Launched in 1966 by the British Society for Immunology, Clinical & Experimental Immunology (CEI) is this year celebrating its 55th birthday. During this period, the journal has continued to thrive throughout changes in Editors-in-Chief and editorial teams, the immunological landscape, and the publishing industry, and continues to contribute to its field at the highest level. In this editorial, we look back at some of the standout events of the last five and a half decades.

CEI was originally launched under the editorship of Professor W J Irvine and published by Blackwell Scientific Publications, with the aim “to encourage greater integration between clinical observation and fundamental laboratory research". The first issue was published in January 1966, featuring nine articles including one by Jacques Miller and colleagues on the regeneration of thymus grafts [1], concluding that “the thymus plays an essential role in inducing the differentiation of immunologically competent cells from non-competent precursors and that this function is dependent on the integrity of the thymus epithelial-reticular cells.” Another one was on in vitro stimulation of human tonsillar lymphocytes by Kurt Hischhorn and colleagues [2]. Thousands of articles have been published since, with the journal reaching Volume 205 in 2021. This quantity of content has gone hand-in-hand with quality of content. Our impact has steadily grown, and we have stayed competitive over the decades. To further our development and represent the breadth of translational immunology, in 2019 we restructured our Editorial Board into dedicated Sections – autoimmunity, cancer immunity, immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, immunodeficiency, infectious diseases and vaccines, and neuroimmunology – handled by leading experts from around the world. The Sections allow for a more effective review process, contributing in part to our highest ever Impact Factor of 4.330, received in 2020, ranking us 78 out of 162 global immunology journals. Whilst we are aware that the impact factor has certain limitations, we take this as one measure of the high-quality work submitted by our authors, alongside our ever-increasing readership and Altmetric scores. Over the past year, we have seen our highest ever number of downloads, with nearly 950,000 downloads in the past 12 months, and over 9,000 Altmetric mentions from across the world, allowing us to see in real-time the impact and relevance of our papers to the community.

CEI has published impactful articles throughout its 55-year history, many of which reflect major research areas of focus of decades past. Amongst the first issues, Deborah Doniach et al. (1966) explored the presence of anti-mitochondrial ‘M’ autoantibodies in primary biliary cirrhosis and other hepatopathies [3]. In the 70s, in a series of three articles, David Bradley and colleagues provided novel insight into the genetic regulation of susceptibility to intracellular infection with leishmania using different inbred mouse strains [4-6]. In the 80s, Marc Feldmann and Ravinder Maini and colleagues reported on the gene and protein expression of tumour necrosis factor and interleukin-1 in synovial cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis [7]. The 90s saw one of CEI’s most cited publications, in which Dieleman et al. (1998) reported that both Th1 and Th2 cytokines are increased in dextran sulphate sodium-induced colitis [8]. After the turn of the millennium, English et al. (2009) elucidated mechanisms involved in the induction of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells by allogeneic human mesenchymal stem cells [9], whilst in the last decade Guo et al. (2018) described how targeting of the NLRP3 inflammasome might be a novel therapeutic strategy for RA [10].

We are proud to have been able to publish similarly important contributions during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. With the other BSI-affiliated journals, Immunology and Immunotherapy Advances, CEI has published several papers to assist in the global response [11]. All related literature in CEI at the time was also collated in our COVID-19 Special Issue [12]. Among these articles were Hou et al. (2020), identifying molecular biomarkers potentially useful in predicting severity of infection [13]. Baker et al. (2020) reviewed the crossover between vaccination against the virus and therapies for autoimmune diseases [14], while Tregoning et al. (2020) extensively reviewed the current vaccine landscape that could be employed to combat COVID-19 [15]. We continue to receive and publish articles aiding in the understanding of and response to the pandemic.

One of our most well-received features has been our review series [16]. Examples include ‘Ageing and the immune system, effects of immunosenescence and clinical implications’ (2017), co-edited by Birgit Weinberger and the current President of the BSI, Professor Arne Akbar, and exploring the impacts of age on the functionality of the immune system [17]. In ‘Interactions of the Microbiota with the Mucosal Immune System’ (2020), published jointly with CEI’s sibling journal, Immunology, Vuk Cerovic and Calum Bain and Series contributors examined current understanding of the roles of microorganisms in human mucosal immunology [18]. We are equally proud of our series released in collaboration with FOCIS, ‘Immune Checkpoints Inhibition: From Molecules to Clinical Application’ (2020), in which the current Editor-in-Chief, Leonie Taams, also an author in the series, and Section Editor for Cancer Immunity, Tanja de Gruijl, invited a series of reviews exploring the molecular and clinical understanding surrounding checkpoint inhibitors [19].

A prominent external influence for CEI is that of the academic publishing industry in general. Over the last decade, publishing has moved increasingly online, bolstered by a global drive towards open science. From receiving submissions in its founding years via post, CEI has moved with this trend, receiving all manuscripts submitted via our online system, and published in online and print forms. Business models have also changed. CEI is now a hybrid journal, and we are pleased that we currently publish around a quarter of our yearly content as Open Access. In 2020, our data policy evolved from recommending that authors make their data available in a public repository, to expecting authors to engage in this policy where possible, allowing easier reproducibility and verification. We also shifted to Free Format submissions, thereby streamlining the submission process for authors. On top of this, rather than the printed promotional material that would have been produced in 1966, articles published in CEI are now promoted across the BSI’s social media platforms, and our Twitter account (@CEIjournal), with over 2,000 followers.

The continued success of CEI over such an extended period is due in part also to the organisations surrounding it. The BSI has grown and thrived in the journal’s lifetime, now with over 4,000 members around the world and contributing funding, support, and guidance to the global immunology community. The Society and its members have been at the forefront of immunological research into the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and continue to work to limit the impact of this and future outbreaks.

Overall, 55 years of CEI has seen success, impact, and a lot of change. CEI has played a key role among the BSI’s family of journals, particularly through its profits which help to fund the charitable activities of the Society. As a journal, we are delighted to have reached this milestone, and give thanks again to everyone who has played their part in our journey. Special gratitude goes to our Editors-in-Chief, editorial teams, authors, and reviewers past and present. We also thank our outgoing publisher, Wiley, and our new publishing partner, Oxford University Press. We are excited for the new opportunities this transition will bring and look forward to future endeavours and successes alongside the British Society for Immunology and to serving the field of immunology worldwide.