their time and effort dedicated to making it a success, and looks forward with pleasant anticipation to continuing to improve our positive interaction in the future.