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Report on the status of Toxicon
Tostrow Vol. 29, No. 12, pp. 1417-1418, 1991 . Printed is Great Bridin.
0011-0101/91 ß.00+ .00 Pergrmon Prep pk
REPORT ON THE STATUS OF TOXICON EnrroRS are always interested in knowing what others think of `their journal' and in sharing this information (if the results come out good) with their readers. I will therefore share with you some of the results of questionnaires sent to the Editorial Council members of Toxicon and to authors who have submitted manuscripts to Toxicon. In addition, some findings from the ISI Journal Citation Reports will also be noted as well as comparisons from 1969 and 1990 of factual information concerning Toxicon. While this information has been compiled for a number of years and made available to the Editorial Council members, this is the first time it is being published. Since 1969, when I became Editor, Toxicon has increased publication from four times per year to 12 times per year with almost a doubling in the total number of subscriptions. A corresponding increase occurred in the number of pages published in Toxicon which rose from 344 in 1969 to 1501 in 1990 . During this time the number of manuscripts (both regular and short communications) published increased from 54 to 147. The current (1990) percent rejection rate is 35%. The average time from receipt of a manuscript until the author is informed of the decision is six weeks, and where revisions are required the authors have also averaged six weeks before returning their revised manuscripts . The time from acceptance of a manuscript until its publication is approximately six months . The chronology of manuscripts submitted to Toxicon, if I might add a personal judgement, seems faster than most other journals in which I have published articles. The types of articles published in Toxicon in 1990 include those dealing with reptiles (41 %), marine animals (23%), microbes (12%), plants (14%)and arthropods (10%). This represents, as compared to 1969, a modest increase in the percentage of articles dealing with microbes and plants and a corresponding slight decrease in those dealing with arthropods and marine animals. The status of Toxicon relative to other life science journals can perhaps at least be approximated by looking at some information from ISI Journals Citation Reports for 1989 (latest data available) which ranks journals according to various criteria . As judged by impact factor (the frequency with which the average article in a journal has been cited by life science journals in a particular year), Toxicon ranks in the upper 20-25% ofjournals, whether compared to all journals, to all pharmacology and pharmacy journals or to all toxicology journals . An identical percentage ranking is found when Toxicon is compared to all other journals in terms of numbers of times cited, immediacy index and numbers of source items published. These rankings are all considerably better than the corresponding values in 1980. Starting in July 1988 a questionnaire was sent out to the senior author of all manuscripts, following either acceptance or rejection of their manuscript . The number of questionnaires sent (July 1988-July 1991) was 642, with 298 responses being received (the great majority being returned anonymously) . From 85 to 95% of all respondents strongly agreed or agreed with the following five statements: (1) the Editorial staff was considerate and polite ; (2) the peer review process was constructive; (3) the instructions for authors were easy to follow; (4) turnaround time was reasonable from submission to rejection or ~am
1418
Report on the Status
of Toxicon
acceptance ; (5) I will consider submitting another manuscript to Toxicon . Only I % to 6% disagreed or strongly disagreed with these statements while the remainder were neutral or had no opinion . Questionnaires have been sent to the members of the Editorial Council of Toxicon every three years since 1979. in 1991, responses were received from 41 of the 45 members of the Council. Over 80% of the respondents felt that the time they were allowed for reviewing manuscripts (one month) was good, with 15% feeling that it was too short. Publisher's handling time and time from submission to publication were judged to be too long by 30% to 44% of the Council members; however, compared to other journals the time to publication was judged to be about the same (60%) or faster (21%) by the great majority . Dependent upon discipline (Biochemistry, Physiology, Clinical, etc.), Toxicon was judged to be the same or better, in terms of scientific quality, than other journals in these respective fields by 69% to 83% of the respondents. The production quality of Toxicon (typesetting, halftones, paper, layout, etc.) was judged to be good by over 88% of the Council members responding . Fifty percent of the members of the Editorial Council members submit more than 25% of their publications for consideration to Toxicon, while only 5% have not yet published in Toxicon . Other parts of the questionnaire related more specifically to the reviewing process, forms used, etc. The support of the worldwide community of toxinologists has made this growth of Toxicon possible. Under the able new leadership of Dr Alan Harvey, I am certain that Toxicon will progress to an even stronger position as the primary means of scientific communication in the field of toxinology . Philip Rosenberg
0011-0101/91 ß.00+ .00 Pergrmon Prep pk
REPORT ON THE STATUS OF TOXICON EnrroRS are always interested in knowing what others think of `their journal' and in sharing this information (if the results come out good) with their readers. I will therefore share with you some of the results of questionnaires sent to the Editorial Council members of Toxicon and to authors who have submitted manuscripts to Toxicon. In addition, some findings from the ISI Journal Citation Reports will also be noted as well as comparisons from 1969 and 1990 of factual information concerning Toxicon. While this information has been compiled for a number of years and made available to the Editorial Council members, this is the first time it is being published. Since 1969, when I became Editor, Toxicon has increased publication from four times per year to 12 times per year with almost a doubling in the total number of subscriptions. A corresponding increase occurred in the number of pages published in Toxicon which rose from 344 in 1969 to 1501 in 1990 . During this time the number of manuscripts (both regular and short communications) published increased from 54 to 147. The current (1990) percent rejection rate is 35%. The average time from receipt of a manuscript until the author is informed of the decision is six weeks, and where revisions are required the authors have also averaged six weeks before returning their revised manuscripts . The time from acceptance of a manuscript until its publication is approximately six months . The chronology of manuscripts submitted to Toxicon, if I might add a personal judgement, seems faster than most other journals in which I have published articles. The types of articles published in Toxicon in 1990 include those dealing with reptiles (41 %), marine animals (23%), microbes (12%), plants (14%)and arthropods (10%). This represents, as compared to 1969, a modest increase in the percentage of articles dealing with microbes and plants and a corresponding slight decrease in those dealing with arthropods and marine animals. The status of Toxicon relative to other life science journals can perhaps at least be approximated by looking at some information from ISI Journals Citation Reports for 1989 (latest data available) which ranks journals according to various criteria . As judged by impact factor (the frequency with which the average article in a journal has been cited by life science journals in a particular year), Toxicon ranks in the upper 20-25% ofjournals, whether compared to all journals, to all pharmacology and pharmacy journals or to all toxicology journals . An identical percentage ranking is found when Toxicon is compared to all other journals in terms of numbers of times cited, immediacy index and numbers of source items published. These rankings are all considerably better than the corresponding values in 1980. Starting in July 1988 a questionnaire was sent out to the senior author of all manuscripts, following either acceptance or rejection of their manuscript . The number of questionnaires sent (July 1988-July 1991) was 642, with 298 responses being received (the great majority being returned anonymously) . From 85 to 95% of all respondents strongly agreed or agreed with the following five statements: (1) the Editorial staff was considerate and polite ; (2) the peer review process was constructive; (3) the instructions for authors were easy to follow; (4) turnaround time was reasonable from submission to rejection or ~am
1418
Report on the Status
of Toxicon
acceptance ; (5) I will consider submitting another manuscript to Toxicon . Only I % to 6% disagreed or strongly disagreed with these statements while the remainder were neutral or had no opinion . Questionnaires have been sent to the members of the Editorial Council of Toxicon every three years since 1979. in 1991, responses were received from 41 of the 45 members of the Council. Over 80% of the respondents felt that the time they were allowed for reviewing manuscripts (one month) was good, with 15% feeling that it was too short. Publisher's handling time and time from submission to publication were judged to be too long by 30% to 44% of the Council members; however, compared to other journals the time to publication was judged to be about the same (60%) or faster (21%) by the great majority . Dependent upon discipline (Biochemistry, Physiology, Clinical, etc.), Toxicon was judged to be the same or better, in terms of scientific quality, than other journals in these respective fields by 69% to 83% of the respondents. The production quality of Toxicon (typesetting, halftones, paper, layout, etc.) was judged to be good by over 88% of the Council members responding . Fifty percent of the members of the Editorial Council members submit more than 25% of their publications for consideration to Toxicon, while only 5% have not yet published in Toxicon . Other parts of the questionnaire related more specifically to the reviewing process, forms used, etc. The support of the worldwide community of toxinologists has made this growth of Toxicon possible. Under the able new leadership of Dr Alan Harvey, I am certain that Toxicon will progress to an even stronger position as the primary means of scientific communication in the field of toxinology . Philip Rosenberg