编者按：近日，我国CHESS研究组祁小龙教授联合欧洲肝病学会（EASL-Baveno）、美国肝病研究学会（AASLD）、亚太肝脏研究学会（APASL）门静脉高压指南制定专家共同撰写长篇综述：Emerging Non-invasive Approaches for Diagnosis and Monitoring of Portal Hypertension，全文在线发表于《柳叶刀·胃肠肝病学》（Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology）。在第69届AASLD年会上，祁教授与该杂志副主编Heather Van Epps博士针对临床医生非常关注的投稿问题进行了现场交流。

 

祁小龙教授：非常高兴邀请到Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology杂志副主编Heather Van Epps博士进行交流。首先，请介绍一下贵刊主要关注哪些方面的内容？ 

 

Prof. Qi: I’m more than happy to invite my good friend, Dr. Heather Van Epps, who is the deputy editor of Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology to be here. Taking this opportunity, I would like to to have a brief interview to talk about her journal. From the perspective of the editor, what is your focus and priority?

 

Epps博士：我们期刊主要偏向于临床研究。众所周知，临床随机对照试验显然是一项金标准。关于研究的主题，我们所涉及的领域非常广泛。总之，非常希望能够看到一些对临床实践具有影响力的临床研究。

 

Dr. Epps: Well, we of course prioritize clinical trials. Randomized clinical trials are obviously the gold standard, as you well know. And, you know, we are fairly broad in terms of topic. But really what we want to see is something that is going to impact clinical practice. And we also are quite keen on trials that inform clinical trials as well-so, sort of leading into the next stage. We are quite broad in terms of the subject matter, but yes, our main consideration with clinical trials would be proximity to clinic and clinical impact.

 

祁小龙教授：我们比较感兴趣关于无创性诊断的研究，贵期刊在诊断方面的文章比较少，请教一下我们应如何评估这方面的临床研究是否足够高质量从而被贵刊接收？

 

Prof. Qi: CHESS has published a paper in the October issue of the Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology about the non-invasive diagnosis and monitoring for portal hypertension. However, we find that, for the journal, there are very few diagnostic papers. How do you evaluate a diagnostic trial with high quality or not?

 

Epps博士：要给出一套具体的标准是非常困难的。文章是否被接收，主要取决于研究数据是如何获得，以及它对于日常临床诊断的影响。关于诊断方面的研究，显然是非常重要的，目前也是一个非常热的话题，无创性诊断技术在许多方面都备受关注。

 

Dr. Epps: Well, I mean, it’s very hard to sort of set any specific criteria. But, as we had discussed previously, it depends a lot on the performance of how the data come out and how likely that is to change day to day practice in terms of diagnostics. I mean, diagnostics is obviously incredibly important. I mean, there’s no getting around that. And non-invasive techniques are, you know, what the field is now focused on in many ways. 

 

祁小龙教授：在我们的一篇文章被贵刊接收后，我的许多同事都来询问：Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology杂志除了关注临床研究和转化医学研究，是否也涉及基础方面的研究呢？

 

Prof. Qi: A lot of my Chinese colleagues asked me the following question since we published the paper. For the Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, you do prefer clinical research or translational research. Have you ever considered basic research? 

 

Epps博士：是的，我们主要关注临床方面研究，但是对于转化医学领域我们无疑也是非常欢迎的，例如分子标志物之类的研究。所以说，我们杂志覆盖的领域也非常广泛，专注在临床研究，同时我们也将更加放宽对转化医学研究的吸收。

 

Dr. Epps: Right. So we are clinically focused, and we do prioritize clinical studies. But, we are definitely open to what you might consider more translational studies in terms of biomarker studies and these kinds of things. So, yes, we have a fairly broad agreement in that sense.  The focus is clinical, but we are definitely open to more translational studies in that respect, such as things like biomarker studies. 

 

祁小龙教授：好的，非常感谢。虽然只是一个简短的交流，但是我相信这仅仅是合作的开始。非常希望今后有机会邀请您来中国交流访问！

 

Prof. Qi: Okay, thank you so much. Although it is a quite brief interview for Heather, I think it’s just the start of collaboration. I hope that we can have more chances to invite you to China. Thank you!