Cancer Drug Resistance is an international, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to advancing the understanding of cancer drug resistance and to improving its prediction, prevention, monitoring, and therapeutic management. The journal publishes original research, reviews, commentaries, and letters addressing the biological, molecular, cellular, pharmacological, translational, and clinical aspects of resistance to anticancer therapies.

The journal welcomes studies investigating intrinsic, acquired, and adaptive resistance, including the biological and pharmacological factors that influence tumour sensitivity, treatment response, and treatment failure. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, drug design and delivery; drug distribution and cellular pharmacology; drug influx and efflux transporters, including ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters; drug targets and target modification; receptor–ligand interactions; cellular signalling pathways; drug activation, metabolism, and degradation, including Phase I and Phase II metabolism; drug sequestration; DNA damage and repair; tumour heterogeneity and evolution; epigenetic and transcriptional regulation; phenotypic plasticity; and interactions between tumour cells and the tumour microenvironment.

CDR also welcomes research on biomarkers associated with or predictive of resistance to specific anticancer treatments; approaches for detecting and monitoring resistance; clinical patterns and determinants of treatment resistance; and therapeutic strategies designed to prevent, delay, or overcome resistance, including rational combination regimens. Research may address chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, molecularly targeted agents, immunotherapy, anti-angiogenic therapy, antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs), radioligand therapies, and other anticancer treatment modalities. Both experimental and clinical studies are within scope, including research that advances resistance-related knowledge through mechanistic investigation, translational evaluation, biomarker assessment, or clinical analysis.

The central consideration for scope is the substantive relevance of the research to cancer drug resistance. Studies should address a meaningful question concerning the understanding, prediction, monitoring, prevention, or therapeutic management of resistance, with conclusions supported by evidence appropriate to the study design.