At the end of 2024, Professor Leonie Taams will be stepping down as Editor-in-Chief of Clinical & Experimental Immunology (CEI), the BSI’s longest-running journal, after eight years in the post. We caught up with her to discuss her impressive career and reflect on her time working on CEI.
What drew you to apply for the position of Editor-in-Chief, and what did you hope to achieve?
I've been involved in the BSI for a long time – since I first came to the UK. I started out a member before I then became part of the Programme Committee, which I was part of for 10 years. I have also held the position of Trustee. Through those various roles I realised how important it is to support the work of the BSI and how important the journals are in funding many of the BSI’s main activities.
When I found out that a new Editor-in-Chief for CEI was needed, I submitted an application as I wanted to give something back to the BSI. Despite having no editorial experience, I felt very well supported in the role and I've been doing it for eight years so clearly I have enjoyed it.
What would you say is unique about Clinical & Experimental Immunology and why is a journal like this necessary and important for the field?
One important feature of CEI is that it's a Society journal. This is important for the BSI, but it also fosters a sense of community. Another unique feature of CEI is that its primary focus is translational immunology. I think this is important because translational immunology takes a lot of time and there are limitations in doing it well. You need to be a translational immunologist to understand the challenges as well as the opportunities of translational immunology. I believe that this is what CEI is well placed to do. An additional aspect is that we're not focused on one particular disease area. The journal covers many different disciplines as well as featuring interdisciplinary research.
After eight years in post, what are you most proud of?
I’m proud that the journal is still going strong in a changing landscape. It has increased its visibility and we’re still attracting hundreds of submissions each year.
Another thing I'm proud of is the fact that we have increased the number of section editors. We have clear sections dedicated to areas that were attracting a lot of submissions and were therefore more relevant to the immunology community.
Other things I’m proud of are that we have diversified the editorial board. We now have an even split of genders across the associate editors. We also introduced an early career researchers editorial board, which has contributed to much more engagement and activity within the editorial board. I think that a lot of people appreciate that CEI is a Society journal and that we should all support it.
Additionally, we have close links with the Editors-in-Chief of the other BSI two journals Immunotherapy Advances and Discovery Immunology. We all collaborate to exchange information, keep each other up to date, and learn and share good practice. That's a positive development.
A final thing I'm very proud of is the support from the office. The editorial office at the BSI is amazing.
You have led the journal through a rapidly changing publishing landscape, what challenges do you see Clinical & Experimental Immunology facing in the future?
I think there are challenges because, as you say, the landscape is changing. Many more journals have arisen with different motivations, all of whom are competing for submissions. It is important to remain visible as a high-quality journal and maintain our strong and long-standing reputation both now and in the future. This is something we can never take for granted.
Artificial intelligence poses another challenge. It is important that the checks and balances behind paper submissions are rigorously upheld to ensure the academic integrity of submissions.
And more broadly, what would you say are the biggest challenges facing the field of immunology?
I would prefer to focus on the biggest opportunities for the field of immunology. Increasingly we realise that almost all diseases have an immunological component or an immunological mechanism behind them. Our understanding has become very detailed, and I think there is a real opportunity for immunologists to help identify ways to intervene in more diseases or disorders than we previously anticipated. Advances in technologies present another opportunity, as they help us look at the tissue in more detail to understand what is going on in health or during inflammation, infection or malignancy.
I also think computational biology brings new opportunities in allowing us to link up data between diseases and spot patterns that the human eye or the human brain cannot compute. Interdisciplinary research is another advance that is becoming increasingly embraced and supported because of the recognition of team science. Together we can make much more rapid advances than we were able to 20 years ago.
You've been heavily involved in BSI activities throughout your career, what are some of your highlights?
There are so many. Congress is always a highlight. For me, a particular highlight was the joint conference between the Dutch Society for Immunology and the British Society for Immunology, which we repeated in Liverpool a few years later.
Another highlight has been as a Trustee, seeing how the Society and the Board changed over a short period of time, and has become much more professional. I think it's a good role model of how learned societies could and should work. That has been great to see and it's nice to be part of it.
What is the best advice you could give to early career researchers?
Do what you enjoy, and you will enjoy what you do. If an opportunity arises, always explore it. You don't have to do it, but at least see if you can make it work. Opportunities don't necessarily always appear, so don't take them for granted. Ask questions around it to make it work.
Another piece of advice is to always seek advice. Problems and decisions are not always only for you to solve. Talking them through with a peer, senior person, or mentor can really help give shape, direction or confidence to whatever it is you're struggling with.
What’s next for you? What are you looking forward to?
I've already picked up my next role. I've become Head of the School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences at King's College London. I have been doing this already for a year and it becomes difficult to manage both roles at the same time.
Even though I'm stepping down, I look forward to supporting my successor in their new role, but also seeing them take the journal to the next level.
