Toxicology, the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms, represents an interdisciplinary science that requires both expertise on the chemical nature of the studied compounds and precise knowledge of the normal cellular mechanisms that can be compromised by toxic substances. In the clinical context, the contribution of toxicology is primarily the identification of adverse effects, ideally at an early stage of pharmaceutical drug development. In this context, it can be helpful if toxicologists also identify the mechanisms responsible for such adverse effects. This knowledge can be particularly relevant when therapeutic and adverse effects are due to different mechanisms and can therefore contribute to a rational design of safer drugs.

Editors of a toxicological journal, such as the Archives of Toxicology, sometimes find themselves in the difficult situation of deciding whether articles on basic cellular or physiological mechanisms remain within the focus of the journal. This is not a trivial matter as a clear demarcation line does not exist. Almost all critical control mechanisms of cells may become targets of toxic substances. For this reason, in previous years the editors have invited several articles focussing primarily on mechanisms. Examples are the recent reviews on mechanisms of telomere maintenance (Liew and Norbury 2009) and genomic instability (Florl and Schulz 2008). On the other hand, it is clear that articles concentrating on chemicals and their interactions with cellular mechanisms will stay a focus of the Archives of Toxicology. In order to address the field of tension between Toxicology, basic and clinical sciences, the editors are happy to announce a new cooperation with an interdisciplinary online journal named Experimental and Clinical Sciences (EXCLI Journal). EXCLI Journal includes mechanisms and clinical research relevant for Toxicology, but with a primary focus toward basic mechanisms and clinical aspects. EXCLI J is a relatively new journal and ongoing development is required to continuously improve its quality. However, EXCLI J is already evaluated by ISI Web of Knowledge and has been added to both the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and the Electronic Journals Library (EZB), and will hopefully soon be included into PubMed. In order to give our readers an impression, we summarize below the take-home messages of selected articles of EXCLI J (Table 1).

Table 1 Central messages of several recent publications of EXCLI J
Full size table