The Journal of Laboratory Medicine (JLM, formerly Laboratoriumsmedizin) is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year since its first publication in January 1977. Many colleagues from the German Society for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (DGKL, formerly DGKC and DGLM) have contributed to the success of our scientific journal. In addition to all former Editors-in-Chief, we would also like to take this opportunity to thank all Associate Editors who have contributed to this success in recent years with their dedicated efforts. We would also like to thank two long-standing employees for their tireless work in recent years: Managing Editor Sophia Lamp and Heike Jahnke, representing the editorial office. Last but not least, on behalf of all Associate Editors, the DGKL, and De Gruyter Brill Publisher, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to Prof. Schuff-Werner for his continuous, dedicated work for our journal. Without him, JLM would certainly not have developed so well. Under Prof. Schuff-Werner’s leadership, the journal has become increasingly international in its focus. This is also reflected in an increase in the journal’s impact factor, which stood at 1.8 last year.

As Associate Editor, I have been responsible for the section “Clinical Chemistry and Metabolism” for several years. After Prof. Peter Schuff-Werner and I temporarily served as Co-Editors last year, the change of Editor-in-Chief at JLM was completed in January 2026. I will now commit myself to making a positive contribution to the further development of JLM in the coming years.

New cooperation agreement

From in 2026, JLM will receive additional support under a new cooperation agreement. Together with the Foundation for Pathobiochemistry and Molecular Diagnostics and its Reference Institute for Bioanalytics (RfB-SPMD), the professional association INSTAND e.V. is joining as another important cooperation partner. With immediate effect, JLM is the “Official Journal of the German Society for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine and affiliated with RfB-SPMD and Instand e.V.”.

As a result, we expect further exciting articles on the topics of quality assurance in laboratory medicine and reference method analysis in the future. Visually, JLM has had a new, more appealing design since the end of 2025, following a modernization of the cover.

PubMed listing

Although the review process in the past has not yet led to inclusion in Medline past, we are optimistic that, after a thorough analysis of the causes, we will (hopefully) be successful in the next application process. Since all DGKL colleagues certainly share the desire to meet this challenge soon, I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to continue to support JLM regularly through reviewer activities and authorship.

We do not only consider original articles Reviews on current topics or case reports from everyday laboratory work, such as laboratory case reports, short communications, images from the medical laboratory as well as guidelines and recommendations or letters to the editor that are worthy of discussion in our professional environment, are a perfect fit for JLM. The individual sections of the DGKL are particularly called upon here.

In cooperation with the DGKL office, such discussions would receive additional attention through an additional upload to the medlab portal (https://medlabportal.de).

Special issues

The approach developed in recent years of addressing current diagnostic and pathobiochemical topics in special issues from the perspective of both professional laboratory specialists and clinicians, taking into account current developments and findings, will be continued with two issues per year. As in previous years, I expect a special issue from the editorial team for “Applied Statistical Methods in Laboratory Medicine” (issue editors Hoffmann/Klawonn) in 2026. In addition, an issue on new findings in the field of neurological laboratory diagnostics is already being planned in collaboration with outstanding experts from various neurological departments (issue editors Skripuletz/Lichtinghagen).

Finally, I would like to draw your attention to this new issue. Issue 1 of volume 50 once again covers a range of interesting topics, including accreditation, biobanking, biomarkers, hemostaseological laboratory method evaluation, and quality control. Many thanks to the authors and all colleagues involved in the review processes.

Corresponding author: Ralf Lichtinghagen, Journal of Laboratory Medicine, Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Central Laboratory, Medical University Hannover, Hannover, Germany, E-mail: lichtinghagen.ralf@mh-hannover.de

Original Paper:

Lichtinghagen, Ralf. „Journal of Laboratory Medicine – half a century of interesting insights into laboratory medicine“ Journal of Laboratory Medicine, vol. 50, no. 1, 2026, pp. 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1515/labmed-2026-0009