Last year the State of the Journal editorial reviewed the progress of the Journal of Perinatology (J Perinatol) over the past 5 years.1 The major changes that occurred during that period were the change to monthly publication (in 2004) and the dramatic increase in the number of manuscript submissions. In 2007, more than 500 Original Articles, Editorials, Reviews and other manuscripts were received for consideration of publication. This increase in submissions represented 100% growth over the 5 years. In the past year, we have continued to grow at approximately 10% rate, with 583 first submission articles received in 2008 for consideration of publication. We have also evaluated 190 resubmitted revised manuscripts during the past year. As we continue to publish approximately 200 articles per year, I conclude that we are becoming more selective regarding manuscript acceptance. The most common type of manuscript submitted is the Original Article—the product of research involving human studies usually of mothers or infants, but occasionally follow-up studies. In 2008, we completed 288 Original Article reviews and accepted 38% for publication. The next most common manuscript type is the Perinatal/Neonatal case presentation of which we evaluated 158 and accepted 15%. Our goal for 2009 is to continue this growth in submissions while retaining the quality of reviews and relatively short external evaluation period.
As a component part of the Nature Publishing Group, we are advantaged by their awareness of the larger issues surrounding research publishing. They have been evaluating different mechanisms for guaranteeing continued access to electronic archives of published materials. The J Perinatol author-licensing policies are compliant with the NIH and other funding organizations. Nature Publishing Group supports an active J Perinatol webpage within their large group of journals. Nature Publishing Group and the Academy of Pediatrics Section on Perinatal Pediatrics have worked together to provide an electronic gateway between the respective websites for Section members to access electronically, without charge, J Perinatol contents and its archives. The J Perinatol Table of Contents is distributed monthly to approximately 40 000 other registrants and over 100 000 page views occur on the J Perinatol website every month. Our goal for the coming year will be to continue to expand these electronic resources and follow the trends in measuring our usefulness to the Perinatal/Neonatal community.
As reported last year, we continue to evaluate all articles in the editorial offices and assign an initial preliminary priority for publication. During this process some articles fail to achieve sufficient preliminary priority for further consideration and are returned to the authors, usually within a week, with an early decision. We anticipate that the authors will be aided by the editor's brief comments and will be able to submit their article expeditiously elsewhere.
All remaining Original Articles, State-of-Art Reviews and Case Presentations are further reviewed externally before publication. Annually we thank our external reviewers for lending their critical expertise in helping to evaluate these articles. Last year 368 external reviewers submitted over 600 manuscript reviews. The reviewers are listed following this editorial as a means of recognizing and thanking them for their efforts. Their high-quality reviews produce better articles and their efforts are integral to the growing J Perinatol reputation. We will continue to utilize external manuscript reviewers before acceptance for publication in order to continue to assure scientific integrity and quality of our published papers. This year Thompson ISI will publish the first impact factor for J Perinatol and our goal will be to provide continuing high-quality published manuscripts to increase annually this index of journal standing.
This year has seen significant changes in journal personnel. Our Emeritus Editor, Gilbert Martin, had been performing as the Supplements Editor and producing 2 to 4 supplements annually for at least the past 7 years. Dr Martin is a J Perinatol founder and has nurtured J Perinatol in its evolution from a biannual publication of the California Perinatal Association through to the present day. Dr Martin was critically responsible for attaining the sponsorship by the National Perinatal Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Perinatal Pediatrics. Dr Martin remains as our Emeritus Editor and I am certain he will continue to counsel and support the editors, authors and Editorial Board. Dr Jatinder Bhatia, Chief of Neonatology at the Medical College of Georgia, is assuming the role of Supplements Editor and will be supervising publication of these components of J Perinatol's annual production.
We made considerable changes to the Editorial Board this year as well. I personally thank the Board Members who have completed their terms for their many efforts during their years of service and encourage them to remain available for reviews and other supporting roles. The new Editorial Board members have expressed enthusiasm and eagerly anticipate their new roles.
A last personnel change has been in the role of Editorial Assistant. Many of you know Ruth Bassford as the person at the other end of our telephone and who was able to respond to the many issues people raise regarding J Perinatol, especially issues relating to article submission with the Manuscript Tracking System. Ms Bassford remains as our assistant, but she is now off-site in a virtual office. Unfortunately that means the loss of having a person immediately available for telephone support, but she is very responsive to email questions and will continue her critical role assisting authors, reviewers and editors. She also is the person who processes all the articles from initial submission to final uploading to the publisher.
During the past year we have put considerable effort into enhancing the State-of-Art Review section. Our goal is to have a review in each issue and we are achieving this goal at large. We believe that review articles will provide immediate and clear support for our readers in their clinical roles. I ask our readers to provide me with suggestions for topics and authors of articles that they believe will meet this goal.
In conclusion, J Perinatol remains strong and active. The editors, Editorial Board Members and our reviewers are committed to providing a scholarly, relevant and interesting multidisciplinary publication that our readership will enjoy every month.
References
Lawson EE . State of the journal: 2003 to 2008. J Perinatol 2008; 28 (3): 169–170.
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2008 Reviewers list
2008 Reviewers list
In this issue, we acknowledge and thank the reviewers who have been active during the past year (from 1 January to 31 December 2008). The Journal is improved dramatically by their generous contributions of time and expertise in the anonymous task of reviewing the many manuscripts submitted for consideration of publication.
Aagaard-Tillery, Kjersti
Abdullah, Fizan
Adamkin, David
Adler, Amos
Aggarwal, Sanjeev
Aghai, Zubair H
Albertine, Kurt
Ambalavanan, Namasivayam
Amblavanan, S
Ananth, Cande
Anday, Endla
Ariagno, Ronald
Attar, Mohammad A.
Attridge, Joshua
Aucott, Susan
Autry, Meg
Aviles, Agustin
Aziz, Natali
Bada, Henrietta
Bader, David
Bailit, Jennifer
Barkemeyer, Brian M.
Barlow, Steven
Bar-Meir, Maskit
Barrington, Keith
Bauer, Charles
Bear, Moraye
Bedrick, Alan
Berseth, Carol
Besner, Gail
Bhandari, Vineet
Bhatia, Jatinder
Bhatt-Mehta, Varsha
Bhutani, Vinod
Bhutta, Zulfiqar
Birenbaum, Howard
Bitsori, Maria
Blackwell, Mary
Bliss, Joseph
Border, William
Brady, Ken
Brion, Luc
Bruckheimer, Elchanan
Bruckner, Anna
Bruckner, Tim
Bullard, Janine
Calhoun, Darlene
Camerini, Victoria
Campbell, Deborah
Carlo, Waldemar
Carter, Brian
Carver, Jane
Cashore, William
Catlin, Anita
Chang, Taeun
Chasnoff, Ira
Cheng, Yvonne
Chmait, Ramen
Christensen, Robert
Chung, Judith
Clark, David
Clark, Reese
Cleary-Goldman, Jane
Clyman, Ronald
Cohen, Bernard
Cohen, Rachel
Connell, Tom
Cooke, Richard
Cotten, Charles
Crosson, Jane
Cunningham, Douglas
Curet, Luis
Daily, Donna
Darnall, Robert
Davis, Jonathan
Dennery, Phyllis
Denson, Susan
Dhanireddy, Ramasubbareddy
Dimmitt, Reed
Donovan, Edward
Doyle, Nora
Dunn-Albanese, Lisa
Durand, Manuel
Ehrenkranz, Richard
Eidelman, Arthur
El-Sayed, Yasser
Engelke, Stephen
Engle, William A.
Engle, William D.
Erez, Offer
Esther, Charles
Evans, Nick
Fadrowski, Jeffrey
Faix, Roger
Fenton, Tanis
Field, Tiffany
Fineman, Jeffrey
Finer, Neil
Frader, Joel
Frantz, Ivan
Fraser, William
Frieden, Ilona
Fujii, Alan
Fujimoto, Victor
Fullerton, Judith
Furman, Gilbert
Gadzinowski, Janusz
Gal, Peter
Gates, Elena
Gaylord, Mark
Gerdes, Jeffrey
Gessler, Peter
Gimovsky, Martin
Glick, Christina
Golden, William
Goldsmith, Jay
Goldstein, Mitchell
Goldstein, Ruth
Golombek, Sergio G.
Goodwin, T. Murphy
Gordon, Phillip
Graham, Ernest
Greenberg, Mara
Greenough, Anne
Grisaru-Granovsky, Sorina
Grobman, William
Gross, Eitan
Gupta, Munish
Hageman, Joseph
Hall, Richard
Halloran, Donna
Hammerman, Cathy
Hartline, John
Hay, Jr., William
Hegyi, Thomas
Heiman, Howard
Heird, William
Heller, Cherrie
Hibbs, Anna Maria
Hoellering, Adam
Hoffman, Timothy
Holditch-Davis, Diane
Holzman, Ian
Hopkins, Linda
Hopper, Andrew
Hudak, Mark
Hulsey, Thomas
Hynan, Michael T.
Illuzzi, Jessica
Ivester, Tom
Jaffe, Ronald
Jaksic, Tom
Janvier, Annie
Johnson, Lois
Juul, Sandra
Kaimal, Anjali
Kaiser, Jeffrey
Kaplan, Michael
Karlowicz, M. Gary
Karplus, Miki
Katz, Gail
Keenan, William
Kenner, Carole
Keszler, Martin
Kicklighter, Stephen
Kim, Han-Suk
Kim, Lena
Klein, Jonathan
Klein, Norma
Kling, Pamela
Klinger, Gil
Kluckow, Martin
Knight, Gail
Knudtson, Eric
Koh, T.H.H.G.
Kon, Alexander
Konduri, Girija
Koo, Winston
Kopotic, Robert
Krug, Ernest
Kumar, Vishwajeet
LaGamma, Edmund
Lagercrantz, Hugo
Lakshminrusimha, Satyan
Langhendries, Jean-Paul
Lantos, John
Laptook, Abbot
Lau, Chantal
Lawrence, Ruth
Learman, Lee
Lee, Kwang-sun
Levine, Steven
Linder, Nehama
Lista, Gianluca
Little, George
Lorenz, John
Lyell, Deirdre
Lyerly, Anne
Lynch, Susan
MacGilvray, Scott
Maisels, M. Jeffrey
Makhoul, Imad
Malm, Dr Heli
Mammel, Mark
Mantovani, John
Manzoni, Paolo
Marshall, Diane
Martin, Gilbert
Martin, Gregory
Matturri, Luigi
McGowan, Jane
McNatt, Sean
Meadow, William
Meged, Orly
Meier, Paula
Mercurio, Mark
Merritt, T.Allen
Mignot, Cyril
Miller, Claire
Miller, Marvin
Milley, J. Ross
Miron, Dan
Mittendorf, Robert
Modanlou, Houchang
Molloy, Eleanor
Moloney, Carolyn
Monagle, Paul
Morin, Karen
Morrell, Dean
Moyer-Mileur, Laurie
Muraskas, Jonathan
Nadroo, Ali
Nafday, Suhas
Neu, Josef
Newman, Thomas
Nield, Linda
Nielsen, Heber
Nir, Amiram
Njoku, Delores
Nogee, Lawrence
Noori, Shahab
Norton, Mary
Norwitz, Errol
Odibo, Anthony
O′Donovan, Donough
Ornoy, Asher
Osborn, David
Ouzounian, Joseph
Owa, Joshua
Pallotto, Eugenia
Paneth, Nigel
Parer, J.T.
Paris, John
Parry, Gareth
Paxson, Charles
Perlman, Max
Petrova, Anna
Philbin, M. Kathleen
Pickler, Rita
Piecuch, MD, Robert
Pillai-Riddell, Rebecca
Poets, Christian
Poindexter, Brenda
Pomerance, Jeffrey
Porreco, Richard
Powers, Robert
Pramanik, Arun
Prasad, Mathew
Price-Douglas, Webra
Pridham, Karen
Procianoy, Renato
Radmacher, Paula
Raju, Tonse
Rastogi, Alok
Rehan, Virender
Reichman, Brian
Repetto, Javier
Rettwitz-Volk, Verner
Reynolds, Eric
Richmond, Sam
Rieder, Michael
Rinat, Hackmon
Roberts, Irene
Roberts, James
Rogers, Elizabeth
Romero, Roberto
Rosenfeld, Charles
Rosenfeld, Warren
Rust, Orion
Ryan, Rita
Samson-Fang, Lisa
Sarkar, Subrata
Sauerbrei, Andreas
Saugstad, Ola
Saxonhouse, Matthew
Scheel, Janet
Scher, Mark
Schneider, Sanford
Schulman, Joseph
Schwartz, Nadav
Segel, Reeval
Seri, Istvan
Seshia, Molly
Shah, Prakesh
Shah, Vibhuti
Shankaran, Seetha
Shenai, Jayant
Shinwell, Eric
Short, Billie Lou
Sibai, Baha
Simeoni, Umberto
Singer, Lynn
Sinkin, Robert
Sivan, Rinat
Sivanandam, Shanthi
Slayton, William
Smith, P Brian
Smith, Vincent
Soghier, Lamia
Sola-Visner, Martha
Soll, Roger
Sosa, Roberto
Speer, Michael
Spinnato, Joseph
Srinivas, Sindhu
Stamilio, David
Steinhorn, Robin
Stevens, Dennis
Stoll, Barbara
Stonestreet, Barbara
Streif, Werner
Subramanian, K.N. Siva
Swanson, Jonathan
Taddio, Anna
Tefft, Robert
Thorp, John
Thoyre, Suzanne
Thung, Stephen
Tran, Susan
Tudehope, David
Turner, Dan
Uy, Cherry
Valentine, Christina
Verklan, M. Terese
Verma, Rita
Vidyasagar, Dharmapuri
Vohr, Betty
Wade, Kelly
Wadhawan, Rajan
Waffarn, Feizal
Walsh, Michele
Walther, Frans
Ward, Robert M.
Watson, William
Watterberg, Kristi
Welty, Stephen
Wen, Shi Wu
Werner, Lynne A.
White, Robert D.
Wight, Nancy
Wirtschafter, David
Wojcicki, Janet
Wusthoff, Courtney
Young, Guy
Zaidi, Anita
Zaoutis, Theoklis
Zlotogora, Joel
Zook, Kelly
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Lawson, E. State of the journal 2009. J Perinatol 29, 183–186 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2009.10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2009.10