Discovery and scientific advances in our era have guided human progress and influenced our daily life like no other times in history. Besides making devices and countless gadgets that, in many cases, have revolutionized our lives, technology has become an essential tool for scientific breakthroughs in all fields of knowledge, including health sciences and biomedicine. This has been particularly relevant with the development of omics and sequencing (i.e. metabolomics, transcriptomics, single RNA-seq among many others), which have flooded our minds with an explosion of data in many fields of the biomedical arena, such as physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology or immunology and have translated in a substantial understanding of molecular pathways and mechanisms of disease [1, 2]. Progress not only relies on science and technology but also requires dissemination and communication, following the words of Erwin Schrödinger, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, “If you can’t communicate what you’ve been doing, your work is worthless”. It is with these foundations that the journal Exploration of Digestive Diseases (EDD) has come to light with the aim to become a reference in the unveiling of scientific facts, education, and communication in digestive diseases. The content of EDD encompasses translational and basic research as well as clinical perspectives on liver, biliary, digestive tract, and pancreatic diseases, which affect millions of people globally. Indeed, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), an advanced stage of fatty liver disease, is the most common form of chronic liver diseases whose incidence is expected to keep rising due to its association with the obesity and metabolic syndrome epidemic. NASH, which is characterized by the confluence of steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis, can progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer, the third leading cause of cancer death and the sixth most common cancer type worldwide [3]. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most frequent form of liver cancer and HCC incidence has tripled in the past 40 years, due to its linkage with the global rise in type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance [4]. Unfortunately, despite recent progress in translational and basic research using genetic mouse models and identification of molecular pathways that can predict prognosis and outcome, available therapies are limited due to our incomplete understanding of the mechanisms driving NASH-HCC progression and the differences in metabolism and biology between mice and humans. Besides HCC, pancreatic and colorectal cancers are also important causes of cancer deaths, and the identification of early diagnostic markers and a thorough understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms are urgently required. In this regard, end-stage pancreatic cancer, in particular pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, is one of the tumours with the worst prognosis, and it is often preceded by the development of pancreatitis, a common and potentially fatal disease of the exocrine pancreas [5, 6]. Thus, unraveling pancreatic acinar cell functions will ensure better treatment options for acute and chronic pancreatitis. The burden of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, is rising globally, with substantial variation in levels and trends of disease in different countries and regions. IBD is characterized by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and affects millions of people around the globe, most of which are diagnosed at middle age [7]. Prolonged inflammation can damage the GI tract and hence IBD can significantly affect a patient’s quality of life and can have a high financial burden. Unfortunately, these chronic, life-long conditions cannot be cured at present and the improvement of the current treatments requires a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in IBD [8]. Gut microbiota has emerged as a novel player in the regulation of metabolism, and can affect the progression and development of different digestive diseases [9]. Therefore, a further understanding of the gut microbiome, gut-GI tract and liver axis may stand as a novel approach for the treatment of digestive diseases.

EDD is a peer-reviewed and open-access online journal, publishing papers of high quality and significance related to all areas of digestive diseases, with the goal to become a forum to report and disseminate discoveries and advances in these life-threatening diseases, and the place to discuss and exchange improvements for diagnosis and treatment. The editorial board of EDD is committed to selecting quality, well-performed basic research and clinical studies to be published in a timely manner to ensure content dissemination everywhere. Open access journals have appeared in the latest years, and although they have had a significant impact on accelerating discoveries by providing accessibility of major breakthroughs to everybody, everywhere [10], this is often done at the expense of thousands of dollars that authors have to pay for publication. EDD will approach the goal of open access publication in a different manner. EDD in accordance with the guidelines of Open Exploration is committed to disseminating quality science and clinical research without asking publication charges to authors currently, hence emerging as a new journal where discovery and communication meet without a budget. We hope to receive the work from the digestive disease community to be evaluated in a rigorous and fair fashion to publish cutting-edge science and make it available universally, which overall will have a significant impact on the acceleration of biomedical science progress and education in the digestive diseases field. In summary, EDD welcomes original research reporting new findings, as well as authoritative reviews, perspectives, editorials, case reports, and meta-analyses in appropriate areas including liver, biliary, digestive tract, and pancreatic diseases. Priority is given to the work providing fundamental exploration, translational advance, authoritative opinions and novel perspectives. The journal also covers basic pathophysiological research, technological and drug developments, and all kinds of clinical discoveries and applications in diagnosis and treatment.