2017 was an exciting year for JAMA Surgery, as the journal experienced several notable accomplishments. First, as evidence of the high-quality scientific publications in JAMA Surgery, the impact factor rose significantly from 5.7 to 7.96. This incredible accomplishment reflects the hard work of our authors, peer reviewers,1 and editorial team. The impact factor of 7.96 positions JAMA Surgery as the second highest ranked of 197 surgery journals. Another measure of article impact is the Altmetric score, which quantifies the quality and amount of electronic attention an article receives from news and social media around the world. Our top 3 articles2-4 for Altmetric score from the past year are listed in the Table. In another indication of success, in 2017, JAMA Surgery had a 28% increase in submissions to the journal, going from 1482 in 2016 to 1898 in 2017 (Table). Even with this significant increase in submissions, the acceptance rate for all article types was 20%; for original investigations, 9%; and for research letters, 23%.
The web and social media presence for JAMA Surgery continues to be very strong under the leadership of Amalia Cochran, MD, our web and social media editor. Our electronic tables of contents are delivered to 57 000 individuals. We currently have 20 900 Twitter followers, which represents a 34% increase in 2017. We currently have 22 263 Facebook followers, which represents a 50% increase in 2017. Thus, between the electronic tables of contents, visits to our website, social media reach, and our print distribution, JAMA Surgery reaches more than 60 000 individuals weekly. In addition, JAMA Surgery continues to publish 6 podcasts per year. These podcasts are now being conducted by Dr Cochran, who brings a new level of insight into the interview process with authors.
The end of 2017 brought change to our editorial board. We thank Julie Ann Sosa, MD, MA, for her 3 years of service as a deputy editor and wish her luck in her new role as editor-in-chief of the World Journal of Surgery. We also thank Fred Rademaker, PhD, and Terry Hyslop, PhD, for their 3 years of service as our biostatistical editors; their contributions no doubt helped to raise the bar on the science of our publications. We now welcome Jennifer Tseng, MD, MPH, as one of our new deputy editors as well as Todd Schwartz, DrPH, MS, and Jason Haukoos, MD, MSc, as our new biostatistical editors to the editorial board of JAMA Surgery. We look forward to their ongoing contributions to the journal.
Last, I would like to thank the readers, authors, peer reviewers, and editorial board for contributing to the journal. Through your support, we aim to fulfill our missions: to promote the art and science of surgery by publishing relevant peer-reviewed research to assist the surgeon in optimizing patient care and to serve as a forum for the discussion of issues pertinent to surgery, such as the education and training of the surgical workforce, quality improvement, and the ethics and economics of health care delivery.
Corresponding Author: Melina R. Kibbe, MD, Department of Surgery, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 4041 Burnett Womack, 101 Manning Dr, CB 7050, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7050 (melina_kibbe@med.unc.edu).
Published Online: March 21, 2018. doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2017.5633
Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported.
2.Berríos-Torres
SI, Umscheid
CA, Bratzler
DW,
et al; Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guideline for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infection, 2017.
JAMA Surg. 2017;152(8):784-791. doi:
10.1001/jamasurg.2017.0904PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref