Cancer System Epidemiology Insights and Future Opportunities

TITLE Cancer System Epidemiology Insights and Future Opportunities BACKGROUND Despite individual successes at identifying genetic, biological, and environmental risk factors for cancer, much of the etiology remains unexplained. A more comprehensive approach, or systems epidemiology, that accounts for multiple dimensions, integration of diverse data types, and changes over time, is needed to better understand contributors to disease and treatment outcomes and provide clues for improved interventions. In February 2019, the National Cancer Institute held a - Workshop to Facilitate Cancer Systems Epidemiology Research where several challenges and opportunities were identified to simulate this area of research. Challenges included considering how to best promote trans-disciplinary research and promote publications using systems science for population-based research. Therefore, the NCI sought to gather a series of manuscripts by a diverse group of expert scientists to be linked as a collection. These articles would describe the field of cancer systems epidemiology research, identify opportunities for this research, illustrate results using these novel approaches, detail current research gaps, and communicate strategies to facilitate this research. 2.1 OBJECTIVE The purpose of this requisition is to produce a collection of articles to disseminate to the larger community of scientists and practitioners on cancer systems epidemiology including articles on opportunities for research, results using this approach, current research gaps, and strategies to facilitate research in this field. The collection will include 10 manuscripts to be published in journals appropriate for the scientific topic. The articles will be linked together in a dedicated, customized web page, displaying text and graphics. The collection will be sponsored by the Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program (EGRP), and Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS), of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). SCOPE The contractor shall coordinate the submission, peer review, production and promotion of a collection of articles on Cancer System Epidemiology Insights and Future Opportunities (10 articles). Articles will be submitted to journal with most appropriate scientific content. Articles will include an overview paper describing the field of cancer systems epidemiology and identifying research gaps and papers describing opportunities for the field of cancer systems epidemiology, results using these novel approaches, and detailing strategies to advance this field. The contractor shall provide editorial support, identify appropriate journals for publication, recruit external scientific reviewers, provide input on the outline and structure of the special issue, follow up with authors about expected submissions, and coordinate the peer review process for submitted scientific papers and resubmissions leading to final drafts (including notification of paper authors). After peer review, the contractor shall submit accepted articles to the contracting officer's representative (COR) for final review and approval. The contractor should provide regular updates on the progress of the collection via email/conference calls. For accepted papers, the contractor shall copy edit, process the papers into journal format, provide final document formatting (page proofs), coordinate the electronic publication, develop a collection webpage containing links to on-line papers, submit accepted papers to PubMed central, facilitate distribution and open access of articles, publish and promote the electronic publication of the special collection. Once articles are published the contractor will promote the series through development of a Press Release, twitter promotion, and promotion at workshops. CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS/ AND PERSONNEL QUALIFICATIONS The contractor shall support the publication of special collections, or a series of papers electronically linked together in multiple journals. This allows papers to be published in journals representing different areas of science. The Contractor shall perform the following tasks: Coordinate peer review of submitted articles Provide input on outline and structure of special collection to NCI Technical Point of Contact (NCI TPC) Follow-up with manuscript authors about pending submissions Identify appropriate Public Library of Science (PLOS) journals for publication of submitted papers Recruit external scientific reviewers Manage the review of articles (assign papers to reviewers, provide instructions to reviewers regarding review of manuscripts, follow up with reviewers about pending reviewers, evaluate reviews). Make decisions about acceptance/rejection of submitted papers. Notify paper authors about decisions in peer review If papers need revision to address reviewer concerns, the journal will need to communicate with authors and request re-submission of papers. In this situation, tasks 4.1.4-4.1.7 may need to be repeated to resolve reviewer comments. Final peer-reviewer/ editor decisions about acceptance for publication Summarize paper decisions for NCI TPC. Process papers for publication of collection Process papers into journal format. Provide editorial support for manuscripts. Review each manuscript to ensure that the format is consistent and compliant with the assigned PLOS journal formatting, that tables and references are complete and correctly formatted; that language, syntax, and grammar are clear and correct; and that the tables and figures are explained. Create draft paper proofs for each manuscript and email paper proofs to authors for final editing. Make changes to paper proofs based on author comments. Submit final paper proofs to NCI POC for review and approval. Make any additional revisions and submit for final approval. Publish collection Coordinate and post on-line publication in PLOS journals as assigned. Facilitate open access of articles making available to all Develop and launch a collection webpage containing links to posted on-line papers. Submit accepted papers to Pubmed central Promote the publication of the special collection Development of press release promoting the publications Distribution of press release after NCI approval Social media promotion (including using Twitter) Promotion of series in major scientific workshops Progress Updates Monthly calls with NCI TPC to provide updates on progress of the above activities Provide monthly updates on article(s)/collection dissemination Provide final update on dissemination of articles(s)/collection TYPE OF ORDER This will be issued as a severable firm fixed price purchase order. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE The period of performance is from September 1, 2020 to August 31, 2021. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE All services shall be provided at the Contractor's facility.