Overview of Sections and Article Types

	Article Type		Editor Recommendations
	Case report		100-200 word unstructured abstract Insights: Following the abstract, provide a one-sentence statement of clinical or biologic insight. 500-1,500 words main text 1-2 tables and/or figures 10 references
	Commentary		100-200-word abstract 1,000-1,500 words main text Up to 1 figure and/or table Up to 10 references
	Hypothesis		100-200-word abstract 500-1500 words main text Up to 2 figure and/or table Up to 10 references
	Position article and guidelines		250-350-word abstract up to 8,000 words main text 1-4 figures and/or tables up to 120 references
	Original research		250-350-word structured abstract 4,000-5,000 words main text 5-7 tables and/or figures (Please keep the number of panels per figure to a minimum) 50 references
	Review		250-350-word abstract 4,000-5,000 words main text 1-4 figures and/or tables (Please keep the number of panels per figure to a minimum) 50-100 references
	Short report		250-350-word abstract 1,500-2,500 words main text 1-4 tables and/or figures 25 references
	Section		Description
	Basic and Translational Cancer Immunology		Basic and translational cancer immunology articles cover new tumor antigens, innate and adaptive anti-tumor immune mechanisms, immune regulation, immune response characterization and quantification, cancer and inflammation, preclinical models, pre-clinical evaluations of individual cancer therapeutics and combinations (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors and stimulators, and other antigen-specific immunotherapies). These should generally be focused on new findings in the context of the immune system and on correlations with measures of tumor reduction or growth. Studies leading to mechanistic understanding or novel development of agents and combination therapies are encouraged. Studies with in vivo experiments in more than one animal tumor model are preferred.
	Case Reports		JITC welcomes Case Reports that include the following: Novel immunotherapies and/or novel insight from established immunotherapies, including early clinical data describing initial clinical experiences in up to 10 patients Topics covering the clinical introduction and application of novel immunotherapies, unexpected or unusual presentations of clinical responses to immunotherapies, new associations or variations in disease progression and/or response to immunotherapies, and important emerging side effects or adverse interactions. We also welcome pioneering reports on the application of immuno-oncology agents outside of oncology, particularly those that provide insights on mechanistic aspects of the agents or their toxicity. Experimental and translational data providing insight for mechanisms of response and/or toxicity JITC will not consider submissions with the following: Established toxicities or responses to established immunotherapies (example of exception: known potential toxicities occurring in new or unusual indications) Clinical descriptions that lack mechanistic investigations Preventive or therapeutic interventions, as these generally require stronger evidence Case reports should include relevant positive and negative findings from history, examination and translational investigation. They should include experimental figures and clinical photographs, the latter of which must be accompanied by written consent to publish from the patient(s). Results should be briefly but thoroughly contextualized by previous results/cases in the field in the discussion. In the case of cases extracted from clinical studies, authors must include a clear justification why publication of such individual case over the full study is warranted and provide details about the current status and results of the ongoing study, potentially on a confidential basis.
	Clinical Cancer Immunotherapy		Clinical cancer immunotherapy articles cover clinical trials and mechanistic studies using blood or tissue specimens from patients treated with immunotherapy agents (translational subset). Clinical trial articles are prospective studies including first-in-human clinical trials using agents with novel mechanisms of action, or phase II/III clinical studies, that show clinical outcome and/or translational immune investigations. Small, single institution-based trials and retrospective reports are discouraged. Reports purely for biomarker development are discouraged, and should be submitted to the Immunotherapy Biomarkers section. Clinical trial manuscripts must be accompanied by a protocol and clinical trial registration number. Large phase II/III trials with robust clinical outcomes, or smaller trials accompanied by mechanistic, correlative studies, are encouraged.
	Commentary/Editorials		Reaction to and/or perspectives on significant events in the field of cancer immunotherapy as pertains to basic science. May address a critical challenge; elaborate on, or extend a conversation of, a focal article; provide an application of a hypothetical perspective; or provide expert insight on a particular controversy in the field.
	Guidelines and Consensus Statements		This section highlights current or evolving clinical practice guidelines and consensus statements, and provides guidance to enhance clinical decision making in the field of cancer immunotherapy.
	Immune Cell Therapies and Immune Cell Engineering		Immune cell therapies and cell engineering approaches, new targets, novel functionalities, clinical trial results, correlative studies in patients who have received cell-based therapies, novel engineering strategies (molecular switches, conditional expression, logic gating), gene-edited cells to knock out or knock in novel functions, synthetic gene circuits. Includes pre-clinical animal modeling (small and large) and clinical trials.
	Immunotherapy Biomarkers		Immunotherapy biomarkers articles focus on the discovery, development and/or clinical significance of biomarkers for immunomodulatory anti-cancer treatments. This includes biomarkers for diagnostic, prognostic, predictive and pharmacodynamic purposes measured using diverse strategies; these may include but are not limited to: genomic or gene expression, serological analyses, cell-based or single-cell studies, in situ/localized tissue-based protein imaging, high content/multiparametric molecular platforms and imaging studies conducted in patients as well as model systems, retrospective collections and clinical trials. This section also welcomes studies reporting novel methods, technologies or computational approaches to interrogate the anti-tumor immune response that have the potential to advance the field. Manuscripts will be prioritized for peer review and publication on the basis of innovation/novelty of the biomarker-oriented research, adequate validation, clinical relevance and technological novelty. Special emphasis is assigned to: 1) Rigorous analytical validation of assays used (e.g. antibodies, mRNA probes, DNA sequences, molecular biosensors and modified reagents); 2) Reproducibility of findings in multiple populations/datasets/models; 3) Appropriate consideration of known biomarkers in the space under study; 4) In cases where correlations between a given biomarker and outcomes are made, a mechanistic understanding of the correlation should be sought (i.e. bioinformatics studies alone are unlikely to suffice) and 5)Use of appropriate statistics to account for cases stratification (e.g. cut-point selection), data overfitting and multiple hypothesis testing (e.g. adjustment of significance thresholds, P-values or other strategies to reduce type I error).
	Oncolytic and Local Immunotherapy		Oncolytic and local immunotherapy articles focus on the role of therapeutic agents designed for targeting tumor cells and/or the tumor microenvironment locally. This includes oncolytic viruses, microbial agents, innate immune agonists, direct and systemically delivered proteins, and DNA/RNA products that act primarily within established tumors. While all anti-neoplastic agents ultimately mediate activity within the tumor site, this section prefers locally delivered and/or targeted agents whose primary mode of action is inducing immune activation or regulation within the tumor microenvironment. Research describing the characterization and basic biology of oncolytic agents and novel delivery systems with an emphasis on how these intra-tumoral directed agents modulate local and systemic host innate and adaptive anti-tumor immunity are of particular interest. In addition, the section welcomes translational and clinical investigations involving new oncolytic immunotherapy agents or those that include an oncolytic or local treatment approach as part of combination therapeutic regimens.
	Reviews		Reviews are generally directly commissioned by JITC editors. These are fact/data-driven works that cumulate several articles of importance on a particular subject or research area in a review format with the goal of providing the “state of the art” in the field. Topics include recent major advances and discoveries, significant gaps in the research, current debates, and/or ideas of where research might go next written by authors who are leading contributors in the field. Submissions should offer new insights to advance the field forward. We do not accept unsolicited submissions for this type of article, but potential authors may send presubmission inquiries addressed to the section editors at info.jitc@bmj.com for further consideration by JITC editorial leadership. Research reviews that systematically synthesise evidence (e.g. Systematic reviews, Meta-analysis, Scoping reviews, Mixed methods reviews, etc) are classified by the journal as Original research and must be submitted as such to the appropriate section.