Scientific journals: raising profiles, prospects, and impact factors

1. Scientific journals: raising profiles, prospects, and impact factors 3rd Meeting on Evaluation and Performance of Brazilian Journals Sao Paulo Research Foundation, Sao Paulo, Brazil 27th September 2012 Dr. Sue Silver Editor-in-Chief Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment Ecological Society of America Washington DC

2. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors Golden triangle of publishing Good authors Good papers More citations Higher impact factor

3. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors • But first….. • My credentials: • The Lancet Oncology • Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment • Similarities • Both new journal launches • Both published by well-known organizations • Both now have high impact factors

4. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors Elsevier (part of Reed Elsevier Group plc) Ecological Society of America Impact factor: 22.59 4th/194 – Oncology Impact factor: 9.113 2nd /205 – Env. Sci. 4th/131 - Ecology

5. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors The Lancet Oncology Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment Similarities • Peer reviewed • Interdisciplinary • Up-to-date • Understandable to those reading outside their own area of expertise • Full color throughout • Variety of content • Print and online

6. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors The Lancet Oncology Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment Challenges • I am not an oncologist/ecologist • I didn’t know the subject or the top authors • Nobody had ever heard of me • Oh no! Not another new journal?! • New journals • i) have no impact factor • ii) may never get one • iii) may not succeed/stop publication

7. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors Golden triangle of publishing Good authors Good papers More citations Higher impact factor

8. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors How can I increase the impact factor of my journal? “Publishthe best science” Eugene Garfield, Founder of ISI, creator of the Impact Factor

9. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors How can we persuade good authors to submit their best papers? • Call for papers (too passive) • Active commissioning • Appeal to senior authors who no longer need a high IF • Relaunch or redesign – change or add new focus • Explain why this journal • Call in favors • Beg!

10. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors Consider the three “communities” in the triangle • What do Authors want? • What do Editors want? • What does Thomson Reuters want?

11. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors Authors want a journal that is: • Highly respected • Professionally produced (eg, XML = searchable, linked, online submission site, etc) • Well read (high profile) • A good match for their paper (clear scope statement, Instructions to Authors, etc) • Efficiently staffed • And….has a good impact factor!

12. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors Authors want a journal that is: • Highly respected • High-quality, peer-reviewed content • Well-known and respected Editor and Editorial Board • Ethical editorial practices (eg peer review and IF) • i) published on website • ii) carried out by the Editor and editorial staff

13. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors Authors want a journal that is: • Professionally produced • Making use of modern publishing technologies • XML tagging for • a) Searchability • b) Linking to CrossRef, PubMed Central, etc • Online submission system • Rapid, regular publication (but still high quality) • RSS feeds, issue alerts • eReaders, ePub formats

14. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors Authors want a journal that is: • I Well read (high profile, good visibility) • Included in international and national databases • Open access (via SciELO) • Different language editions or abstracts • Present at international/national conferences • Press releases • Offers assistance to decision makers • Podcasts, Blogs, Facebook, Twitter

15. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors • ESA listserve • RSS feeds (ESA has 8) • EcoTone Blog 1500–2000 visitors/week • Twitter – 5500 followers • Podcasts – 1–2/month • Facebook – over 1750 likes • Regular press releases • Congressional briefings

16. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors Authors want a journal that is: • II Well read (high profile, good visibility) • Drive traffic to the journal website through author assistance and education: • Offer how-to-get-published lectures at meetings • Organize courses/webinars (eg, how to write a paper) • Provide lists of resources on website (online writing classes, language-polishing services) • Organize a mentoring scheme

17. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors Author education

18. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors Authors want a journal that is: • III Well read (high profile, good visibility) • Drive traffic to the journal website through new and interesting content: • Round-up of what’s in other journals • News/science policy section • Book or website reviews • Equipment reviews (attracts advertising!)

19. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors Authors want a journal that is: • A good match for their paper • Detailed, informative, easy-to-navigate website • Clear scope/mission statement, aims and content • Clear, detailed, findable Instructions to Authors

20. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors Authors want a journal that will: • Efficiently staffed • Keep the peer review and production processes moving • Ensure that peer-review reports are professional and useful (edit out rude comments?) • Respond promptly to presubmission inquiries • Deal fairly with appeals • Help authors who have difficulties with online submission • Make the publishing experience a pleasant one

21. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors What do Editors want? If Authors want all these things, then Editors should want them as well

22. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors What do Thomson Reuters want? • Informative title • Named authors • An abstract • Data or other new scientific information • Citation section • Regular publication schedule • Issues published on time • Ethical editorial policies

23. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors • Counted • Research papers of all kinds • Reviews • Not counted • Editorials • News • Letters to the Editor • BUT, if an editorial, news items, letters to the Editor, or similar materials are cited, they are added to the numerator, so increasing the IF

24. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors • The BEST way to increase the IF is to publish excellent scientific articles that other scientists will cite • But also remember • Reviews receive more citations than research papers • Longer articles receive more citations than shorter articles • Articles in open access journals receive more (?) citations • sooner • Editorials and overviews – “best papers last year”

25. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors • Bad strategies for increasing IF • Editors ‘invite’ authors of submitted articles to cite papers in their journal • Editors discourage authors from citing papers in a rival journal • Don’t be tempted to allow the IF to dictate your content

26. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors • Responsibilities of Editors • Oversee a fair and unbiased peer review system • Showcase the best possible science • Make it as accessible as possible for relevant readers • Catch scientific fraud, plagiarism, etc • But also…….

27. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors “It is our job to make important information interesting” Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet

28. Profiles, prospects, and impact factors Thank you! suesilver@esa.org