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Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Publication Guide

SITC is a non-profit professional society founded in 1984 and headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, dedicated to advancing the science and clinical application of cancer immunotherapy. Its publishing program is a single title: the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC), launched in 2013 and published on SITC's behalf by BMJ.

Journals published: 1 - Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC)
Open access options: Gold OA only - JITC is 100% open access, no subscription route
APC range: ~GBP 2,390 per article (~US$2,900-3,000); 35% SITC-member discount
Publishing partner: BMJ Publishing Group (JITC launched with BioMed Central in 2013)
Headquarters: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Membership: 2,400+ members across 22 medical specialties in 42 countries
Indexing: JITC indexed in PubMed/PMC, Scopus, Web of Science (SCIE) and DOAJ
Website: sitcancer.org
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Publication Guide

The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) is a non-profit professional society founded in 1984 - originally as the Society for Biological Therapy, later the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer, and renamed the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer to reflect its focus on cancer immunotherapy and a more global membership. It is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and reports more than 2,400 members spanning 22 medical specialties in 42 countries.

Unlike a commercial publisher, SITC runs a single-journal program. Its official publication is the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC), launched in 2013 and today published on SITC's behalf by BMJ Publishing Group. If you work in tumor immunology, immuno-oncology biomarkers, cellular therapy, or immunotherapy clinical trials, JITC is the venue this guide is about: what it publishes, what it costs, how peer review runs, and how to submit.

Is JITC the right venue for your paper?

SITC publishes one journal, so the decision is less about picking a title and more about whether your manuscript fits JITC's scope and article types.

If your manuscript is...JITC fit
A mechanistic study in tumor immunology or the tumor microenvironmentStrong fit - basic and translational immuno-oncology is core scope.
An immunotherapy clinical trial report (phase I-III) or correlative analysisStrong fit - JITC publishes clinical and translational immunotherapy research, including biomarker and correlative studies.
A cell-therapy, CAR-T, TCR, or cancer-vaccine studyStrong fit - cellular and vaccine-based immunotherapy is a major stream.
A review, position paper, or consensus statement in immuno-oncologyGood fit - JITC carries literature reviews, position papers and SITC clinical practice guidelines.
General oncology with no immune componentPoor fit - consider an AACR, ASCO or ESMO title instead.
A non-oncology immunology studyPoor fit - an immunology society journal is a better home.

What JITC publishes

JITC is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal covering all aspects of tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy, from basic research through to clinical application. Typical content includes:

  • Original research - basic, translational, and clinical studies in immuno-oncology.
  • Clinical trial reports - early- and late-phase immunotherapy trials and their correlative science.
  • Reviews and position papers - state-of-the-field syntheses in tumor immunology.
  • SITC clinical practice guidelines - the society's consensus recommendations on immunotherapy for specific tumor types and on managing immune-related adverse events.
  • Annual Meeting abstracts - abstracts accepted for the SITC Annual Meeting are published as a JITC supplement.

JITC is indexed in PubMed and PMC, Scopus, Web of Science (Science Citation Index Expanded), and DOAJ. Its Journal Impact Factor has sat in the roughly 10-11 range in recent JCR releases; check the current JCR for the exact figure, since journal-level metrics move every year.

Open access and APCs

JITC is fully open access - there is no subscription route and no paywalled tier. Articles are published under a Creative Commons licence, with CC BY the standard option for most authors and CC BY-NC / CC BY-NC-ND available in some circumstances. Because SITC is the owning society and BMJ is the publisher, the fees and waiver machinery are BMJ's.

ItemDetail
Article processing chargeApproximately GBP 2,390 per research article (roughly US$2,900-3,000, before tax)
SITC member discountAround 35% off the APC when a SITC member is first, last, or corresponding author
Low-income country waiverFull waiver where all authors are based in low-income countries
Reviewer / editor discountsAvailable - applied via a discount code after acceptance
Read & Publish coverageYes, through BMJ's institutional Publish and Read agreements
LicenceCC BY (CC BY-NC and CC BY-NC-ND available in some cases)

APCs are revised periodically and currency conversion moves, so confirm the current figure on the JITC author pages before you submit rather than budgeting from a secondary source.

Peer review

JITC uses anonymized external peer review coordinated by an academic editorial board drawn largely from the SITC community. Reviewers are asked to assess immunological rigor as well as clinical relevance, which in practice means correlative and mechanistic data are scrutinized closely even in clinical submissions. Decisions on trial reports commonly hinge on whether the immune-correlate analyses support the clinical claims.

Turnaround varies by article type and reviewer availability; JITC's editorial office publishes current performance data, so check the journal's author pages rather than relying on community estimates.

How to submit

  1. Check scope. Read a recent issue and JITC's aims and scope; immuno-oncology relevance is the gate.
  2. Pick the article type. Original research, review, position paper, clinical trial report, or case series each have their own length and structure requirements.
  3. Prepare the manuscript. Follow BMJ house style; use Vancouver-style numbered references and the reporting checklist that matches your study design (CONSORT, STROBE, ARRIVE, PRISMA).
  4. Register data and trials. Clinical trials must be prospectively registered; JITC expects a data availability statement.
  5. Submit through the online system. JITC uses BMJ's ScholarOne-based submission platform, reachable from the journal site.
  6. Handle the APC after acceptance. Apply your SITC member discount, institutional Read & Publish agreement, or waiver at that stage.

Ethics and integrity

JITC follows BMJ's editorial policies, which are built on COPE guidance: authorship and contributorship standards, competing-interest declarations, ethics approval statements, and COPE-aligned correction and retraction procedures. Competing-interest disclosure is taken seriously in immuno-oncology given the density of industry sponsorship - expect to itemize consultancies, advisory roles, and trial funding. BMJ is also an OASPA member, and JITC content is deposited in PMC.

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PUBLISHER COMPARISON

How Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer compares

How SITC's publishing program compares on scope, open-access route, APCs, waivers and turnaround.

Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer
Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer logo
How SITC's publishing program compares on scope, open-access route, APCs, waivers and turnaround.
American Association for Cancer Research
American Association for Cancer Research logo
How AACR compares across breadth of titles, open-access routes, APCs, waivers and turnaround.
American Society of Clinical Oncology
American Society of Clinical Oncology logo
How ASCO compares across breadth of titles, open-access routes, APCs, waivers and turnaround.
American Association of Immunologists
American Association of Immunologists logo
How the American Association of Immunologists compares on scope, open-access routes, APCs, waivers and turnaround.
Core Features
Best for
Tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy - basic through clinical
Cancer biology, translational and clinical oncology, cancer immunology
Practice-changing clinical oncology; precision and global oncology
Experimental and clinical immunology; society-backed peer review
Typical APC (OA)
~GBP 2,390 (~US$2,900-3,000) per research article
~$2,200 - $5,000
~$2,472 (JCO Global Oncology) - $3,800 (JCO Oncology Advances), country-tiered
$2,800 - $3,500 (The JI); $1,360 - $1,700 (ImmunoHorizons)
LMIC fee waivers
Yes - full waiver when all authors are based in low-income countries
Yes - automatic country-based APC reductions on Cancer Research Communications; waiver requests considered
Yes - APCs tiered by corresponding author's country, with waivers
Yes - authors from eligible countries can qualify for a full ImmunoHorizons waiver
Read & Publish deals coverage
Yes - covered by BMJ's institutional Publish and Read agreements
Limited - a small society portfolio; check the ESAC registry or your library
Limited - no large TA portfolio; OA is via per-article APCs and waivers
Via Oxford University Press institutional agreements (corresponding-author eligibility)
Free / subscription (non-OA option)
No - JITC is fully open access; there is no subscription route
Yes - 9 hybrid titles publish under the subscription model (page charges apply)
Yes - JCO and most JCO-family titles publish at no cost to authors
Yes - The JI standard route: $1,500 (member) / $1,875 (nonmember) publication fee, no OA APC
Breadth of titles
1 journal (JITC) - single-title society program
10 journals, all oncology-focused
6 journals + Educational Book, all oncology-focused
2 journals, immunology only - The Journal of Immunology + ImmunoHorizons
Cheapest realistic OA route
JITC with the ~35% SITC member discount, or a BMJ Read & Publish deal
Cancer Research Communications - ~$2,550 (~$2,200 for AACR members)
JCO Global Oncology (~$2,472 max; lower or waived by author country)
ImmunoHorizons - $1,360 flat fee for AAI members ($1,700 nonmembers)
Speed to first decision
Varies by article type - see JITC's current author pages for turnaround data
Varies by journal; selective flagships take longer - check each journal's page
Varies by title; JCO is highly selective - check each journal's page
Typically ~4-6 weeks at The JI; check current journal statistics
KEY BRANDS

Popular SITC Venues

SITC publishes a single peer-reviewed journal; its SciSpace page carries metrics, templates and submission details.

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Faqs

Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer FAQs

SITC is the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, a non-profit professional society founded in 1984 and based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It has more than 2,400 members across 22 medical specialties in 42 countries, and works to advance the science, education and clinical application of cancer immunotherapy.