JAMA Dermatology—The Year in Review, 2017

JAMA Dermatology continues to enhance our digital presence, which serves to inform physicians and the public about advances in treatment of skin conditions. The journal content is available online ahead of print, and we connect with our readers via the electronic table of contents and through social media. Each weekly online issue of the journal offers an article free to be downloaded for 1 week; thus, the public has free access to selected articles. Our reach extended to 3.4 million people in 2017 with full-text downloads. Our online presence is international, with more than 100 000 users in Canada, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

One of the most downloaded features is the Patient Page, which is free. The graphic illustrations transcend limitations of language and literacy to inform the public about dermatologic diseases. The popularity of the Patient Page was amplified by podcasts with the section editor, Misha Rosenbach, MD, who interviews the author of the Patient Page about the fine points of clinical care of patients with the disease. These conversations provide easy listening and serve to inform both physicians and the public, and about 30% are downloaded via iTunes.

Our community of authors represents 58 countries, and 44% of the submissions come from outside the United States. In the interest of serving the authorship community, we offer open access to authors whose funding organization requires this. At the time of article submission, authors may request referral of their articles to one of the specialty journals within the JAMA Network. If JAMA Dermatology fails to accept an article, the article is then immediately and automatically transferred to the designated journal. The author may also choose to refer the manuscript to JAMA Network Open, which is a general medical, fully open access journal that includes content from many disciplines, including dermatology.

Authors have embraced the requirement to report demographic characteristics of the study participants.¹ The transparency now available, as presented in each article’s table of demographic characteristics of those included in the study, quickly demonstrates whether the study population represents the full spectrum of people with the disease.

In the area of author outreach, authors receive email notification with links to the number of views of, and citations to, their articles. By clicking on the Altmetric link of their article, authors can view where their article was mentioned in the news media, blogs, and social media accounts. The Twitter demographics are displayed on a map of the world. The top 3 articles for electronic news and social media attention, listed in the Table,^2-4 were closely followed by these articles: “Prevalence of Pubic Hair Grooming–Related Injuries and Identification of High-Risk Individuals in the United States,”⁵ “Association of Delays in Surgery for Melanoma With Insurance Type,”⁶ “NOT RECLUSE—A Mnemonic Device to Avoid False Diagnoses of Brown Recluse Spider Bites,”⁷ “Improving Hairdresser’s Knowledge and Self-efficacy to Detect Scalp and Neck Melanoma by Use of an Educational Video,”⁸ “Prescription-Strength Topical Steroids Sold Without a Prescription,”⁹ and “Uniform Nomenclature to Describe Clinical Features of Pigmented Lesions.”¹⁰ Another author benefit is depositing of published research articles into PubMed Central. Some articles published in JAMA Dermatology are brought to the attention of the JAMA readership by highlighting the importance of the topic as an Evidence Synopsis or a review article.

Table.  JAMA Dermatology Statistics for 2017

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As the number of manuscript submissions continues to increase, greater depth in our editorial staff is needed. Jeffrey P. Callen, MD, will continue to serve as the Deputy Editor. Ivo Abraham, PhD, will provide in-depth reviews as Associate Editor for Quantitative Methods. Claudia Hernandez, MD, and Eleni Linos, MD, DrPH, join the team as Assistant Editors. Dr Hernandez will shepherd the numerous submissions of Research Letters, Letters to the Editor, and Observations. Dr Linos will focus her attention on Viewpoints. The leadership of the editorial team and those who serve on the editorial board contribute to the excellence of the journal. JAMA Dermatology and all the JAMA Network journals maintain rigorous standards of peer review, editorial review and selection, manuscript editing, and editorial policies. In appreciation of those who help to maintain the standards of the journal, the list of peer reviewers for 2017 are published online.¹¹

Corresponding Author: June K. Robinson, MD, Department of Dermatology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 645 N Michigan Ave, Ste 1050, Chicago, IL 60611 (june.robinson@jamanetwork.org).

Published Online: March 14, 2018. doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2017.5584

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported.