Translational research is all-encompassing and lets everyone be a researcher

摘要

Biomedical research can be categorized based on its aim: (1) to determine the underlying nature of things (basic research) and (2) to understand the underlying nature of things in order to be able to improve human health (translational research). There are a diverse number of definitions of translational research, which usually includes an all-encompassing overview of all biomedical research from basic translational science to clinical implementa- tion. 1 The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS’) definition of translation is broad and inclusive: “translation is the process of turning observations in the laboratory, clinic and community into interventions that improve the health of individuals and the public—from diagnostics and therapeutics to medical procedures and behavioural changes.” 1 This definition technically applies to much of the research in biomedical sciences ranging from preliminary laboratory-based research to epidemiology and implementation science. The core message is that research with the aim of improving health can ultimately be translated from the bench to patient care. 2 We therefore realized in Pediatric Research that defining a subset of articles as a category termed translational research was incorrect and removed this term. Instead, all articles published in Pediatric Research represent translational research and categorized based on methodology: basic translational research, clinical translational research, or population translational research, with translational research as the overriding theme of the journal (Fig. 1).