 | |
| Discipline | Cell biology |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Edited by | Jodi Nunnari |
| Publication details | |
| History | 1955–present |
| Publisher | Rockefeller University Press (United States) |
| Delayed, after 6 months | |
| 10.539 (2021) | |
| Standard abbreviations ISO 4 (alt) · Bluebook (alt) NLM (alt) · MathSciNet (alt  ) | |
| ISO 4 | J. Cell Biol. |
| Indexing CODEN (alt · alt2) · JSTOR (alt) · LCCN (alt) MIAR · NLM (alt) · Scopus · W&L | |
| ISSN | 0021-9525 |
| LCCN | 2001-227177 |
| JSTOR | 00219525 |
| OCLC no. | 1390147 |
| Links | |
TheJournal of Cell Biology is apeer-reviewedscientific journal published byRockefeller University Press.
In the early 1950s, a small group of biologists began to exploreintracellularanatomy using the emerging technology ofelectron microscopy. Many of these researchers were at The Rockefeller Institute of Medicine, the predecessor ofThe Rockefeller University. As their work progressed to publication, they were disappointed with the limited quality of halftone image reproduction in the printed journals of the time, and frustrated by the narrow editorial policies of existing journals regarding their image-based results. In 1954, the Director of the Rockefeller Institute,Detlev Bronk, convened a luncheon to discuss the creation of a new journal as a venue for publication of this type of work.[1]
The first issue ofThe Journal of Biophysical and Biochemical Cytology was published less than a year later on January 25, 1955. A subscription cost $15 per year. The list of editors comprised Richard S. Bear, H. Stanley Bennett,Albert L. Lehninger,George E. Palade,Keith R. Porter,Francis O. Schmitt, Franz Schrader, and Arnold M. Seligman. The instructions to authors described the scope of the journal, "The Journal of Biophysical and Biochemical Cytology is designed to provide a common medium for the publication ofmorphological,biophysical, andbiochemical investigations on cells, their components, and their products. It will give special attention to reports on cellular organization at thecolloidal andmolecular levels and to studies integrating cytological information derived from various technical approaches." Recognizing that they needed a catchier title, the editors changed the name toThe Journal of Cell Biology ("JCB") in 1962.
Many seminal discoveries have been published in the journal, including the first descriptions of numerous cellular functions and structures, such as thesecretory pathway,[2][3][4][5][6][7]mitochondrial[8][9] andchloroplast[10]DNA,microtubules,[11][12]intermediate filaments,[13]tight junctions[14] (includingoccludins[15] andclaudins[16]),adherens junctions,[14] andcadherins.[17]
According to theJournal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2021impact factor of 8.077, ranking it 28th out of 201 journals in the category "Cell Biology".[20]
The journal was first published online on January 13, 1997. All content was free to the public during that first year of online publication. In January 1998, all primary research content was placed under access controls, but all news and review content remained free to the public immediately after publication.
In January 2001, in response to calls from the research community to provide free access to the results of publicly funded research, the journal was one of the first to release its primary research content to the public 6 months after publication.[21]
In June 2003, all content, starting from volume 1, issue 1, was posted online and provided for free.[22]
In November 2007, in anticipation of theNational Institutes of Health mandate on public access to the results of NIH-funded research, the journal began depositing all of its content inPubMed Central, where the final, published version is released to the public 6 months after publication.[23]
In July 2000, the journal was one of the first[citation needed] to allow authors to post the final, publishedpdf file of their articles on their own websites.[24] On May 1, 2008, thecopyright policy was changed, allowing authors to retain copyright to their own works. At the same time, the content of the journal was opened up to use by third parties under aCreative Commons license.[citation needed] The only restriction on this use by third parties is that they cannot create a free mirror site within the first six months after publication.
In 2002, the journal adopted a completely electronic production workflow. This means that all text is submitted as electronic document files and all figures are submitted as electronic image files. While formatting figure files for an accepted manuscript,Mike Rossner, who was then themanaging editor, discovered aWestern blot in which the intensity of a single band had been selectively adjusted relative to the other bands. The original data were obtained from the authors, and it was evident that the manipulation affected the interpretation of the data. The editorial acceptance of the manuscript was revoked, and the journal immediately initiated a policy to screen all images in all accepted papers for evidence of image manipulation.[25]
In consultation with practicing scientists on theeditorial board, guidelines were developed for handling digital images, which were first published in June 2003.[26]
The journal's image screening program was publicized in an article inNature in April 2005, entitled "CSI Cell Biology".[27] On Christmas Day, 2005,The New York Times published an article showing that image manipulation was part of the scientific fraud perpetrated byHwang Woo-Suk and colleagues.[28] When it became apparent that theJournal of Cell Biology's screening program would have detected the image manipulation before publication, theNew York Times highlighted the journal's process on the cover page of its Science Times section on January 24, 2006.[29] This raised awareness among the public and among other biomedical journals of the potential value of image screening by journal editors.
In February 2006, the editors voiced the need for community-sanctioned standards for maintainingdata integrity in a letter toUnited States National Academy of Sciences presidentRalph Cicerone.[30] The letter, along with subsequent concerns about digital data raised by other scientific publishers, provided the impetus for a study by the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (a joint unit of the academy, theNational Academy of Engineering, and theInstitute of Medicine) to examine the issue of data integrity. The study was commissioned in May 2006.[citation needed]
Mike Rossner presented a talk to the Committee at an open meeting in April 2007, in which he described the experience of JCB and the other Rockefeller University Press journals in handling image manipulation. He noted that it should be the responsibility of the research community to develop standards of data integrity, but JCB had taken on this role because no such standards existed when JCB first confronted the problem in 2002.
The Committee released its report, entitled "Ensuring the Integrity, Accessibility, and Stewardship of Research Data in the Digital Age, in July 2009.[31] The NAS announcement specifically cited JCB for its proactive steps in establishing specific guidelines for "acceptable and unacceptable ways to alter images". The report approached the problem of data integrity from the perspective of both truth and accuracy in data acquisition and reporting, and from the perspective of accessibility of data over time. It provided no specific standards for maintaining data integrity and no recommendations for enforcing those standards once established. The report reached the broad conclusion that "researchers themselves are responsible for ensuring the integrity of their research data".
JCB was the first journal to adopt the "RGB Standard" for reproduction of color images. To maximize the quality of color image reproduction, JCB declared in January 2004[32] that the online version of the journal is the "journal of record", and images would be reproduced online using authors' files in the same color scheme (Red, Green, Blue) in which they are acquired by digital cameras, and which is used to display them on a computer monitor.
Previously, authors were asked to convert theirRGB files to theCMYK color scheme necessary for printing on paper, which results in a substantial loss of image luster. Those CMYK files were then converted back to RGB by the publisher to post online, resulting in a second round of alteration to the original colors. The advent of the RGB workflow allowed colors to be displayed in the online publication exactly as they appeared in the authors' original files.
On December 1, 2008, the JCB launched the JCB DataViewer – the first browser-based application for viewing original, multi-dimensional image data.[33] This application was built in conjunction with Glencoe Software[34] using a data management engine based on the OMERO software developed by the Open Microscopy Environment.[35] Glencoe Software also developed a "Rollup" application for uploading original image files to the DataViewer. The DataViewer supports numerous proprietary files types from various microscopes and gel documentation systems.[36]
This revolutionary application allows JCB authors to present multidimensional image data as they were acquired, giving them the opportunity to share data that were not possible to share previously. JCB readers get to see original data supporting a published paper, and they can interact with those data by scrolling through a z stack or a stack of time-lapse images. Users can select individual channels to view or view all channels separately on the same screen. They can also produce line plots of pixel intensities along any horizontal or vertical axis.
An update to the software in August 2012 allows the user to smoothly transition from 1 millimeter to 1 micrometer magnification of images assembled from optical and electron microscopes. As an example, they provide a complete image of a zebrafish embryo.[37][38]
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