Editors' report, November 2011

Abstract

During 2011 (from 1 January to 31 October) BJCP published: 8 Editors' views, 1 Editors' report, 1 Editors' pick, 1 Editorial, 42 Reviews, 1 Systematic review, 1 Expert Panel report, 100 Main papers, 1 Methods in Clinical Pharmacology, 16 Short reports, 1 Commentary, 15 Book reviews, 2 New Drug Mechanisms, 2 Themed sections, 29 Letters to the Editors and 1 Proceedings/Abstracts. There was one themed issue ‘Haemostasis’. Most of these data are very similar to those in previous years but with an increasing number of invited reviews which we are confident will further enhance the quality of the journal. We received 564 submissions (6% higher compared with 2010), of which 360 (+2%) were original papers and 41 (–7%) were short reports. Of the total submissions, 112 (–1%) have been accepted and 307 (+13%) rejected with the remainder pending a decision or awaiting a revision. Of the total number of original papers submitted, 15% have been accepted, 57% rejected and the 28% remaining are pending a decision or awaiting a revision. For short reports, 20% have been accepted, 58% rejected and the 22% remaining are pending a decision or awaiting a revision. For the full years of 2009 and 2010, we accepted for original papers 39% and 32%, respectively and 41% and 37% short reports. The figures for 2011 so far suggest that acceptance rates will be similar. Original submissions from 1 November 2010 to 31 October 2011 came from 49 countries (47 countries in 2009 and 54 in 2010): United Kingdom (111, 16.5% of total), USA (60, 8.9%), the Netherlands (58, 8.6%), China (49, 7.3%), India (41, 6.1%), France (39, 5.8%), Australia (33, 4.9%), Italy (30, 4.5%), Japan (24, 3.6%), Germany (23, 3.4%), Korea (23, 3.4%), Spain (17, 2.5%), Switzerland (14, 2.1%), Canada (13, 1.9%), Belgium (11, 1.6%), Denmark (11, 1.6%), Sweden (10, 1.5%) and 32 other countries (<10 submissions each). Compared with 2010, Switzerland made it in the list of countries with 10 or more submissions at the expense of Iran and substantial increases were noted from China, the Netherlands, USA, United Kingdom and Korea. Papers were submitted and handled electronically via the ScholarOne website. Median times (2010 figures in brackets) were as follows: from submission to first decision 35 (44) days (range 0–173). from receipt by the referee to return of their report 13 (13) days (range 0–61). from submission to acceptance 86 (115) days (range 0–250). from receipt at Wiley-Blackwell to accepted Article publication 9 (9) days. from receipt at Wiley-Blackwell to print publication 133 (105) days. These results show satisfactory improvements, especially in the categories ‘from submission to first decision’, which has decreased by 9 days (20%) and ‘from receipt by the referee to return of their report’, in which the long tail of up to 61 days has halved compared with 2010. This reflects the outstanding commitment by referees in what is a highly competitive market with increased demands on precious time from more journals and more manuscripts. The impact factor is 3.063, a decline of 6% following 2 years of increases. BJCP is ranked 74th out of 252 journals in Pharmacology and Pharmacy, a slip of eight positions. Out of 8073 journals in the Impact Factor list, the BJCP is ranked 1351th, a decline of 274 positions and slippage into the top 17% compared with top 15% in 2010.