Circulation Research. 2004;94:129-131
doi: 10.1161/01.RES.0000117521.13863.F3
(Circulation Research. 2004;94:129.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.
Circulation Research Editors’ Yearly Report: 2003
Eduardo Marbán,
Roberto Bolli,
Gerda Breitwieser,
Rudi Busse,
Hal Dietz,
Masao Endoh,
Toren Finkel,
Kathy Griendling,
David Kass,
Charles Lowenstein,
Marlene Rabinovitch,
Gordon Tomaselli,
Kara Hansell Keehan
From the Editor in Chief, Associate Editors, and Managing Editor, Circulation Research.
Correspondence to Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD, Editor in Chief, Circulation Research, 2700 Lighthouse Point East, Suite 230, Baltimore, MD 21224. E-mail circulation.research{at}circresearch.com
Key Words: online publication • submissions • thematic review series • impact factor
We are pleased to produce this yearly report on the status of our journal. Simply put, 2003 was a banner year for Circulation Research, which celebrated its 50th anniversary of publishing the best of basic cardiovascular science and translational research for the American Heart Association. The Editors hope you enjoyed over the past year the many personal reminiscences from prominent individuals in the field who reflected on the past 50 years of cardiovascular research and the journal as a vehicle for publication of the science.
We are pleased to announce in this, our fourth such state-of-the-journal report, that Circulation Research received a total of 1813 manuscripts in 2003. This sets not only a new record for submissions to the journal, but exceeds our previous record by 21.8% (Figure 1). While submissions increased in the past year, our acceptance rate decreased slightly to a near-record low of 19.7% (Figure 2). The Editors remain committed to maintaining the journal’s traditional standards of selectivity, despite the number of submissions received.
Submissions to the journal were made even easier by the change to a new manuscript tracking system powered by HighWire Press, which enables authors to submit fully and seamlessly online, to track the progress of their manuscript in review, and to read decision letters and reviews online as well. New online tools are now offered to reviewers—free linking to articles cited in the manuscript in review, references in HTML format with direct links to PubMed, easily downloadable PDFs, and the ability to customize one’s areas of research expertise. We hope you will agree that submitting to and reviewing for Circulation Research improved considerably in 2003.
Circulation Research continued on track in 2003 in time to first decision for original research articles (Figure 3). For Original Contributions, a first decision was rendered in an average of 3.2 weeks. Decisions were recorded on UltraRapid Communications and Reports in 2.2 and 1.9 weeks, respectively. The average time to first decision for all original research articles remained impressively low at 3.1 weeks on average. For all accepted original research articles, the time from acceptance to print publication was 6.8 average weeks (Figure 4). Less than 1 week of this time is taken at the editorial office, while the majority is print production time with the publisher. Still important to note is that all original research articles are published in the Online First feature of Circulation Research, whereby articles appear in PDF proof format 5 to 9 days after acceptance. Authors and readers alike have continued to provide positive feedback regarding the rapidity of Online First publication.
View larger version (35K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Figure 3. Times to first decision by manuscript category for the calendar year 2003, including the weighted average of all original research article categories.
|
|
View larger version (38K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Figure 4. Times from submission to publication by manuscript category for the calendar year 2003, including the weighted average of all original research article categories. Each bar shows the time from submission to acceptance (unshaded) above the time from acceptance to publication (dark gray).
|
|
In Figure 5, we see the final decision breakdown of manuscripts in 2003. Notable here is the relatively low reject de novo rate (12.8%), which illustrates that the Editors of Circulation Research are committed to fair and reasonable decisions, encouraging de novo resubmission only when the work truly justifies such a decision. The Editors continued to screen manuscripts at the editorial level (inappropriate decisions at 7.4%) and via triage review (19.8%). We would like to take this opportunity to thank our dedicated Editorial Board members, many of whom assisted considerably in the triage review process. We extend our thanks also to our numerous reviewers-at-large on whose expertise and volunteer help we continue to rely.
View larger version (33K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Figure 5. Final decision breakdown for the calendar year 2003, comprising Original Contributions, Reports, UltraRapid Communications, and Research Commentaries.
|
|
We are pleased to announce that the Circulation Research impact factor increased in 2002 to 9.694 over year 2001. Figure 6 plots both the journal’s impact factor and immediacy index, the latter of which points to the increasing short-term impact of work published in the journal.
View larger version (19K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
|
Figure 6. Rising trend in impact factor for Circulation Research over the past 12 years, as determined by ISI.1 Immediacy index shown increasing since 1998, as determined by ISI.1
|
|
Circulation Research and the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences continued their close relationship, forged in recent years, with the annual Circulation Research Symposium. The Symposium originally premiered at the 2001 Scientific Sessions on the theme of proteomics, and the second annual Circulation Research Symposium at Sessions 2002 featured the theme of stem cells. In 2003, the Circulation Research Symposium featured the well-received topic of "Unanswered Questions in Heart Failure." For 2004, the Circulation Research Symposium will feature "Biology of Cardiac Arrhythmias," which is the topic of one of the ongoing thematic review series. The Table lists this and all the other review series topics currently underway in the journal. As the Editors continue to seek out exciting areas of wide interest to readers and contributors, we welcome your suggestions and feedback at circulation.research@circresearch.com.
References
1. SCI® Journal Citation Reports®: a bibliometric analysis of science journals in the ISI® database. Philadelphia, Pa: Institute for Scientific Information, Inc®; 2002.
