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Farewell to the Italian journal of gastroenterology and hepatology. Welcome to digestive and liver disease!
EDITORIAL
DIGEST LIYER INS 2000;32:1-2
Farewell to the Italian Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Welcome to Digestive and Liver Disease! Most of our readers, when receiving and examining this issue of the Journal, will probably experience a moment of surprise and understandable hesitation: they may well ask themselves “is this a new gastroenterologic publication, or what?’ The explanation is simple and immediate: after a very honourable life of more than 30 years, the Italian JoumaE of Gustroenterology and Hepatology (which saw the light as Rendiconti Romani di Gastroenterologia, an initiative of the clear-headed teacher, Prof. A. Torsoli) is now ready for an even more adventurous future. The readers will certainly recall that in our previous editorials we have always firmly reiterated our aim to make the Journal more and more international, an essential prerequisite for survival. To better accomplish this target, the Governing Boards of the Italian Society of Gastroenterology (SIGE) and the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver (AISF) promptly agreed that a new, “more international” title for the Journal was vital. This publication will, of course, remain the official Journal of the two Italian Societies, but we all hope that it will attract the attention, more and more, of our foreign colleagues with a view to publishing their top-quality articles in a truly international publication. As can be seen from Table I, whilst the number of manuscripts submitted to the Journal over the past year has remained more or less stable, those arriving from countries outside Italy (mainly Europe for the moment) have shown an encouraging increase. The mean evaluation time is seldom more than four weeks, while the interval elapsing between manuscript receipt and the final editorial decision is usually less than two months. The mean time between acceptance and publication is also quite encouraging and, with the publication of nine issues per year, is now an average of six months. This, in our opinion, should make Digestive and Liver Disease attractive for all those who want the international community to be made aware of their findings in a reasonably short time. These encouraging modifications are probably the reason for what we consider a very satisfying recognition: an appreciable increase in the Impact Factor of the Journal which, this year, has reached its maximum peak for the last ten years. Many are to be complimented for this achievement: the secretaries and members of the Editorial Staff, the Associate Editors, the members of the Editorial Board for their keen enthusiasm when dealing not only with letters and manuscripts but when, of course, offering their essential advice; our excellent and tireless referees, always ready to reduce the already short time (3 weeks!) allowed them for evaluation of the manuscript and, last, but by no means least, all those who choose our Journal as a vehicle for their research. Yet another and, we believe, important innovation of the Journal concerns the peer review process. As mentioned in more detail in a Letter to the Editor in this issue of Digestive and Liver Disease (Digest Liver Dis 2000;32:71) ’ we have decided, in each issue, to reveal the identity (with their consent) of the Reviewers responsible for evaluating the accepted
Editorial
I Taila I. Current manuscript situation N. submitted papers N. from outside Italy Rejection rate Impact factor Total n. pages Total n. papers
I
I
1997
1996
1999
156 22
195
197
o”% $00 133
4% 0.38 670 149 (22 letters)
3% 0.59 902 152 (I 6 letters1
* 33 manuscripts still aw&ing twviewers’ ccfnment.
manuscripts: we very much hope that this initial step towards limiting secrecy for Peer Review, as clearly pointed out by S. Goldbeck-Wood, from the British Medical Journal, in a very elegant paper published in one of the last issues of the Ital J Gastroenterol Hepato1 * will, on the one hand, enable us as Editors, to make our decisions and, on the other, provide our read-
2
ers with more security and confidence regarding the selection of articles. In conclusion, during the last year of our office as Editors, we truly hope that Digestive and Liver Disease (to be abbreviated in Digest Liver Dis but which we will affectionately refer to as DLD) will continue to meet the needs for information, offering a high quality of scientific knowledge.
G. Bianchi Porro F. Bonino Editors
I
References ’ Pace F. Secrecy and openness in Peer Review. Digest Liver Dis 2000;32:71. * Goldbeck-Wood S. Secrecy and openness in Peer Review. Time for a change of culture? Ital J Gastroenterol Hepatol 1999;31:659-62.
DIGEST LIYER INS 2000;32:1-2
Farewell to the Italian Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Welcome to Digestive and Liver Disease! Most of our readers, when receiving and examining this issue of the Journal, will probably experience a moment of surprise and understandable hesitation: they may well ask themselves “is this a new gastroenterologic publication, or what?’ The explanation is simple and immediate: after a very honourable life of more than 30 years, the Italian JoumaE of Gustroenterology and Hepatology (which saw the light as Rendiconti Romani di Gastroenterologia, an initiative of the clear-headed teacher, Prof. A. Torsoli) is now ready for an even more adventurous future. The readers will certainly recall that in our previous editorials we have always firmly reiterated our aim to make the Journal more and more international, an essential prerequisite for survival. To better accomplish this target, the Governing Boards of the Italian Society of Gastroenterology (SIGE) and the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver (AISF) promptly agreed that a new, “more international” title for the Journal was vital. This publication will, of course, remain the official Journal of the two Italian Societies, but we all hope that it will attract the attention, more and more, of our foreign colleagues with a view to publishing their top-quality articles in a truly international publication. As can be seen from Table I, whilst the number of manuscripts submitted to the Journal over the past year has remained more or less stable, those arriving from countries outside Italy (mainly Europe for the moment) have shown an encouraging increase. The mean evaluation time is seldom more than four weeks, while the interval elapsing between manuscript receipt and the final editorial decision is usually less than two months. The mean time between acceptance and publication is also quite encouraging and, with the publication of nine issues per year, is now an average of six months. This, in our opinion, should make Digestive and Liver Disease attractive for all those who want the international community to be made aware of their findings in a reasonably short time. These encouraging modifications are probably the reason for what we consider a very satisfying recognition: an appreciable increase in the Impact Factor of the Journal which, this year, has reached its maximum peak for the last ten years. Many are to be complimented for this achievement: the secretaries and members of the Editorial Staff, the Associate Editors, the members of the Editorial Board for their keen enthusiasm when dealing not only with letters and manuscripts but when, of course, offering their essential advice; our excellent and tireless referees, always ready to reduce the already short time (3 weeks!) allowed them for evaluation of the manuscript and, last, but by no means least, all those who choose our Journal as a vehicle for their research. Yet another and, we believe, important innovation of the Journal concerns the peer review process. As mentioned in more detail in a Letter to the Editor in this issue of Digestive and Liver Disease (Digest Liver Dis 2000;32:71) ’ we have decided, in each issue, to reveal the identity (with their consent) of the Reviewers responsible for evaluating the accepted
Editorial
I Taila I. Current manuscript situation N. submitted papers N. from outside Italy Rejection rate Impact factor Total n. pages Total n. papers
I
I
1997
1996
1999
156 22
195
197
o”% $00 133
4% 0.38 670 149 (22 letters)
3% 0.59 902 152 (I 6 letters1
* 33 manuscripts still aw&ing twviewers’ ccfnment.
manuscripts: we very much hope that this initial step towards limiting secrecy for Peer Review, as clearly pointed out by S. Goldbeck-Wood, from the British Medical Journal, in a very elegant paper published in one of the last issues of the Ital J Gastroenterol Hepato1 * will, on the one hand, enable us as Editors, to make our decisions and, on the other, provide our read-
2
ers with more security and confidence regarding the selection of articles. In conclusion, during the last year of our office as Editors, we truly hope that Digestive and Liver Disease (to be abbreviated in Digest Liver Dis but which we will affectionately refer to as DLD) will continue to meet the needs for information, offering a high quality of scientific knowledge.
G. Bianchi Porro F. Bonino Editors
I
References ’ Pace F. Secrecy and openness in Peer Review. Digest Liver Dis 2000;32:71. * Goldbeck-Wood S. Secrecy and openness in Peer Review. Time for a change of culture? Ital J Gastroenterol Hepatol 1999;31:659-62.