In The News: Basic research in nephrology?

A recent editorial observational piece in JASN Oct 2012 discusses a downward trend in decline of basic science publication in high index journals in nephrology. This study compares publications in JCI and NEJM in nephrology and then looks at % articles in renal, heart, GI in JCI by discipline and its a sad decline after a surge in 1970s and 80s. What the author proposes is that we ( as a community) need to embrace and have publications/sessions at our meetings on topics that are rarely discussed at large national nephrology meetings:- Renal cancer, hypertension, stones, and infectious diseases( UTI and complex microbial urinary tract disorders).  Expansion of our field is very important. While we have managed to embrace genetics and immunology, we have yet to conquer some of the more common illnesses that we see clinically and move that part of the field forward.