Categories of Articles

« Return to General AACR Journals' Instructions for Authors

Cancer Immunology Research welcomes submission of the following article types to be considered for publication in the journal, subject to peer review as noted below for each type. Please see About Cancer Immunology Research for information about the journal, and Instructions for Authors for important policies and instructions relevant to all authors submitting to an AACR journal. Where applicable, the journal’s editorial team reserves the right to edit the title, abstract, and any article summary statement to improve the article's clarity, brevity, and quality prior to publication.

Please note: The article size recommendations below, and most formatting requirements for final publication, are not enforced for initial submissions and do not impact the manuscript’s assessment for potential publication. Word counts are exclusive of cover page, abstract, methods section, tables, and references.

Research Articles

Original studies, including basic, pre-clinical, translational, and clinical investigations, that offer broad impact across the entire discipline of cancer immunology. The reports should be well-documented, novel, and significant to the field as a whole.

250-word abstract
5,000 words of text
50 references
7 tables and/or figures (Please keep the number of panels per figure to an absolute minimum)

Priority Briefs

Short, definitive reports describing basic, preclinical, translational, or clinical findings of high impact, significance, and timeliness. These reports can be either hypothesis-testing or hypothesis-generating; however, they must have the potential to drive substantial progress in a specific research area and/or patient care. Manuscripts submitted as Priority Briefs receive an accelerated review. Priority Brief manuscripts should include a section for Materials and Methods as well as Results and Discussion (Results and Discussion may be combined, but Materials and Methods may not be combined with any other section).

200-word abstract
2,500 words of text
25 references
4 tables and/or figures (Please keep the number of panels per figure to an absolute minimum)

Review Articles

Articles that provide authoritative, timely review of a subject of importance to those working in the field of cancer immunology. Review Articles can be broad, comprehensive overviews of a topic or short, focused pieces that provide insight of narrower scope or depth; regardless of format or type, all review article submissions should be written as concisely as possible. The length restrictions for each type of review are provided below. Authors of unsolicited reviews must first submit an outline of the proposed article for consideration to the editors at [email protected]. All Review Articles, whether invited or not, are peer reviewed.

For comprehensive reviews:

200-word abstract
5,000 words of text
75 references
5 original figures and/or tables

For short, focused reviews:

200-word abstract
2,500 words of text
30 references
2 original figures and/or tables

Cancer Immunology at the Crossroads (By Invitation Only)

Articles that highlight the intersection of cancer immunology with other areas of cancer research and allied disciplines. All Cancer Immunology at the Crossroads articles are subject to peer review.

250-word abstract
2,500 words of text
30 references
1 original figure with a maximum of 4 panels

Perspectives

Articles on topics of immediate interest in basic, preclinical, translational, and clinical cancer immunology research. Perspectives are short, insightful presentations of a theory or theories and should not present a comprehensive review of the literature. All Perspectives articles are subject to peer review.

200-word abstract
2,500 words of text
30 references
2 original figures and/or tables

Commentaries

Articles on current issues of interest to the cancer immunology research community such as policy, funding, regulatory, educational, legislative, and career-related issues. All Commentary articles are subject to peer review.

200-word abstract
2,500 words of text
30 references
2 original figures and/or tables

Letters to the Editor

Original correspondence comprised of scholarly commentary on subjects of importance and interest to the cancer immunology community, Letters to the Editor must relate to recently published Cancer Immunology Research articles. At the editors’ discretion, the Letter may be sent to various pertinent parties, including the author(s) of the cited article and other experts in the field, in order to grant them the opportunity to respond. Any such response would be vetted similarly and published in the same issue of the journal as the Letter.

Letter title should read as "'Running title of the original article'—Letter"
500 words of text
10 references. The first reference must cite the original article.
1 figure and/or table. Display items are permitted only if they show data that refute the conclusions of the originating article; figures or tables featuring unpublished data in support of the conclusions of the originating article will not be considered.