Ten years of Journal of Biophotonics.

Abstract

Dear readers of Journal of Biophotonics, Our journal is now already 10 years old and we can look back on a successful anniversary volume No. 10 with lots of exciting articles, letters and reviews reporting about the unique chances and possibilities of biophotonics. We received submissions from all over the world showing the large international visibility of our Journal of Biophotonics. Of course there is one metric that determines to a large extent the status of a scientific journal within the community and that is the impact factor. We are very proud that we were able to increase our impact factor from 3.818 in 2016 to 4.382 in 2017. We also observed a significant increase in the number of submissions and accepted articles leading to an increase of published pages in the anniversary volume 10 by 30%. Furthermore, the online usage of Journal of Biophotonics articles has steadily increasing over the last 5 years (Figure 1). Among the 12 issues released in 2017 was one Topical Issue (Issue 6–7) about the exciting topic “In vivo Optical Imaging/Intravital Microscopy” edited by Laura Marcu and Elizabeth M.C. Hillman 1. The December issue was focused on Biophotonics in China, with an overview by Hua Shi and Qingming Luo introducing the research groups in the biophotonics field in China 2. The editorial board of our journal has also seen some change last year with 3 new members joining the board to support us in shaping our journal: Wolfgang Drexler from the Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University Vienna, Austria; Jiming Hu from the Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine, College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University, China; and David Sampson from the Optical + Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, School of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia. We are very happy to welcome these renowned experts in Journal of Biophotonics. After 10 years, it is also time to change the Journal design. In 2017, we implemented a new, more modern and standard page design to optimize our journal for the online environment, to reduce the time from author submission to publication and to reduce the number of errors requiring author correction during proofing. In addition, the Accepted Articles service was implemented as a further development to provide authors the fastest possible publication speed. Each accepted article is posted online within a few days after acceptance, without editing or typesetting. The Accepted Article is already searchable and fully citable by its DOI number. The final copyedited and proofed article will replace the Accepted Article version and appear as Version of Record in the online Early View section within a matter of weeks. Last but not least, we introduced eLocators that are already widely used in publishing. An eLocator is a unique identifier for an online article that serves the same function that page numbers have traditionally served in the print world. The eLocator appears as the last identifier in a citation, replacing the page number, and is an equally reliable means for discovery and citation. The introduction of eLocators supports the journal's transition to a new, digital production process that reflects the future of journal publishing. At the end, we would like to thank all authors, referees and readers who made the success of our Journal of Biophotonics possible in the first place. The Editors of Journal of Biophotonics very much appreciate your continuous and steady support. I wish all of you also on the behalf of the editorial board of Journal of Biophotonics a happy and successful new year 2018. Yours sincerely,