The November 2024 issue of Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology marks the 20th anniversary of the journal. Here, we reflect on the role of the journal during a time in which the clinical oncology community has witnessed many important changes.

Two decades ago, the following sentence opened the very first Editorial in this journal: “We live in the most exciting time in the history of cancer medicine”1. Although the world has undoubtedly changed in the past 20 years, this statement couldn’t remain more accurate.

Advances in technology over the past two decades have enabled an increasingly detailed and comprehensive characterization of tumour biology. These advances have also been leveraged to improve patient management through the design of new classes of therapeutic agents as well as tools for more-precise imaging, delivery of local therapy or analysis of patient-derived specimens, to name only a few. In a Viewpoint published to mark our 20th anniversary, we asked a diverse group of experts to highlight the most important advances in their research area2. One of the messages echoed in several of their responses is that, to cure patients, we cannot focus only on alterations in cancer cells and instead must approach tumours and their surrounding environment as dynamic complex ecosystems. Although we acknowledge that some specialties are missing from this Viewpoint, the authors highlight many aspects that have contributed to the past two decades being a transformative time in clinical oncology. Yet, they also reflect on the numerous challenges that still remain to be addressed to provide equitable and effective care for patients with cancer.

Credit: PAT MORGAN & CARL CONWAY/Springer Nature Limited

Communication has also evolved over the past two decades. As a result, many patients now have increased access to information about their disease and a range of other resources. Despite these advances, a cancer diagnosis feels no less devastating to many patients than it did 20 years ago. We felt that our anniversary issue would only be complete if we invited a patient to provide their views on this. Carolyn Taylor, who has experience in global cancer advocacy, couldn’t be more clear: only patient-centred research will solve the challenges facing oncology3. In her Comment, she delineates such a research approach.

Over these two decades, we at Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology have been monitoring the field to identify advances and unmet needs. When we consider that a topic might be relevant for the community, we ask experts to summarize it and provide context and expert opinion in Reviews, Perspectives, News & Views or Comments. We aim to reflect the current broad scope of clinical oncology with balanced coverage of aspects including histology-defined tumour types, cancer alterations and treatment modalities. We also aim for diversity in the way advances are presented, acknowledging that not all experts will have similar opinions on novel findings. We want this journal to be a safe space for all views that can be supported by a sound rationale because we believe that having transparent, but respectful, conversations is key not only to achieving progress in research but also to empowering patients.

“having transparent, but respectful, conversations is key not only to achieving progress in research but also to empowering patients”

Publishing a journal is no small task and we, the current editorial team at Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, are grateful to many people. We want to thank our authors and peer reviewers, from whom we have learned on a continuous basis during all these years. We also thank the numerous colleagues from various teams at Springer Nature who have made the publication of every single issue possible. Unfortunately, we do not have space to name them all, although we want to make an exception for Lisa Hutchinson, the launch Chief Editor who remained in the journal until 2017 and carved a unique space for this journal in the medical literature landscape.

As the cover of our November issue shows, the road ahead in clinical oncology is long and many hurdles remain. Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology will continue this journey in collaboration with multiple stakeholders.