Annals of Occupational Hygiene Performance, 2011

Abstract

Submission and publication. In 2011, we had 251 submissions, a 10% increase on our previous record in 2010. The number of submissions has trebled in the last 15 years. Our rejection rate was 51%. We published 96 research papers and commentaries, an 11% increase on 2010. Handling time. For papers received between October 2010 and September 2011, the median time to send a first decision to authors, including peer review, was 45 days, and 85% of first decisions were sent within 69 days. Publication time. The median time from acceptance to publication online is 7 weeks. Access. The provisional figure for the number of institutions paying for access to the whole journal increased by 8% compared with the same figure in 2010. In addition, 1430 institutions in developing countries have registered for free or deeply discounted access. The number of full texts of papers downloaded from the online edition is the equivalent of 1200 each working day. Sources. The leading sources of submissions, by address of first author, were USA (64 papers), UK (21), Canada (19), China (15), France (14), Netherlands (13), and Germany (12). There is always variation from year to year, but this is the first time that China has been in the top seven. The regional distributions were stable at Europe 42%, North America 33%, East Asia and Australasia 17%, and the rest of the world 8%. Ogden (2010) gave a fuller review of the sources of occupational hygiene papers in 16 journals in five languages. Journal impact. No single numerical indicator properly measures journal impact, and this is a subject of much research. The Thomson Scientific Journal Impact Factor (JIF) has many shortcomings and for journals in our field is on average rising at a few per cent a year (Ogden and Bartley, 2008). It is, however, widely used. Our JIF for 2010 (announced in the middle of 2011) was 2.04, a record. Processing. The success of the journal depends on many people. Twelve assistant editors share the work—their names are on the title page and website—and in 2011, we received 466 reviews from 343 different peer reviewers. Their anonymous help freely given is central to the publishing process. Corresponding information for 2010 is given by Ogden (2011).