Future research in cancer survivorship

Abstract

Since the inception of the Journal of Cancer Survivorship (JCSU), the founding editor-in-chief, the associate editors, editorial board members, and peer reviewers have played important roles in influencing the knowledge base published in JCSU. The journal editors represent key disciplines, practice areas, and research expertise in cancer survivorship, which includes oncology and hematology, pediatric oncology, health psychology/behavior medicine, primary care, oncology nursing, exercise oncology, epidemiology, rehabilitation sciences, health services research, health policy, public health, and sociology. Over the years, the journal editors have worked to facilitate peer review and provide quality reviews to prospective authors. Earlier this year, Chan et al. [1] provided an overview of the evolution of JCSU since its inception in 2007 to 2020. Chan et al.’s [1] paper included a comprehensive description of the content, impact metrics, and top cited papers. In addition, they created a neural network using the key terms of published articles (Fig. 1) that depicted both minor and major themes published since the inception of JCSU. As illustrated in Fig. 1, the most common theme was “quality of life.” The neural network of key terms also indicated sub-themes including healthcare delivery and follow-up care; management of comorbidities and concurrent conditions; physical activity and exercise; healthy lifestyle/behaviors other than physical activity; disparity and social determinants of health; employment; management of symptom/toxicity/late effects; psycho-oncology/ psychosocial care, adolescent, and young adult (AYA) cancer survivorship; and health communications. This editorial provides our suggestions as journal editors on future evidence that can prove helpful in advancing knowledge, practice, and policy internationally. A summary of these research areas organized by the themes noted in the neural network of key terms can be found below and bulleted in Table 1.