As is our custom, on the December "Editor's Page" of Revista Española de Cardiología (REC) the editors take the opportunity to summarize our year-long editorial activity and analyze in detail the latest bibliometric data obtained by REC, its dissemination, and proposed new editorial policy.1-3 Our objective is to share with authors, referees, and readers in general the most recent journal activity data and the editorial concerns that have guided our actions during the year.
The data we present here were fully analyzed at the annual meeting of the REC Editorial Committee, held during the Congress on Cardiovascular Diseases in Madrid. At the congress, part of the information we analyze here was presented at the Plenary Session of the Board of Directors and the General Assembly of the Spanish Society of Cardiology (SEC).
Bibliometric Indices
In 2007, we have achieved a substantial increase in our impact factor: 2.1764 (Figure 1), passing yet another milestone in the history of REC as we cross the psychological "2" barrier. Currently, we are located in the second quartile of all cardiovascular journals indexed by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). So, according to the latest Science Citation Reports data, we find ourselves in 27th position in the select club of the 74 most prestigious international journals analyzed in 2007 in the field of cardiovascular research (in 2001 we ranked 50th in a league table of 65 journals). Revista Española de Cardiología remains the Spanish-language biomedical journal with the highest impact factor and has consolidated its leadership over other journals in our field in this popular bibliometric index.
Figure 1. Time trend in the impact factor of Revista Española de Cardiología.
The number of citations of articles published in REC continues to grow progressively. During 2006, 407 recent articles (ie, published in 2004-05) were cited (in ISI-indexed journals). Moreover, the number of external citations of REC (ie, in other international journals) has continued to increase, reaching 143 in 2007. At the same time, in 2006, total citations of REC (of articles published in any previous year) was 1131 (46% in other journals), an improvement over recent years that confirms the sustained, long-term interest aroused by our contents. Thus, in 2006 the "mean life" for citations of REC was 3.7 years. Furthermore, the immediacy index (ie, citations in 2006 of articles published in 2006) was 0.49, ranking REC in an attractive 25th place among the 74 ISI-indexed cardiovascular journals. Times of acceptance and publication, which we will comment on later, are decisive in this index.
Despite all this excellent news and the maturity and scientific respect achieved by REC, we must continue to insist on the importance of citing the most significant studies recently published in REC in new scientific articles submitted for publication (in REC or in other international journals). In this way, together, we all collaborate to boost the dissemination of the best cardiovascular research conducted in Spain and maintain the excellent bibliometric indices we currently enjoy.1-3 As we have said elsewhere,4 this enables us to reinforce the "circle of prestige" we have entered, attracting more and better research studies to our pages, which in turn helps improve the quality of our contents and our scientific impact.
Electronic Manuscript Management
In February 2007, REC implemented an online electronic manuscript management system (available at: www.revespcardiol.org). Currently, almost all original research papers submitted for peer-review are sent via this system.5 The incorporation of this powerful editorial tool (Editorial Manager-Elsevier Editorial System) represents a new bid to offer maximum quality. It implies completely abandoning paper and has meant one of the greatest in-house transformations of work routines for the REC secretariat in the Casa del Corazón in recent years.
Without doubt, this has been the most important challenge we have faced in 2007.5 Our aim was to equip REC with the latest information technology (IT) tools available in the editorial field in order to continue to compete with other prestigious international journals that already offer them. In fact, REC is the first Spanish-language journal to incorporate this new technology and we should thank Elsevier Doyma for their inestimable help during the development of this exciting project. To achieve our objectives, we have not only had to adapt the system in-house so it met our editorial peculiarities but, moreover, the entire interface content for authors and referees was translated and incorporated into a bilingual English-Spanish version.5 Now, authors themselves generate the PDF copy of their manuscripts and upload them onto the system, together with all article metadata. Although this initiative is not directly obvious to readers, it enables us to enhance REC's attraction for authors and research groups all over the world. Following the internationalization of our readership, achieved in the last decade, our new objective is to increasingly "internationalize" our authors.
Electronic manuscript management represents a significant advantage for referees too, facilitating their work and making it more efficient. Reviews can be undertaken literally anywhere and referees now have access to the new biomedical search engine (SCOPUS) via the system itself. However, we would like to remind referees of the importance of accepting all invitations to conduct peer-reviews (now received directly in their already overflowing e-mail inboxes) and of carrying out their reviews with the same diligence and dedication that has characterized their work to date.
In 2007, we consider the system is still on trial and would like to take this opportunity to encourage all users to send suggestions on improvements to enable us to take further advantage of its great flexibility.5 A very similar system is currently in use at 2400 scientific publications and this uniformity can also help generate a certain "call effect." As we will see below, the first trends in the number of articles received make us very optimistic about this.
Articles Received
In 2007, the number of manuscripts submitted to REC has grown substantially (Figure 2). In fact, the increase has been 25% over 2006, which represents a sharp upturn when compared with the gentle upward slope of previous years. Fundamentally, this is an increase in original article manuscripts (an estimated 239 articles, a 47% increase), which confirms the growing attraction of REC to all investigators in cardiovascular research. We have also received substantially more manuscripts from abroad with submissions from Argentina and México increasing markedly. This has meant a significant increase in the number of contributions in English (47 in total, an increase of 176% with respect to 2006).
Figure 2. Time trend in the number of original articles received. *Data for 2007 include the estimate for the last 3 months of the year.
Reviews and Publication
Prior to September 2007, REC Editorial Committee members and referees had carried out 633 reviews of manuscripts (224 more than in 2006). Moreover, our experts in methodology and biostatistics had conducted 241 additional reviews. These figures only include first reviews so, if we remember that a substantial number of articles are sent for a second review, we can appreciate the feverish peer review activity conducted during the year. Probably as a result of incorporating electronic manuscript management, referees' review times have improved notably by comparison with 2006 (mean 20.2 [14.7] days) (Figure 3). However, due to the delay inherent in the editorial process, this improvement has still to be translated into a reduction in our total publication times (mean 309 days), which are very similar to those of 2006. By way of comparison, the estimated publication times of the European Heart Journal and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in the first 6 months of 2007 have been 255 and 265 days, respectively. However, we are in no doubt these improvements will be reflected in our total publication times for 2008.
Figure 3. Time trend of the mean refereeing times of Revista Española de Cardiología referees.
In spite of the reduction in review times, we must insist that reviews should be conducted in a maximum of 2 weeks to try to continue speeding up the editorial process. From our standpoint as editors, we occasionally witness somewhat schizophrenic situations in which authors complain bitterly at delays in refereeing their articles, who later for different reasons cause greater delays when acting as referees. Finally, our referees' recommendations are more and more stringent (Figure 4). This, together with the growing number of manuscripts, obliges us to progressively reduce the rate of acceptance (Figure 5).
Figure. 4. Time trend of mean scores awarded to articles by referees (acceptance: 4; minor changes: 3; major changes: 2; rejection: 1).
Figure 5. Time trend in the percentage of acceptance of original articles.
Table 1 presents the list of referees who have impartially reviewed work for REC in 2007. We would like to express to all of them our most sincere thanks. It is very important to point out that the Editorial Committee's external referees are assuming a growing responsibility in our peer-review process (30% of reviews in 2005, 34% in 2006, and 45% in 2007). These data, together with the growing number of manuscripts received and the fact that many have to be reviewed in English, has meant a genuine overload for all our referees. We would like to take this opportunity to remind readers of the transcendental nature of these reviews as an indispensable tool in the scientific process and an inestimable aid in making the final decision about manuscript publication. Faced with this new reality, it will be necessary to make the pertinent adaptations to our editorial policy. One first step in this direction has been to offer our referees "continuing education credits" to be granted by the Accreditation Committee of the SEC Continuing Education Committee. Clearly, the next essential step should be the renewal of our Editorial Committee.
Prizes Awarded for Articles Published
This year, for the first time, our objective that all SEC Scientific Sections should award a prize for the best article published in REC in their specific area of interest has been achieved (Figure 6). Consequently, the number of prizes and total prize money (26 prizes; 73 400 Euros) have increased substantially. These prizes, presented at the last Congress on Cardiovascular Diseases (Table 2), constitute a stimulus and much-deserved recognition of the best research articles published in REC. We would like to thank all the Scientific Sections and the SEC Executive Committee for their unconditional support in this initiative that, after all, is simply intended to contribute to encouraging the quality research conducted in Spain.
Figure 6. Time trend in the prizes awarded for the best articles published in Revista Española de Cardiología.
Supplements, Special Issues, and Special Articles
After the substantial increase in the number of supplements published in recent years,1-3 in 2007 we have decided to stabilize this (8 in total). Activity has centered on carefully selecting topics and optimizing article quality, improving scientific interest and reinforcing the supplements' function within continuing education. Independently of the need for a sponsor, many supplements are currently generated on the initiative of SEC Scientific Sections. Since 2006, all supplements are produced in full color and are freely available on the REC website in full text (PDF) format. In the future, we intend to stimulate greater dissemination of the supplements including them in prestigious bibliometric databases.
In the special issue of "Current topics in cardiology," edited annually for the last 4 years, we ask SEC Scientific Sections for a review article summarizing the most important advances in their respective areas of interest.6 In this indexed number, the Sections count on an extremely valuable tool to express their concerns and explain to readers their evaluation of recent scientific advances, the most relevant data in their registers of activity, and the merits of the articles they have awarded prizes to.6
Some "Special Articles" (16 in 2007) can already be considered classics. At REC, we have tried to collaborate in disseminating the results of the most important recent clinical trials (Late Breaking Clinical Trials) regularly publishing translations of abstracts.7,8 The Scientific Sections' official registers of activity are also published as special articles.9-13 Moreover, we translate European Society of Cardiology clinical practice guidelines, which together with expert commentaries we publish as special articles in electronic format only.14-16 Although this last initiative requires a huge deployment of editorial resources, we know it is much appreciated by all our readers and contributes to facilitating local implementation of these guidelines.
Dissemination
This year has seen an unprecedented increase in visits to our websites both in Spanish (1 037 657 visits until September) and in English (90 767 visits until September). Now, new IT tools (Google Analytics) give the editorial office a much more precise view of these visits than previously and we are frankly satisfied with the latest data. Similarly, the number of PDF downloads of full-text articles (278 714 in Spanish and 39 099 in English, until September) has also grown substantially in 2007 and has surpassed all our predictions.1-3
Other Editorial Considerations
As editors, we are continually at pains to improve the editorial quality of REC, increase the international dissemination of our contents and, definitively, achieve excellence.1-3 We currently collaborate closely with different international editorial initiatives (the HEART group and the European Society of Cardiology Editor's Club) to boost still further the scientific recognition of our journal. A publication's prestige clearly depends on its bibliometric indices, on rigorously meeting all international quality standards, and on achieving the greatest possible impact for its scientific contents.17-19 However, we are fully conscious that one of the fundamental objectives of scientific journals is to satisfy readers' concerns and, in our case, we will pay special attention to our readers' needs to update knowledge and develop their continuing education.20
Correspondence: Revista Española de Cardiología.
Sociedad Española de Cardiología.
Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, 5-7. 28028 Madrid. España.
E-mail: rec@revespcardiol.org