EDITORIAL

Abstract

EDITORIAL Cite asfollows: Osborne, Bruce 2012Editorial. Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 112B, i-ii. DOI:l().3318/ BIOE.2012.21. As I indicated in myeditorial in thefirst issueof 2012,I am encouraged bythenumber ofarticles nowbeingsubmitted toBiology andEnvironment , as well as the increased internationalisation of the journal,becausemorearticles aresubmitted from outsideof Ireland.As I have said previously, however, we haveto be realistic aboutthegoals that wesetgiven theresources andobjectives ofthe journal, whichcovers local,aswellasmorewider, international interests, andoursuccess willdepend on our abilityto continueto appeal to both audiences. Increasingly thesuccessof a journalis being measured byitsImpact Factor, a theme I promised to returnto. An ImpactFactoris a 'metric' calculated by and published in Journal Citation Reports - a productof the Thomson Reuters groupofpublishers. In general, theImpactFactor isusedtomeanthetwo-year impact factor, which, 'simply' expressed, is a number fora givenyear derived from thenumber ofcitations thatyearto papers published in a journalin theprevious two years,dividedby the numberof citablearticles published inthesame journaloverthosesametwo years. Another, often-quoted Impact Factor isbased ona five-year period. Anadditional, perhaps lesserknownmeasure is theImmediacy Factor, which reflects exactlywhat it says on the tin - the immediate impactof a particular publication - in whichnumbers ofcitations ofajournal's articles in theyearoftheir publication aremeasured. 2011impact factor = number of citations in all 2011 papersin SCIE database toB&E papers withnominal publication datesof2010and2009 number ofcitable B&E articles with nominal publication dates of2010and2009 2012impact factor = number of citations in all 2012 papersin SCIE database toB&E papers with nominal publication datesof2011and2010 number ofcitable B&E articles with nominal publication dates of2011and2010 The year in which citations to an article contribute to an impactfactor is dependent on the yearof publication givenon an individual paper.A paperpublished onlinein one yearbut published inhard copythefollowing year maybear either yearasitsyearofpublication - itisa matter fortheconvention followed bythepublisher. Thismaymeanthata paperwiththenominal publication yearof2010,for instance, mayactually have been first publishedonline in mid-2009. Citations ofthispaperbefore theendof2009will not contribute to any index, citations in the calendar year2010 willcontribute to theImmediacyIndex ,andcitations tothepaperin2011and 2012willcontribute to the2011and2012impact factors, respectively. Confusingly, although Thomson Reuters ScienceCitation IndexExpanded (SCIE) informationis usedas thebasisforcalculating all of the metrics published inJournal Citation Reports, these two sections of ThomsonReutersoperateindependently . The SCIE databaseis updatedon a weeklybasis,whiletheJournal Citation Reports bases its metrics on a snapshot of information extracted from theSCIE database at one pointin timeduring thecalendar year. So,whatdoesitallmeanfor us?Clearly, given the natureof the publications in Biology and Environment , whicharelikely to havetheir major significance in thelongterm, a highImmediacy Indexisnotsomething we canreasonably hopeto strive for.Of theother twometrics, thefive-year Impact Factor maybe morerelevant forus,given thesamearguments. One issueassociated withthe separation of theinformation intoa nearcontinuousrecord , compiled bytheSCIE, andtheactual publishing oftheImpact Factor, isthat itisalmost impossible to recreate exactly thestatistics usedto derivetheImpactFactor.Yes, we can getsome idea,butno,we cannot necessarily derive theexact figure. We simply needtowaitforthepublication oftherelevant year's Journal Citations Reports. Moreover, we can expectsignificant year-toyear swings intheImpact Factor injournals, suchas Biology and Environment , wherethe numbers of issuesper year is relatively small,because the numberof citationscould changedramatically fromyearto year.A highly citedpaperin one two-orfive-year period couldresult ina significant increase intheImpact Factor, forinstance. So,what canwedo?Continuing toincrease the number of submissions of regular papersand the further internationalisation of thejournalwillbe important, as are initiatives suchas the Praeger ReviewsandtheSpecialissues, so further suggestionsforthesearealways welcome.Otherrecommendations relate toproviding more information on DOI:10.33 18/BIOE.201 2.21 Biology andEnvironment: Proceedings oftheRoyalIrish Academy, Vol.112B, No.2,i-ii (2012).<: RoyalIrish Academy i Editorial ourwebsite, including yearly updates ofourImpact Factor, background information on Impact Factors, an emphasison our international peer-review process, and comparisons withothersimilar publications , as wellas an frequently askedquestions (FAQ) section.Papersare alreadymorewidely disseminatedthan before through increased availability of paperabstracts and fullpapersvia MetaPress. We can highlight mostdownloaded papers andmostcitedpaperfor a particular period, and these could be made freelyavailableon MetaPress andon ourwebsite. We already includeinformation on thefirst page of everypaperexplaining how the paper shouldbe citedin reference lists in other publications ,and where possible,we can check that citations toourpapers inSCIE journals areaccurate so they willbe taken intoaccount whenanImpact Factor iscalculated. Electronic 'alerts'to newlypublished papers aregoingto be provided viaMetaPress to anyone whochooses tosignuptoa mailing list, so authors of forthcoming publications are made awareof papers they might wishto cite. Whileall of thiswillhelpin improving the reputation ofBiology andEnvironment for publishing good-quality, interesting science,we shouldnot lose sightof the factthatthismessage will still dependlargely on individuals andindividual contacts . The board, inparticular, hasa majorresponsibility for disseminating thismessage.We are progressing, butwe needtogo that bitfurther! I would like to thankRoisin Jones,in particular, forinformation on impactfactors and forherclarifications andamendments to an earlier draft oftheeditorial. Muchofthis information was obtained byRoisinas a result ofan Association of Learned andProfessional Society Publisher's workshopsheattended in March2012,funded bythe RoyalIrish Academy, andwe aregrateful fortheir continued support for the journal.I wouldalsolike to thankRuth Hegarty, Mike Jonesand Fraser Mitchell fordiscussion. ii ...