Defining remission: a global lupus standard Before the 2021 DORIS recommendations were published in Lupus Science & Medicine, 44 researchers used more than 20 different definitions of remission in systemic lupus erythematosus, making studies difficult to compare and treatment outcomes harder to assess. To solve this, an international task force established a unified, evidence based standard. Since its publication in 2021, the paper has been cited more than 350 times, with 70% of those citations occurring in the past two years, showing its growing influence on the field. 45 DORIS has been adopted by researchers globally, incorporated into clinical guidelines such as the 2024 Mexican Guidelines, 46 and its influence extends into drug development. Pharmaceutical companies increasingly include DORIS remission as a key secondary endpoint in lupus clinical trials, reflecting growing acceptance of remission as an important measure of treatment success. 47 Lead author, Professor van Vollenhoven indicates that DORIS remission is now used routinely as a secondary outcome in company-sponsored lupus trials. By replacing more than 20 competing definitions with a single internationally agreed standard, DORIS has given patients, clinicians, researchers, regulators, and industry a shared and measurable goal of remission, harmonising lupus research, improving comparison between studies, and shifting care towards achieving sustained disease control. “The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Many of those who have done studies of remission in lupus since publication have used the DORIS definition.” Ronald F van Vollenhoven, Professor of rheumatology, Amsterdam University Medical Centers; vice-chair and immediate past chair, EULAR research committee; editor in chief, Lupus Science & Medicine, The Netherlands
Lupus Science & Medicine is the official open access journal of the Lupus Foundation of America, owned by the Foundation and published by BMJ Group. The journal has a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 4.2 and is ranked in the first quartile (Q1) of rheumatology journals. 48
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