© 2006 American Thoracic Society doi: 10.1164/rccm.2601013
Progress Report on the AJRCCMContinued Growth and Evolution for the JournalAmerican Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine The AJRCCM continues to be the major international journal in respiratory and critical care medicine, as defined by number and breadth of manuscript submissions as well as by more directly comparative criteria, such as impact and immediacy factors. For both of these parameters, the AJRCCM ranked number 1 in both the critical care and respiratory system journal groups, with an impact factor of 8.123 and an immediacy index of 2.824. The number of manuscripts received by the Journal reached an all-time high of 1,994 in 2005 (Figure 1). This past year also saw greater numbers of papers submitted in several categories, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and critical care medicine, as compared with the two previous years (Figures 2 and 3). The 16% growth in critical care submissions is particularly important to underline, as it indicates that the AJRCCM is increasingly considered as a prime venue for publication of novel results in this area. An important priority for the AJRCCM is presenting important advances in nonpulmonary as well as in pulmonary critical care. The growing numbers of submissions on such topics appear to indicate that the international community recognizes the interest that the Journal has in publishing a wide range of studies relating to critical care.
Not surprisingly, the increased number of submissions to the AJRCCM has affected our acceptance rate, which was 19.3% for 2005. Similar acceptance rates are present across the broad categories of manuscripts submitted, such as major lung diseases, critical care, environmental and occupational health, lung infections, pediatrics, and sleep, providing confidence that there isn't bias in our selection of articles. Of note, the Editor and Deputy Editors have a weekly meeting in which potential articles for the Journal are discussed. The manuscripts reviewed at this session are put forward by the Associate Editors based on their reviews and perceived importance to the field, without any quotas being imposed. We very much want to publish the best articles in the broad area of pulmonary and critical care, without being shackled with arbitrary percentages for specific categories. The average time from submission of a manuscript to first decision is approximately 33 days (Figure 4). In general, we obtain two or three reviews for a manuscript, but occasionally request additional reviews if there is a difference of opinion between the original reviewers. The need for additional reviews as well as the time necessary for discussion of articles in the weekly Editors' meeting explains the additional mean time of 14.2 days from when the Associate Editor receives two reviews to first decision.
As the ATS now has three journals, with two of them publishing original research, some articles that are submitted to the AJRCCM may be more appropriate for one of the other ATS journals. In general, the AJRCCM focuses on translational and human studies or reviews that examine the pathophysiology, diagnosis, or treatment of pulmonary or critical care disorders. We consider and welcome articles that use relevant animal models of disease. However, manuscripts that primarily report experiments from cells in culture or isolated organ preparations generally fall outside the scope of the AJRCCM, and are likely to be more appropriate for the more basically oriented American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology (AJRCMB). As soon as an article is accepted by the AJRCCM, we upload it to our website, avoiding any delay in providing the data to our readership. The publication lag time, as defined by the period between the acceptance of a manuscript and its appearance in print, remains short, and ranged between 2.3 and 2.9 months in 2005. Several initiatives concerning the reporting of clinical trials have been introduced over the past several years by the AJRCCM and other major medical journals (1, 2). Even though our instructions for authors mention both the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) guidelines and the necessity for clinical trials to be registered in a publicly accessible database, consideration of manuscripts is often delayed because these requirements are not addressed in the initial submission. Clinical trials completed after September 1, 2005, must be registered in a publicly accessible database, such as clinicaltrials.gov, with the primary outcome variable and nature of the intervention included, or they cannot be published at the AJRCCM. Similarly, the standardized CONSORT guidelines need to be followed when clinical trials are reported. While quantitative parameters, such as the increase in manuscript submissions or high impact factor, provide evidence that the Journal is doing well, our most important criterion of success is the feedback received from the readership. The limited numbers of pages available mean that the AJRCCM will never be able to publish as many articles in each of the areas that we cover as many of our readers would like. However, we continue to strive to publish the best articles in pulmonary and critical care. The goal is clear: the AJRCCM should be the first place that researchers and practitioners in respiratory and critical care medicine go to find the most novel and important information that truly moves these fields forward. FOOTNOTES Conflict of Interest Statement: E.A. is the Editor of the AJRCCM and received a fixed stipend from the American Thoracic Society as the Editor of the AJRCCM and does not receive support for research from pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or medical device companies and does not serve as consultant for any pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or medical device company. REFERENCES
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