January 2024 marks 50 years since the release of the first issue of Nucleic Acids Research (NAR) (1). The journal was founded by Richard T. Walker, A. Stanley Jones from the University of Birmingham (UK) and Dieter Söll from Yale University (USA). The aim of the journal, formulated in the first issue of NAR by the “founding fathers” was to publish “original papers dealing with the physical, chemical, biochemical, biological or medical properties of nucleic acids, their constituents and analogs“. It was then also determined that the mission of the journal was to be “interdisciplinary means of communication that will enable scientists in one specialty to see more clearly the points of contact and importance between their work and that of others.”

After 50 years, it can be clearly stated that the goals of NAR are still valid, its mission has been perfectly fulfilled by its successive editors, and the journal has become one of the best in the natural sciences category. From the very beginning, scientists of the Department of Stereochemistry of Natural Products, from which the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences originates, prceived NAR as an excellent place to publish the results of their research. The first article by IBCH PAS investigators was published in NAR in 1975 and it was a paper by Wojciech Markiewicz and Maciej Wiewiórowski on the chemical synthesis of the CmpC dinucleotide (2). In the same year, a multi-authored work on the chemical synthesis of nucleic acid components was published (3). In the following years, further articles affiliated with the Institute were published in NAR. In total, during these 50 years of Nucleic Acids Research’s, 159 publications from IBCH PAS were published, which were cited a total of 7,025 times (according to Web of Science Core Collection). The most frequently cited work is the one from Ryszard Adamiak’s group regarding RNAComposer, which has been cited 458 times so far (4). The next one is a publication co-authored by Eliza Wyszko regarding LNA modified antisense oligonucleotides, which has been cited 437 times so far (5). The most papers in NAR were published by Włodzimierz Krzyżosiak (27 publications) and Jan Barciszewski (24 publications). It is also worth mentioning that Ryszard Kierzek has been a member of the Editorial Board of Nucleic Acids Research for 14 years, and last year Marta Szachniuk also joined the members.

On the occasion of the “golden jubilee”, we would like to express our heartfelt congratulations, words of appreciation and thanks to the NAR journal and its editors for 50 years of cooperation and we wish them further success in the coming years.

A detailed report on the contribution of IBCH PAS to the publishing and organizational activities of Nucleic Acids Research you can found in the attachment.

The note and report were prepared by prof. Ryszard Kierzek and prof. Piotr Kozłowski.

Literature:

1. J.S. Sale, B.L. Stoddard, Fifty years of Nucleic Acids Research, Nucleic Acids Research, 52, 1-3 (2024).

2. W.T. Markiewicz, M. Wiewiórowski, The modified nucleosides of tRNAs. II. Synthesis of 2′-O-methylcytidylyl (3′-5′) cytidine, Nucleic Acids Research, 2, 951-960 (1975)

3. W.Z. Antkowiak, E. Biała, P. Dembek, R. Kierzek, K. Grześkowiak, A. Kraszewski, M. Wiewiórowski, Further studies on synthesis and properties of the protected triester nucleotides as a new key intermediate for the synthesis of oligoribonucleotides, Nucleic Acids Research, spec. publ. No. 1, 133-136 (1975)

4. M. Popenda, M. Szachniuk, M. Antczak, K.J. Purzycka, P. Łukasiak, N. Bartol, J. Błażewicz, R.W. Adamiak, Automated 3D structure composition for large RNAs, Nucleic Acids Research, 40, e112 (2012)

5. J. Kurreck, E. Wyszko, C. Gillen and V.A. Erdmann, Design of antisense oligonucleotides stabilized by locked nucleic acids, Nucleic Acids Research, 30, 1911–1918 (2002).

Contribution of Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry PAS, Poznan to the Nucleic Acids Research 50th anniversary