Editor-in-Chief’s Commentary: Clinical Pathology Is Changing Its Title to Sage Open Pathology to Welcome a New Era of Pathology Professional Research,Engagement,Education,and Practice

It is a pleasure to welcome authors, editors, reviewers, and readers to Clinical Pathology’s new title of Sage Open Pathology beginning the first week of January 2025. Since 2008, Clinical Pathology has been an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal that has published several articles showcasing original research, commentary, brief reports, case reports, case series, and other work, all presently indexed in reputable and popular online databases that include PubMed Central (PMC), Scopus, ESCI, ProQuest, EBSCO, and the DOAJ. In this next phase, Sage Open Pathology will continue to grow as an open-access, leading, reliable, and impactful voice on all aspects of pathology.

As we join other Sage Open journals to become Sage Open Pathology, it is necessary to emphasize 3 major points. First, there is an especially growing and perhaps unprecedented demand to broadly and openly publish and share original research, commentary, brief reports, case reports, and case series in journals like Sage Open Pathology, which is largely driven by:

• • The development and exchange of real-world data (RWD) and real-world evidence (RWE) on both rare and underdiagnosed diseases, inclusive or pathology report data, which are key to drive personalized and patient-focused research and care and health equity among diverse patient populations.^1,2

• • International exchanges of remarkable clinical and molecular findings and procedures, which is important for new and continuing education.

• • The implementation and regulation of AI/ML and precision medicine in the practice and study of molecular, clinical, and digital pathology, which supports responsible and trustworthy innovation.

• • Growing interest in and demand for RWD and RWE, including best practices in data processing, among regulators, health technology assessment bodies, and payers regarding new and existing medical devices and drugs, which affects patient access to safe, reasonable and necessary, and effective products and health care services.^3,4

• • Increased and often effective uses of public platforms like social media (ie, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) among pathology and medical laboratory science professionals (as well as nonprofessionals) to collaborate and disseminate information for educational and other purposes, creating both opportunities noted and challenges (ie, data privacy) for future research and practice in pathology and laboratory science.^{5 -7}

Second, our most read and most cited papers to date are those focused on AI/ML, ⁸ diversity in remarkable pathological findings and treatment effect,^{9 -11} pathological mechanisms of and treatment for COVID-19,^{12 -15} diagnostic challenges and opportunities for demographically rare disease,^{16 -19} and diagnosis of complex and concurrent disease. ²⁰ Therefore, we will continue to welcome work on every aspect of pathology, whether clinical, surgical, molecular, digital, and more (see Table 1).

Table 1.

General list of journal topics for Sage Open Pathology.

Pathogenesis Hematopathology Transfusion medicine Immunopathology Medical microbiology Molecular pathology Biochemical pathology Molecular diagnostics Histopathology Cytogenetics

Infection control Virology Parasitology Microbial virulence Pharmacogenomics Translational research Precision medicine Novel therapies Bioinformatics Molecular disease

Third, Sage Clinical Pathology has an Impact Factor and is ranked. Therefore, content published through the year 2024 in Sage Clinical Pathology will be cited as published under that journal title with its respective Impact Factor and journal ranking moving into the year 2025. Most importantly, authors who have published with Sage Clinical Pathology, as well as readers of the journal, should understand that Sage Clinical Pathology is not closing and there will be no changes in the journal’s submission, review, and acceptance processes.

Upon the title change on January 1, 2025, we continue to welcome high-quality research, case reports, and commentary among faculty, practitioners, staff researchers, trainees, and students within the journal’s updated scope, and especially within the following Special Sections:

Special Section on Digital Pathology

This special section on digital pathology focuses on imaging technologies to digitize traditional pathological slides, revolutionizing diagnostic and theragnostic processes. By integrating computational analysis and machine learning, digital pathology enhances our ability to extract detailed insights from tissue samples. This transformation also enables telepathology, fostering collaboration and, in some cases, improving diagnostic accuracy. This digitization also enables the collection of supplementary data, such as metadata, beyond traditional pathological staining.

Work may explore a broad range of topics within digital pathology, including but not limited to:

• • Research methods and commentary in computational pathology, whether applying existing techniques to solve newly encountered issues or applying new techniques to solve existing issues.

• • Innovative technologies and methods for digitizing pathology slides.

• • Machine learning and artificial intelligence applications in the analysis of digitized pathological data in clinical diagnosis.

• • Comparative studies on the efficacy of digital versus traditional pathology.

• • Telepathology applications and their impact on healthcare resources and service delivery.

• • Advanced data analytics and visualization techniques in pathology.

Special Section on Molecular Pathology

This special section seeks to highlight the latest research, innovations, and practical applications relating to histopathology and cytopathology, predictive pathology, and molecular cytopathology. Work may explore a broad range of topics in molecular pathology, including but not limited to:

• • Innovative research methods and commentary in general and precision medicine practice, whether applying existing techniques to solve newly encountered issues or applying new techniques to solve existing issues.

• • Integration of molecular techniques in routine histopathology and cytopathology.

• • Novel biomarkers for disease diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic targets.

• • Advances in genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic reporting of diseases.

• • Development and validation of new molecular innovations and technologies.

• • Challenges and solutions in the implementation of molecular pathology in clinical practice.

Special Section on Ethics and Policy

This section seeks to foster a comprehensive discussion on the critical intersections of ethics, law, society, and innovation in pathology. We invite submissions focusing on the ethical, legal, and social implications of novel and innovative approaches to pathology research and practice. Of particular interest are studies exploring the broader impact of advancements in pathology, particularly regarding public health priorities and the integration of pathology data into real-world evidence for policy-making by regulators and payers.

Work may explore a broad range of topics, including but not limited to:

• • Commentary/perspective on ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) for novel/innovative approaches to pathology research and practice

• • Public health priorities in clinical, molecular, and/or digital pathology

• • Contributing pathology data generated/collected in routine clinical settings to the totality of real-world evidence needed to inform policymakers and/or practitioners (eg, regulators, payers, health technology assessment, health systems, etc.)

• • Ethics training and professionalism education, especially since direct patient interaction is limited in the practice of pathology

• • Ethics in laboratory medicine practice and/or forensic pathology

• • Ethics or ELSI case studies in clinical, molecular, and/or digital pathology

On behalf of Sage Open Pathology, we are incredibly proud to welcome a strong and globally diverse group of section editors, editorial board members, and editorial review board members representing multiple fields and scopes of research, education, and practice in pathology, both molecular and clinical. We are proud to say that we believe our editorial members are capable of advancing research and commentary on not only where the field of pathology has been, but where it is today and where it is going amid rapid technological advancements that warrant careful consideration in implementation (ie, precision medicine, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), digital pathology, etc.). Our goal is to attract and retain editorial and authorship talent to ensure the journal remains an objective, credible, and inspiring source of relevant and up-to-date for both seasoned and new professionals engaged in pathology practice, education, and research.

The Sage publication team has worked and will continue to work both tremendously and diligently to ensure the success of the journal’s editorial process and real-world impact as a source of credible, rigorous, and objective research and commentary. Such commitment is and will continue to be incredibly important in our next phase.

Utmost gratitude is given to those working and publishing with Sage, including Sage publication readers. I look forward to an ongoing and impactful future ahead with Sage Open Pathology.

Rachele Hendricks-Sturrup, DHSc, MSc, MA,Editor-in-Chief