Have you ever wished for a forum to share your research passion that also enables honest feedback and advances the field of toxicology? Toxicological Sciences now has you covered with a combined manuscript and discussion format called "ToxPoint."
ToxPoint articles are short, interactive editorial manuscripts focused on emerging areas of toxicology. Special emphasis is given to timely and important topics that are expected to stimulate interest in the topic. This new type of article for ToxSci provides an opportunity for the toxicology community to engage the spectrum of scientists in the field to highlight controversial topics or opinions and their tipping points, expound on important new research outputs or policies, and point the way toward new approaches or technologies.
You may have keyed in on the word “interactive” in the description of ToxPoint. To facilitate discussion on ToxPoint topics, each article will include a moderated comment forum at the end of the article on the journal website. [Editor’s Note: scroll to the bottom of Dr. Harrill’s ToxPoint article “In the Era of Precision Medicine, Diversity Should Not Be Neglected in Chemical Safety Assessment” for an example of this new comment section.] We invite you to use this forum as an opportunity to contribute your ideas and engage in constructive dialogue to help advance the field of toxicology. New ToxPoint articles and the opening of their comment forums will be announced on our Twitter feed; follow @ToxSci to stay informed. (Sidebar: we share all sorts of information and manuscript highlights on Twitter—come engage with us!)
To kick off the new ToxPoint article type, the January 2020 issue of Toxicological Sciences includes my contribution, “In the Era of Precision Medicine, Diversity Should Not Be Neglected in Chemical Safety Assessment.” The need to protect and defend genetically sensitive subpopulations against unique chemical hazards has been a passion of mine since graduate school, and I have been fortunate to have many collaborators across sectors who have worked with me to develop tools to evaluate population space in chemical safety testing. In my ToxPoint article, I argue that toxicity testing should account for genetic susceptibilities today, given that there are numerous supportive case studies across laboratories and a number of mature population-based tools available. I invite you to think about this important issue, whether it affects your colleagues’ or your science (or not), and to become involved by posting your opinions on the forum section of the published manuscript on the journal website.
The editorial team at ToxSci looks forward to your ToxPoint contributions and the lively discussions that follow. Limited to fewer than 1,000 words; eight references; and no tables, figures, or supplemental information, ToxPoint articles can be quickly crafted to showcase the latest and greatest topics and submitted for consideration. The number of ToxPoint articles in a given year is limited and at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief and team. We value your partnership in kicking off ToxPoint and look forward to your submissions.