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Donald G. Phinney, PhD Senior Editor, Cytotherapy

As Senior Editor, I would like to begin this issue with a few comments about the achievements of Cytotherapy over the past year. In 2021, the journal published an article sponsored by the World Health Organization describing their efforts to develop nomenclature for advanced therapy medicinal products; featured articles by the Mesenchymal Stem Cell, Exosome and Gastrointestinal Scientific committees and the Business Models and Investment Subcommittee of the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT); and published abstracts from the ISCT South and Central America Regional Forum at the XI Brazilian Association of Cell and Gene Therapy meeting. Because of these and other impactful submissions, Cytotherapy obtained an impact factor of 5.41, which is the highest since its inception in 1999. This places Cytotherapy in the 92nd percentile of scientific journals. This achievement requires a few well-deserved words of gratitude. First and foremost, I would like to thank the journal's Associate Editors, Drs Sowmya Viswanathan, Luis A. Ortis, Oscar Lee, Qasim A. Rafiq and Anna Pasetto, whose hard work contributed significantly toward this achievement. I also want to thank Dr Patrick J. Hanley, who serves as Commissioning Editor and whose efforts have significantly increased the visibility of the journal and enhanced its content. Based on their combined efforts, I believe the journal will maintain and exceed this impact factor over the next few years. I also want to thank ISCT President Dr Bruce Levine, CEO Queenie Jang, CSO Dr. Daniel Weiss and staff at the ISCT Head Office who have assisted in efforts to better integrate Cytotherapy with the mission and vision of ISCT. Finally, I also want to thank members of the ISCT Scientific, Regulatory and Quality Operations and Commercialization committees and society members who have contributed significant works that have raised the impact factor of the journal.

I also want to announce that the Aims and Scope of the journal have been updated for 2022 to expand its content. The update includes manuscripts that describe the development of or characterize novel therapeutics and/or therapeutic approaches; interrogate the mode of action of cell- and extracellular vesicle (EV)-based and gene therapies in relevant cell-based and pre-clinical models; and identify biomarkers to predict product potency and/or stratify patients based on response rates. Basic scientific studies that uncover novel information about the behavior/function of stem/stromal cells and EVs in disease pathophysiology and/or reveal new insights into their mechanism of action as therapeutics will also be welcomed. Importantly, the journal will still publish results of clinical studies evaluating the safety and efficacy of cell and gene therapies in early- and late-phase trials and important advances in cell/EV/gene-based product manufacturing and validation and that discuss global/regional regulatory practices that impact the authorized use and/or regulatory approval of cell/EV and gene therapies.

Finally, we have also created a new Assistant Editor position for Cytotherapy. This individual will be tasked with increasing awareness of the journal by highlighting content across a multitude of platforms. The Assistant Editor will also work closely with Dr Hanley and myself to develop and deliver special content in the form of invited articles, mini-series and special issues. I look forward to announcing the new Assistant Editor in an upcoming issue.

In closing, I invite the journal readership and ISCT membership to applaud those individuals who have worked hard to make Cytotherapy the premier cell and gene therapy translation journal.

#CytotherapyCorner