The OncoDaily Medical Journal is launching a Special Series dedicated to “How We Treat Lung Cancer in 2026.” This initiative aims to provide clinicians, researchers, surgeons, radiation oncologists, pathologists, pulmonologists, public health leaders, and policy experts with a focused platform to explore the rapidly evolving landscape of lung cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and implementation across diverse healthcare systems.
The Special Series are directed by Gilberto Lopes, Professor of Clinical Medicine, Chief of the Division of Medical Oncology, Medical Director for International Affairs and Associate Director for the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami, and Alessandro Russo, Professor at Humanitas University, Italy. Accepted manuscripts will be fast-tracked for publication and prominently featured as part of this international scholarly effort.

How We Treat Lung Cancer in 2026

Lung cancer remains one of the most urgent challenges in global oncology. According to the World Health Organization, lung cancer was the leading cause of cancer cases and cancer deaths worldwide in 2022, with an estimated 2.5 million new cases and 1.8 million deaths. It is also frequently diagnosed at advanced stages, when curative treatment options are limited.

In 2026, lung cancer care is increasingly defined by precision oncology, multidisciplinary treatment planning, perioperative immunotherapy, biomarker-driven targeted therapy, antibody-drug conjugates, improved radiotherapy approaches, minimally invasive diagnostics, liquid biopsy, and survivorship-focused care. Treatment decisions are no longer based only on histology and stage, but also on molecular alterations, PD-L1 expression, tumor biology, patient fitness, comorbidities, access to care, and patient preferences.

Non-small cell lung cancer remains the most common form of lung cancer, while small cell lung cancer continues to represent a highly aggressive subtype requiring urgent innovation. The American Cancer Society notes that small cell lung cancer accounts for about 10% to 15% of all lung cancers and tends to grow and spread faster than non-small cell lung cancer.

The treatment landscape has expanded substantially in recent years. Current care includes surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and increasingly complex multimodal strategies. The National Cancer Institute lists surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy among the major treatment options for non-small cell lung cancer. Recent FDA approvals have also reshaped care, including perioperative immunotherapy approaches in resectable NSCLC, consolidation and targeted approaches in stage III disease, novel HER2-directed therapies, EGFR exon 20 strategies, ROS1 inhibitors, and bispecific T-cell engager therapy for relapsed extensive-stage small cell lung cancer.

The “How We Treat Lung Cancer in 2026” Special Series seeks to provide a comprehensive scholarly overview of how modern lung cancer care is delivered across the full continuum: prevention, screening, diagnosis, staging, localized treatment, systemic therapy, resistance management, supportive care, survivorship, and global access.

Focus Areas for Submissions

• Epidemiology, Risk Factors, Prevention and Early Detection: Explores global and regional lung cancer incidence, mortality, tobacco-related disease burden, air pollution, occupational exposures, radon, genetic susceptibility, and lung cancer in never-smokers. Submissions may address smoking cessation, public health prevention strategies, low-dose CT screening, risk-adapted screening models, and approaches to improving early detection in underserved populations.
• Diagnosis, Staging and Biomarker Testing: Examines advances in diagnostic pathways, imaging, bronchoscopy, interventional pulmonology, pathology, staging, tissue acquisition, and molecular testing. Particular emphasis is placed on comprehensive genomic profiling, PD-L1 testing, liquid biopsy, repeat biopsy at progression, and ensuring that biomarker results are available before treatment decisions are made.
• Multidisciplinary Care in Early-Stage and Resectable NSCLC: Focuses on the evolving management of stage I–III resectable non-small cell lung cancer, including surgical innovation, minimally invasive thoracic surgery, stereotactic body radiotherapy for medically inoperable patients, neoadjuvant therapy, adjuvant therapy, and perioperative immunotherapy. Submissions may address how multidisciplinary tumor boards select patients for surgery, systemic therapy, and radiotherapy in increasingly complex clinical scenarios.
• Locally Advanced NSCLC and Thoracic Radiotherapy: Explores the management of unresectable stage III NSCLC, including concurrent chemoradiation, consolidation immunotherapy, targeted consolidation strategies for selected molecular subgroups, radiation dose optimization, toxicity prevention, pneumonitis management, and integration of imaging and biomarkers into treatment planning. Submissions addressing radiotherapy access and quality assurance in low-resource settings are strongly encouraged.
• Advanced NSCLC: Precision Medicine and Immunotherapy: Examines the modern treatment of metastatic NSCLC, including therapies for EGFR, ALK, ROS1, BRAF, MET, RET, NTRK, KRAS, HER2, and NRG1-altered disease, as well as immunotherapy-based regimens for tumors without actionable driver alterations. Submissions may explore sequencing strategies, combination approaches, resistance mechanisms, brain metastases management, antibody-drug conjugates, and real-world outcomes.
• Small Cell Lung Cancer in 2026: Focuses on limited-stage and extensive-stage small cell lung cancer, including chemoradiation, immunotherapy, maintenance strategies, relapse management, CNS surveillance, emerging biomarkers, bispecific antibodies, DLL3-targeted approaches, and clinical trial innovation. Manuscripts addressing the persistent unmet needs in small cell lung cancer are particularly welcomed.
• Resistance, Relapse and Minimal Residual Disease: Explores biological and clinical mechanisms of treatment resistance, including acquired resistance to targeted therapies, immune escape, histologic transformation, tumor heterogeneity, and CNS progression. Submissions may address ctDNA-guided monitoring, minimal residual disease detection, adaptive treatment strategies, and next-generation trial designs.
• Supportive Care, Palliative Care and Symptom Management: Addresses dyspnea, cough, pain, fatigue, cachexia, treatment-related adverse events, immune-related toxicity, psychosocial distress, communication, and early integration of palliative care. Submissions may focus on improving quality of life throughout the disease trajectory, including for patients with advanced or incurable lung cancer.
• Survivorship and Long-Term Outcomes: Focuses on survivorship after curative-intent treatment, including pulmonary function, cardiovascular risk, neurocognitive effects, financial toxicity, return to work, fear of recurrence, late toxicities, and long-term follow-up models. Submissions may explore survivorship pathways for patients treated with surgery, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, or multimodal treatment.
• Global Disparities, Access to Care and Equity: Examines disparities in lung cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis, biomarker testing, surgery, radiotherapy, systemic therapy, clinical trial participation, palliative care, and survivorship. Manuscripts addressing scalable models for equitable lung cancer care in low- and middle-income countries are strongly encouraged.
• Policy, Implementation Science and Health System Strengthening: Analyzes national cancer control strategies, lung cancer screening implementation, tobacco control policies, biomarker testing infrastructure, drug access, reimbursement, workforce development, multidisciplinary care models, and integration of lung cancer services into health systems. Implementation research tailored to resource-constrained environments is particularly welcomed.
• Artificial Intelligence, Digital Health and Future Directions: Explores AI-assisted imaging, radiomics, pathology algorithms, clinical decision support, predictive biomarkers, remote monitoring, digital symptom tracking, trial matching, and data-driven approaches to personalized lung cancer care. Submissions should emphasize clinical applicability, ethical considerations, validation, and real-world implementation.

Clarified Criteria for Evaluation

Manuscripts will be evaluated based on:

• Innovation – Novel approaches, technologies, clinical insights, therapeutic strategies, or conceptual frameworks that advance lung cancer care.
• Clinical Relevance – Clear implications for prevention, diagnosis, treatment selection, toxicity management, survivorship, or patient outcomes.
• Regional Applicability – Relevance and potential for adaptation across different healthcare systems, including resource-limited settings.
• Impact on Practice or Policy – Demonstrated or potential implications for improving lung cancer care delivery, access, quality, or outcomes.
• Equity and Global Perspective – Attention to disparities in screening, diagnosis, molecular testing, treatment access, clinical trials, and survivorship.

Author Guidelines

Authors submitting to the “How We Treat Lung Cancer in 2026” Special Series are encouraged to:

• Explore how clinical, molecular, environmental, demographic, and socioeconomic factors influence lung cancer risk, diagnosis, treatment selection, and outcomes.
• Examine implementation of evidence-based lung cancer interventions in underserved, rural, and resource-limited populations.
• Provide comparative studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, clinical trial updates, real-world evidence, or policy analyses that generate practical insights for improving lung cancer care.
• Highlight scalable models that strengthen early detection, biomarker testing, multidisciplinary treatment, access to systemic therapies, radiotherapy delivery, supportive care, and survivorship services.
• Address how innovation in lung cancer care can be translated into measurable improvements for patients across high-income, middle-income, and low-income settings.

Submission deadline: January 31, 2027

The Special Series will accept Original Research articles and Reviews (including systematic reviews and meta-analyses). More information about submission requirements and formatting guidelines can be found on our website.