Open Access for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
Researchers around the world are working to develop cures for cancer. During September, which is globally recognized as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month (CCAM), we would like to acknowledge and thank the researchers, physicians, and publishers who make their findings, data, and publications openly accessible. By sharing their results, they benefit people of all ages affected by cancer now and in the future. By choosing open access, the scientific community puts the health needs of patients first. We hope that all cancer research will ultimately flow in an open trajectory to benefit the greatest number of patients.
Listed below are resources committed to open access and open data.
Open Access Research
Note that while some resources are not pediatric specific, they all include pediatric cancers.
- The American Journal of Cancer Research is an independent open access, online-only journal that facilitates rapid dissemination of novel discoveries in basic science and treatment of cancer.
- Cancers is an international, peer-reviewed open access journal that publishes research papers, reviews, editorials, communications, etc. A unique feature of this journal is that it includes studies showing meaningful but negative results.
- Current Oncology is a peer-reviewed, Canadian-based journal. Articles published in this journal typically contain information that is relevant directly to clinical oncology practice and has clear potential for application to the current or future practice of cancer medicine.
- ecancermedicalscience is the peer-reviewed open access cancer journal founded by the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, Italy. Articles span research fields relating to cancer, including molecular biology, genetics, pathophysiology, epidemiology, clinical reports, controlled trials and cancer policy.
- Iranian Journal of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (IJPHO) is an international, scientific, peer-reviewed, quarterly, open access publication of the hematology and oncology research center of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences and Health Services in Yazd, Iran.
- Oncogenesis is a peer-reviewed open access online journal that seeks to promote diverse and integrated areas of molecular biology, cell biology, oncology, and genetics.
- Pediatric Cancer – JAMA Network is part of the Journal of the American Medical Association which provides open access cancer research — including pediatric cancer. These resources focus on the latest research and findings in pediatric cancer, including genetics and tumor treatment.
Open Data Resources
- Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI) – This new initiative was launched to expedite cancer research for children by providing researchers with improved access to data findings. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is asking for commitment from the pediatric cancer community to share data once available with the goal of growing this open data resource to aid in the development of effective cancer treatments with lower toxicity.
- Open Trials aims to “locate, match, and share all publicly accessible data and documents, on all trials conducted, on all medicines and other treatments, globally.” The public beta version is now available.
- Pediatric Genomic Data Inventory (PGDI) was developed to inspire new discoveries and treatments specific to pediatric cancers. The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Office of Cancer Genomics developed the PGDI to allow individuals and organizations/institutes researching cancer to more easily locate genomic datasets.
- St. Jude Cloud: Advancing Cures through Data and Discovery is a data-sharing resource for the global research community. It includes unique next-generation sequencing data and analysis tools for pediatric cancer and other life-threatening diseases. St. Jude Cloud is the largest public repository of pediatric cancer genomics data.
To learn more about open access research and open data initiatives associated with cancer research, we invite you to read our article: Open Access Research for World Cancer Day in support of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
