Phenomics (2021) 1:1–2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s43657-020-00009-4 EDITORIAL Welcome to the Phenomics Journal Li Jin1,2,3 Published online: 11 January 2021 © The Author(s) 2021 The term ‘phenomics’, frst coined by Dr. Steven A. Garan both fundamental and applied research in the life sciences. in 1996, describes the measurement of phenomes. The phe- It focuses on the study of phenomes at all level (includ- nome is a set of measurable traits, including the physical, ing the proteome and metabolome at the molecular level, chemical and biological traits of individuals and popula- cell features at the cellular level, and all kinds of organs at tions, that result from the complex interactions of genes, epi- the organismal level), the mechanisms underlying genomic genetics, symbiotic microorganisms, diet and environmental architecture and regulatory networks, the relationships exposures. The high-throughput approaches implied by the among phenotypes and disease risks and the intervention term ‘deep phenotyping’ have attracted much attention in responses, providing a prerequisite understanding of the the felds of functional genomics, pharmaceutical science, health and disease states of mammals. The journal considers biomedical engineering, phylogenetics and disease genomics articles, reviews, commentaries, brief communications, and in humans and model organisms. correspondences, and it intends to publish online every 2 With the emerging interest in phenomic research across months. For more information, please visit the journal web- many felds, massive eforts based on high-efciency inte- site: https ://www.sprin ger.com/journ al/43657 . grated phenotyping facilities and international collaborative The topics of interests to Phenomics include but are not projects have been deployed to systematically study pheno- limited to high-throughput phenotyping and technological types. This will further our understanding of the functional innovations; linking the genome to the phenome with mod- underpinnings of human health, biotechnology, agriculture els, algorithms, databases, etc.; exploring the relationships and other areas of life sciences. The number of publications between phenotypes and understanding phenotypic variation on phenomics has increased rapidly since 2011 in the areas and responses to the environment; phenotypic research and of human genetics, epidemiology, plant biology, etc. It is its precise application in clinical disease, treatment, pre- expected that the number of publications on phenomics will vention and control; phenome-related multiomics studies, grow continuously with the increasing eforts made to bet- novel data fusion approaches and integrated analysis; and ter understand gene function and environmental responses. phenome-related model organism research, interdiscipli- However, phenomics-related papers are mainly published nary multiscale research, etc. Phenomics has established an in broad-based biological journals. Thus, there is an urgent international editorial board of leading scientists covering need for the publication forum of Phenomics, which will the various areas of its scope, and it strives to achieve a fair specifcally serve this scientifc community. peer review process. Phenomics is dedicated to publishing the fnest articles We are sincerely grateful for your help in launching Phe- and communicating scientifc process in the feld of phenom- nomics. We would like to invite you to join our editorial ics. The interdisciplinary nature of this topic stretches across board and contribute your manuscript to the journal, mark- ing a new era of phenomics. * Li Jin Li Jin [email protected] Editor-in-Chief, Phenomics 1 School of Life Sciences & Human Phenome Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attri- 2 Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, bution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adapta- Shanghai 200032, China tion, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long 3 International Human Phenome Institutes (Shanghai), as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, Shanghai 200433, China provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes Vol.:(0123456789)1 3 2 L. Jin were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional afliations. permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativeco mmons .org/licen ses/by/4.0/ . 1 3.