Cancer Discovery (cancer-discovery)

Journal positioning

Cancer Discovery is the flagship research journal of the American Association for Cancer Research and the leading venue for high-impact cancer biology and translational oncology. Its editorial DNA is built around discoveries that fundamentally advance understanding of cancer biology and carry immediate translational implications: driver oncogenes, tumor suppressor mechanisms, clonal evolution, drug resistance, immune evasion, and precision oncology strategies — with human cancer data (tumor genomics, patient cohorts, clinical specimens, early-phase trial results) as either primary or strong corroborating evidence. Cancer Discovery occupies the tier above Cancer Cell (which accepts rigorous mechanism without a mandatory translational claim) and below Nature/Science for cancer-specific work; it is the AACR community's highest-priority outlet before submitting to broad-science venues.

This skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool. It does not replace the journal's current official submission guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live author instructions on the AACR / Cancer Discovery platform.

When to trigger

• The author names Cancer Discovery or the AACR flagship as the target venue.
• A cancer biology study needs venue selection among Cancer Discovery, Cancer Cell, and Nature Medicine.
• A translational oncology paper with tumor genomics and a clinical component needs framing guidance.
• The author needs Cancer Discovery's specific desk-reject risks and a ranked alternative list before submitting.

Scope & topic fit

• Oncogene and tumor-suppressor mechanism: discovery and mechanistic characterization of driver alterations, their signaling consequences, and therapeutic vulnerabilities — with patient tumor evidence as primary or corroborating.
• Drug resistance mechanisms in cancer: genomic, epigenomic, and phenotypic resistance to targeted therapies, immunotherapies, or chemotherapy — with clinical resistance cohort data.
• Tumor immunology and immune evasion: PD-L1/immune-checkpoint mechanism, tumor microenvironment cell biology, neoantigen biology, and cellular immunotherapy mechanism — with human tumor or trial data.
• Cancer genomics: somatic mutation landscape, mutational signatures, clonal evolution, copy-number alterations — where the biological or clinical consequence of the genomic findings is mechanistically resolved.
• Precision oncology and patient stratification: biomarker-stratified clinical trial results, tumor-agnostic molecular target validation, liquid biopsy clinical utility.
• Early-phase clinical trial results paired with mechanism of action evidence: the trial is not merely an efficacy signal but provides mechanistic understanding of the therapy.

Method & evidence bar

• Human tumor data must feature prominently as primary evidence: patient tumor genomics (WES/WGS/RNA-seq), clinical cohort analyses, patient-derived xenografts, organoids, or early-phase clinical trial results.
• Mechanistic animal studies must use patient-derived or genetically engineered models that faithfully represent human cancer biology; syngeneic or xenograft-only studies without human tumor validation will not clear the bar for high-priority original research.
• Single-cell and spatial multi-omics studies require functional validation of key findings; purely descriptive atlases of tumor heterogeneity without mechanistic or clinical follow-through are insufficient.
• Drug sensitivity and resistance studies must include patient cohort validation (resistance at relapse, clinical biomarker correlation) alongside in vitro or in vivo mechanism data.
• Statistical rigor: pre-specified primary analyses, multiple-testing correction for genomic studies, survival analyses with appropriate censoring and competing-risks handling; raw p-values without effect sizes are insufficient.
• Reporting guideline checklists (CONSORT for trials, ARRIVE for animal studies) must be completed and uploaded; sequencing data must be deposited in dbGaP, GEO, or equivalent.

Structure & house style

• Unstructured abstract (re-check the current length limit) that states the cancer biology question, the key mechanistic or translational finding, and the significance for cancer treatment or prevention; the abstract must be compelling to a broad oncology readership, not only specialists in one cancer type.
• The introduction frames the cancer-biology gap, not the generic "cancer is a major cause of mortality" statement; editors expect the introduction to be precise about which unresolved mechanism or translational problem the paper addresses.
• Results organized around the mechanistic or translational argument: genomic discovery → functional mechanism → human tumor or clinical validation; the narrative arc must be explicit.
• Significance statement (check current format requirements): Cancer Discovery may require a short "Significance" paragraph immediately after the abstract — this must be sharp, specific, and state the implication for cancer biology or cancer therapy, not a generic novelty claim.
• Figures typically include genomic landscapes, pathway diagrams, survival curves with risk tables, and representative tumor images with quantification; scale bars and controls are required for all histology.
• Supplementary materials should carry secondary analyses and supporting data; core mechanistic and clinical results belong in the main manuscript.

Official-submission checklist

• Before giving submission-ready advice, read ../../resources/source-basis.md and ../../resources/official-source-map.md; start from the official source anchors for this journal family, then cite the current journal-specific page you checked.
• Search the live site for "Cancer Discovery author instructions" on the AACR / Cancer Discovery platform and follow the current version.
• Re-check article-type classification (Research Article, Research Brief, Review) and confirm current length and figure limits.
• Confirm prospective clinical trial registration for any human efficacy or treatment studies; upload IRB/ethics and informed-consent documentation for all human sample studies.
• Complete and upload the applicable reporting guideline checklist (CONSORT, ARRIVE, STROBE, or equivalent).
• Verify AACR conflict-of-interest and funding disclosure requirements; confirm all industry and clinical-trial sponsor relationships are disclosed.
• Re-check sequencing and multi-omics data deposition requirements (dbGaP, GEO, EGA, or equivalent) with accession numbers in the manuscript.
• Confirm "Significance" paragraph format and current AI-use disclosure policy.
• If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win.

Pre-submission self-check

• One sentence stating what cancer biology mechanism or translational advance this paper delivers and what it means for cancer treatment or prevention.
• Human tumor data (genomics, clinical specimens, patient cohort, or early-phase trial) is a central primary results component — not a supplementary validation figure.
• The "Significance" paragraph is sharp, specific, and states the implication for cancer biology or therapy — not a generic novelty claim.
• Mechanistic animal or in vitro data uses patient-derived or genetically engineered models that reflect human cancer biology; model-to-patient relevance is explicitly argued.
• Sequencing data are deposited with accession numbers included; reporting guideline checklists, ethics/consent, and COI disclosures are complete.
• The paper is clearly differentiated from Cancer Cell: Cancer Discovery requires either a higher significance bar or a more developed translational/clinical component.

Common desk-reject triggers

• Cancer biology mechanism papers relying entirely on cell lines or syngeneic mouse models with no human tumor genomic or clinical data.
• Descriptive cancer genomics papers (mutation catalogue, expression atlas) without mechanistic follow-through or clinical utility demonstration.
• Clinical trial results without mechanistic investigation; purely efficacy-focused trials belong in journal-of-clinical-oncology or the-lancet-oncology.
• Missing or generic "Significance" paragraph — Cancer Discovery editors check this as an early triage criterion.
• Papers clearly below the significance bar for Cancer Discovery that fit cancer-cell or a disease-specific journal; incremental advances over recently published work in the same model system.

Re-routing decision

• A mechanistic cancer biology paper without clinical data and without a translational claim → cancer-cell (Cell Press; rigorous mechanism with translational relevance, does not require a clinical trial arm).
• A translational cancer paper with a practice-changing clinical trial at ASCO-guideline scale → journal-of-clinical-oncology (ASCO flagship) or the-lancet-oncology.
• A cancer paper with very broad biological significance extending beyond oncology → nature-medicine or science-translational-medicine.
• A tumor immunology or immunotherapy mechanism paper without cancer-specific primary focus → immunity (Cell Press) or nature-immunology.

Output format

[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] Cancer Discovery
[Topic tags] <2–3 closest topics>
[Method/evidence] <does the human tumor data / Significance paragraph / mechanistic model-to-patient relevance clear the Cancer Discovery bar?>
[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
[Official items to re-check] <article type / Significance paragraph / CONSORT + ARRIVE / trial registration / IRB / data deposition / AACR COI>
[Re-route suggestion] <if not a fit, a better-matched venue>