As you’ll read in this issue, midsize sequencing facilities are trying to figure out how to keep themselves relevant, and Amersham Biosciences is trying to figure out how to keep its customers happy. New NHGRI funding policies and current biopharma spending patterns have served to heighten the need for re-examining goals, but in an industry that’s evolving and changing as quickly as this one, organizations need to stay in a constant state of self-scrutiny just to keep up. Genome Technology is no exception.
GT follows an old editors’ axiom: “The magazine that serves its readers first serves its advertisers best.” After two-and-a-half years in business, we know well who our readers are, and that you are the most influential individuals in the industry. We also know you’re reading us. You tell us this in e-mails, when you bump into us at trade shows, and when you reference us in your conference slides. Many of you get GT delivered to your home instead of work, and others of you commonly send us address changes to ensure you won’t miss an issue before you even officially announce that you’ve switched jobs. We appreciate the support.
What we’d like to know more about, however, is what you want from us next. The industry is changing — so are your needs, and we want to keep up with you.
In an all too uncommon sort of e-mail exchange last week, a regular GT reader, Paul Eder, did me the favor of giving some thoughtful answers to my questions about his reading habits. Eder, who directs RNA Biology at Message Pharmaceuticals in Malvern, Pa., says he keeps up with the latest in relevant academic research by reading the weekly journals, and limits his trade magazine reading to GT and one other that he says is informative but “more like advertising in the guise of journalism.”
He sees us filling a particular niche: “What I want from GT are stories about the people and the technology spewing from the genomics revolution. The technology gives me a clue as to where trends are heading. And in reading about the people making news in genomics, I can learn from them; I can laugh at them; I can like them; I can loathe them. But it puts a face on the science and the technology. I want that.”
What do you want? What’s the next big thing that you want to read about in our pages? Why do you read GT? What else do you read and why? What could we do to serve you better, and to stay relevant? This is your magazine; we need to hear from you. Please write [email protected] Or better yet, tell me in person: 212.651.5624.
Our hope, like the sequencing centers and instrument vendors who are striving to stay relevant, is that a little bit of self-scrutiny will result in a stronger product and even more loyal readers.
Adrienne J. Burke, Editor in Chief
Coming next month in GT
• Genomics Grids: a computer solution for expanding, expansive research
• To finish or not to finish genomes: As the cost of finishing a sequence falls, is a draft still the better deal?
• GT’s double-helix anniversary tribute
• IT Guy — now bimonthly — rips microarray analysis to shreds