Kidney News Online (KNO) recently spoke with Michael Allon, MD, the inaugural Editor-in-Chief for the newest journal from the American Society of Nephrology, Kidney360 . As the open access, online only journal began accepting manuscripts on October 1^st, KNO wanted to learn more about the ideas behind the new journal.

 

1. When will Kidney360 begin accepting manuscript submissions for publication? How long is the review process planned to take?

We opened for submissions to Kidney360 on our website effective October 1, 2019. Our goal is to alert authors within one week of submission if we do not plan to send the submission out for external peer review. An initial decision on manuscripts sent out for external review will be rendered in most cases within one month of submission. In addition, authors of manuscripts that were reviewed and rejected by JASN or CJASN may request that their manuscript be considered for publication by Kidney360. In such cases, our editorial team will review the manuscript, along with the external reviews from the previous journal, and provide an expedited decision within 10 days about whether to request a revised manuscript from the authors.
 

2. When is the planned first issue release date?

Individual manuscripts that have been accepted will be posted on-line in an unformatted version in early January 2020. The first monthly issue of Kidney360 will be available on-line on January 30, 2020 and subsequent issues will appear online the last Thursday of every month.
 

3. Does Kidney360 plan to use visual abstracts on the website?

Yes, Kidney360 will include a visual abstract for every Original Investigation article. Creation of each visual abstract will be provided as a complimentary service to authors prior to acceptance, similar to the CJASN model of visual abstracts.

Kidney360 is based on the open-access journal model, the following questions discuss the related advantages.

4. Kidney360 is launching a Patient Perspectives section. What do you anticipate kidney professionals will learn from the input of patients, and are there specific areas you hope to see addressed?

In recent years, medicine in the United States has made huge strides involving patients as decision makers and participants in their care. It is becoming increasingly evident that patient priorities regarding their care often differ from those of their physician and nurses. We are thrilled to introduce the Patient Perspective section in Kidney360, with the goal of providing diverse perspectives from people living with kidney disease. These will include patient perspectives on management of chronic kidney disease, home dialysis, in-center hemodialysis, and kidney transplants. Many patients will be interested in other content as well. As ASN’s first open access journal, we are proud to present patients and their families with information that is highly credible, easily accessible, and free of charge. Likewise, medical caregivers will benefit from understanding the patient perspectives.
 

5. ASN is an international society, and the ease with which global exchange occurs improves all of medicine. Kidney360 includes a global communications section. What are the areas within nephrology that will most benefit from better exchange of ideas and information, and geographic diversity?

Because Kidney360 is freely available, we may see usage trends that are different from some other ASN venues. For example, one of Kidney360’s new features about which we are most excited is the Global Communications section, which provides us the opportunity to learn from our peers in other countries. This feature will encourage physicians to appreciate international differences in the medical management and financing of chronic kidney disease, dialysis, and kidney transplantation.  Such knowledge may guide future policy decisions.  Usage trends may encourage us to build out this feature or may inform ASN about interest in areas or topics that will help advance the society’s ability to extend its support of global kidney care.
 

6. Nephrologists consistently report high job satisfaction, but as a profession, US nephrology struggles to attract enough trainees. What do you think people considering specialties might not be exposed to relative to nephrology, and how will Kidney360 help address that gap?

Nephrology has experienced substantial workforce challenges in recent years. At present, there are only 0.6 applicants for each nephrology fellowship position in the U.S. We recognize there are young people interested in future careers in medicine or kidney research who may not yet be engaged with the society or know much about nephrology. Kidney360 will provide these future physicians and scientists an opportunity to inform themselves about the excitement, challenges and satisfactions inherent to our profession through unique educational content and interactive components, all easily accessible online and free of charge.

For more information, please see https://kidney360.asnjournals.org/ .

Check out the Part 1 interview with Dr. Allon to learn more about his experience.