Preface to the IJRB 60th anniversary special issue “back to our future”

The International Journal of Radiation Biology (IJRB), often called the “blue” journal in the radiation research community, became 60 years old in 2019. Its predecessor, The International Journal of Radiation Biology and Related Studies in Physics, Chemistry and Medicine published the first issue in 1959. The journal name reflected the intention ‘to bring together all interests concerned with the biological effects of ionizing radiations. The field we (IJRB) hope to cover will not be a narrow one, for it will embrace any discipline—medicine, physics and chemistry, for example—which has a bearing on our main theme’ (Editorial 1959). In 1988, it was renamed International Journal of Radiation Biology and was dedicated to reviewing and publishing studies on the biological effects of various forms of ionizing and nonionizing radiation. The name has remained unchanged since 1988; however, since January 2018, IJRB has regained its longer title as a subtitle and continues to encourage submission from radiation biology and other various radiation-related disciplines (Woloschak 2018). Since its inception in 1959 through June 2019 (Volume 95 Issue 6), IJRB has thus far published 9397 articles in 683 issues (Figure 1). IJRB celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2009 by publishing a series of the anniversary reviews (Volume 85). Another decade has passed since then, and IJRB now celebrates its 60th anniversary with various activities (Woloschak 2019): e.g. by publishing this Special Issue in July 2019 (Volume 95 Issue 7, as its 684th issue of IJRB), and then by holding a dedicated session on 28 August 2019 during the 16th International Congress of Radiation Research (ICRR2019) in Manchester, UK.

Figure 1. Cumulative number of issues (panel A) and articles (panel B) published from 1959 through June 2019. Articles consist of editorial/preface/foreword, review papers, original papers, short communications, technical notes, commentaries, letters to editor, meeting reports, book reviews, diary of events/news and events, announcements, obituaries, errata/corrigenda, etc. It can be seen from these panels that the cumulative number of both issues and articles increased fairly steadily over the past 60 years. The cumulative number of the articles is expected to exceed 10,000 around 2023.

This Special Issue consists of 20 review papers that give historical overviews on various topics in radiation research. The title ‘Back to Our Future’ reflects the brief given to the authors – to take a topic which was popular in the early issues of the journal and to see how the field had developed over the 60 years since the journal started. First, to explore legacy and impact of the IJRB papers in general, Rusin and Hamada (2019) assessed its citations in Radiation Research (the official journal of the Radiation Research Society that published its first issue in 1954) and ICRP publications (Publication 1 issued in 1959 by the International Commission on Radiological Protection). The cover image of the Special Issue was taken from Figure 1 in Rusin and Hamada (2019), and we would appreciate Mr Rusin for his idea to do such analysis. Cho et al. (2019) review historical changes in situations of funding, education and training in the field of radiation research, particularly in Canada, European Union countries, Japan, South Korea, and the US. Wojcik and Harms-Ringdahl (2019) provide a historical review of how radiation protection biology developed and how it influences the field of radiation protection. Mothersill and Seymour (2019) consider how the old ideas in the studies of low dose effects evolved, leading to apparently abrupt paradigm shifts. Schofield et al. (2019) review the creation, sustainability and reuse of legacy data, and discuss the importance of open data and biomaterial archives for contemporary radiobiological sciences, radioecology and epidemiology. Ozasa et al. (2019) review cancer and non-cancer effects in Japanese atomic bomb survivors and also in their F1 offspring. Gault et al. (2019) review the results from the studies on the low dose responses of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells performed under the RISK-IR project (www.risk-ir.eu). Peitzsch et al. (2019) discuss modern methods developed to study cancer stem cells (CSCs) in radiation biology, the role of CSCs in personalized cancer therapy, as well as future directions for CSC research in translational radiation oncology. Vaupel et al. (2019) review the mechanisms and consequences of the Warburg effect as a central contributor to the cancer progression machinery. Groves and Williams (2019) review IJRB papers on the protection of normal tissues from unwanted radiation injury or its rescue from the downstream consequences of radiation exposure. Ko and Formenti (2019) review key evidence for the ability of radiation therapy to influence tumor-directed immune responses. Moulder (2019) reviews the IJRB papers related to chemical radiosensitizers. Shibata and Jeggo (2019) provide a historical reflection on key advances in the field of ionizing radiation-induced DNA double-strand break repair and interface them with current knowledge. Goodhead (2019) provides selective summaries of main driving forces and developments in the neutron biology field. Cucinotta and Cacao (2019) review findings from studies on brain effects of radiation carried out over the last 25 years and focusing on understanding risks at low doses of heavy ions and protons. Nakamura (2019) reviews the history of radiation genetics studies with an attempt to discern future directions. Salbu et al. (2019) review the multiple stressor concept from the viewpoint of radioecology, and point out the importance to recognize that after low dose exposures many stressors act through common mechanisms involving oxidative stress. This analysis echoes the work done in the early days of the journal, where additive and synergistic effects of chemicals and radiation in the environment were a hot topic. Seymour and Mothersill (2019) and Streffer (2019), respectively, provide historical reflections on the contributions of Robin H. Mole and Hanns Langendorff to radiation biology, both of whom were pioneers of the journal in the early days. Last, Powers and Murphy (2019) review a series of the studies on the effects of sunlight radiation.

Last but not least, the Editors of this Special Issue are grateful to all distinguished authors for their invaluable contributions and are indebted to the expert reviewers for their time, dedication and constructive comments. We wish to acknowledge IJRB for the opportunity to guest edit this Special Issue and extend our special thanks in this respect to Gayle E. Woloschak (the Editor-in-Chief of the journal) and Dianne Dixon (the Managing Editor of the journal). Many thanks also go to the ICRR2019 Organizing Committee for an opportunity to hold the IJRB session.

We sincerely hope that this Special Issue will serve as a historical landmark that will inspire not only the current and future contributors and readership of IJRB, but also the entire radiation research community. We are confident that the IJRB continues to flourish in the coming years and that it will celebrate its centenary in 2059.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.