The impact of Hepatology

Hepatology starts its third year of publication under this editorial team. Time has flown, and some of the changes instituted from the onset of our activity have materialized. Our original “Trittico,”1 an analogy with the opera consisting of three disparate parts performed in one session, has metamorphosed into a waltz, with a 1-2-3 rhythm permeating the pages of the Journal, with the three cores of the Journal firmly established, encompassing both original manuscripts and special sections. HEPATOLOGY is the journal of the AASLD, and we are committed to the goal of having the wide range of clinical and research interests of our membership reflected in its pages. We welcome John Wiley & Sons, Inc., as our new publisher. We look forward to a fruitful relationship, one that emphasizes the power of the Web as a vehicle to transmit and communicate scientific information. Along these lines, we will increasingly utilize publication on the Web when material within a manuscript exceeds a 4,000 word limit, allowing authors to fully present their data. The Journal cover remains essentially the same, with our sister journal, Liver Transplantation, now sharing design features that emphasize the common source of both publications. The Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) provides every year a numerical evaluation of the Impact Factor (IF), the goddess of scientific publication. The IF of HEPATOLOGYhas climbed to historical heights, as seen in Fig. 1. The 2002 IF of 9.82 reflects a stable number of citations (the numerator of the IF) and a lower number of published manuscripts (the denominator). Essentially, a smaller number of published papers are cited more frequently. The Journal owes these advances to Dr. Montgomery Bissell and his team of Associate Editors, as the 2002 IF reflects the efforts of the previous editorial team. It is important not to lose perspective on what is the true significance of the Impact Factor. There is extensive literature analyzing the pros and cons of reducing the activity of a journal into a single number. Garfield, the founder of ISI, argues “that if print journals were to disappear [to be replaced by online publishing], a new impact factor would be invented.”2 Lundberg, former editor of JAMA, argues that “man and (academia) should not live by numbers alone.”3 I will not review this controversy but guide the reader to an excellent recent commentary on the subject by one of the members of the Governing Board of our Association.4 Rather, I would like to explore other parameters that are not reflected in the Impact Factor of HEPATOLOGY. We could start with internal considerations. The review process is such that in the academic year 2002, we provided an editorial decision at an average of 32 days, with slightly more than 4% of manuscripts beyond 60 days. Two reviews were provided in 95% of cases. I thank the reviewers and the Associate Editors for this efficiency. A smooth, prompt, and fair review process is critical for those who prior to submission evaluate the impact of publication in our pages. Our current acceptance rate hovers around 20%, with 1,386 new, original submissions and a total of 2,176 manuscripts receiving editorial consideration (resubmissions, letters, review articles). No a priori number of manuscripts is required to fill the Journal's pages, but it is the search for quality that dictates the submitted paper's fate: in the basic sciences, the ability to provide mechanistic explanations to observed phenomena; in clinical sciences, the importance of novelty and the applicability of the data. The impact of publishing in our Journal should be clear, because we all set high standards for acceptance. A journal is more than a compilation of research articles. There is an inherent educational value for reviews and articles outside a narrow focused research interest. In the setting of fierce competition for reading time, the impact of HEPATOLOGYshould be measured by its ability to fulfill its educational role; no IF number reflects this feature. Finally, the greatest risk of reducing the impact of HEPATOLOGYto an analysis of the IF is losing the perspective of the ultimate goal of publication: a vehicle to advance research and clinical practice in liver diseases. The route between publication and reaping such benefit is circuitous. As HEPATOLOGYapproaches its 25th year of publication, we should be pleased with the rise of the impact factor as one more marker of the growth of our discipline. At the same time, we should be sobered by the realization of how much more is needed to help patients with liver disease. As the New Year starts, we await those superior manuscripts that in the laboratory and in the clinic continue to advance our efforts toward this goal.