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(Not So) Extreme Makeover

Brigham and Women's Hospital

You might have noticed the new cover design on this issue of the AJRCMB. The Blue and newly formed White Journals have similar designs. This team face-lift is just one example of the Red, White, and Blue ATS Journals working together. The Journals will also cooperate with respect to manuscript submissions. The Blue Journal (AJRCCM) will continue to publish high-quality clinical research, the Red Journal cell- and molecular-based studies, while animal models of human disease are considered fair game for both. The White Journal (Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society or PATS) will publish proceedings from both clinical and basic science meetings (real and virtual). To allow for a seamless transfer of submission between journals (should the authors agree), the Red Journal will now adapt the same formatting and reference style as the Blue. One additional change is that we will use RGB workflow to enhance color images. Finally, the Journals are also collaborating on a joint series of manuscripts to celebrate the ATS Centennial. Throughout the year, we will pick a major pulmonary disease, and the Blue Journal will review changes in clinical care over the last 100 years. Simultaneously, the Red Journal will highlight our evolution in understanding the cell and molecular basis of the disease.

Our team of associate editors (AEs) has spent a great deal of effort during our first year decreasing publication lag time. Due to a glut of worthy manuscripts, we were burdened with a lag time that peaked a year ago at 6.1 months (from time of acceptance). The lag time was decreased to 2.9 months by October 2004 and is holding steady. It is now equal to that of the Blue Journal, and appears optimal for our publication process. Pre-acceptance review time had already been markedly improved by both the online review process and by the diligence of the Journal staff and the AEs. However, we continue to monitor and challenge our efficiency.

Reducing the lag time was a painful process since the solution was to accept fewer articles in our fixed space. For the first time in the Journal's history, the acceptance rate dipped below 50% to its current rate of 35%. The AEs have spent much time communicating with each other to assure as fair and uniform a review process as possible. We thank the authors for understanding that a manuscript rejection is not a judgment of the scientist. Our reviewers are asked to judge not just the scientific rigor, but also the novelty and mechanistic insight gained from the study. The result has been the publication of studies that we truly believe are moving the field forward. And, since authors want their work published as soon as possible, we hope to attract even more outstanding manuscripts, thereby making the Journal even more exciting, and yes, increasing the impact factor.

In fact, in addition to these indirect effects of decreased lag time on impact factor, there is also a direct effect. The impact factor (IF) in a given year is equal to the number of citations to articles published in a given journal over the previous two years, divided by the total number of articles published by that journal in the same period. So, if it takes us half a year to publish from acceptance, then one quarter of the references in that manuscript (some of which will be to the Red) will be outdated by the time of publication.

We cannot ignore the impact factor, mainly because our authors can't. Our strategy to increase the IF will be the same as our mission: to publish the best original manuscripts and insightful reviews. Perhaps we'll employ a couple of tricks—like changing our "Perspectives" to "Editorials" because editorials do not charge against the denominator—but such will be few and our integrity beyond reproach.

With the elections behind and a new year ahead, I can assure you that there are no Red and Blue states—at least not in the Pulmonary/ATS world. On behalf of the ATS, our dedicated and skilled Journal staff working closely with the triumvirate of editors and editorial teams jointly wish to bring you the important advances in this, the most exciting of times for biomedical research.

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