2012 - Another successful new year for Pharmacogn Mag.

Dear authors,

First, I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year, 2012. Recently, Medknow (an official publisher of Pharmacogn. Mag.) has been acquired by Wolters Kluwer, a leading global information provider. It means new opportunities for global exposure and impact for our journal. Wolters Kluwer is known throughout the world as the authoritative source of current, highly regarded information and research tools. Wolters Kluwer and its brands Ovid and Lippincott Williams and Wilkins are committed to sourcing locally-written content and using Open Access models to support its discoverability worldwide.[1]

When we started Pharmacognosy Magazine in 2005, it was with some considerable worry about how things might turn out! It is therefore a pleasure to report that the journal appears to be growing and expanding every year. We have had another successful year in 2011 with over 329 submissions, the highest since started. The number of submissions is increasing year by year as can be seen in Figure 1. The monthwise distribution of article submissions is presented in Figure 2. It is observed that more than 50 submissions were received during the month of July 2011 alone. We are constantly studying the pattern and type of article submissions regularly. We would be able to report them in future editorial.

Figure 1

Number of manuscript submissions since 2005

Figure 2

Monthwise distribution of article submissions for the year 2011

The 2009 Impact factor®[2] (IF) was published in June 2010 and we are pleased to announce that the first impact factor of Pharmacogn. Mag. is 0.432. We would envisage a considerable rise in our IF in future years, mainly due to the articles that were published last year. Based on citation tools available at the Medknow website,[3] we have a projected impact factor of 0.547 [Table 1].

Table 1

Projected Impact Factor analysis for the year 2011

MOST READ ARTICLES

I hope you have enjoyed reading the articles published last year in Pharmacogn. Mag. I would like to list the most read articles[4-23] and most cited[24-38] in this editorial. This year, we have instituted special prizes for the papers which are listed as most read[4] and most cited[24] in Pharmacogn. Mag. The prize will have an official certificate from the journal along with 1 year complimentary PDF access to the journal. We would also like to mention about the correct abbreviation of Pharmacognosy Magazine is Pharmacogn. Mag. instead of Phcog. Mag. I request all the contributors to make a note of this important change in Journal's abbreviation and future citations.

Manuscript processing times continue to improve: the average time from receipt of a new paper to editor assignment has fallen from 7.45 days in 2011 [Table 2] to 7.63 days in 2010. The average time from submission to first decision (i.e. editor's decision to reject or accept pending author revision) is now 13.63 days [Table 3]. The shorter editorial time provides a further incentive for authors to submit their best work as they can be assured of a timely decision. Once papers are accepted they are typeset and published online in the shortest possible time (currently an average of 100.67 days [Table 4] compared to 106.40 days in 2010) for a print issue.

Table 2

Data of submitted to first decision for the year 2011

Table 3

Data of revisions for the year 2011

Table 4

Data of accepted papers for the year 2011

On behalf of all the editorial team, we would like to thank all reviewers for their support and dedication to the growth of Pharmacogn. Mag. Without their help and the time that they willingly give up to advise us and review papers for the Journal, we would not be able to function effectively. In public recognition of their help, we have published a list of all of our reviewers in the previous issue. The rejection rates are raising every year indicates the in-depth screening and high quality articles are being published. From Table 5, the rejection rate for the past year was more than 80% which is higher compared to the previous year rejection rate (58%). The reasons for higher rejection rate are, inadequate theory, lack of novelty, poorly written manuscript, poor data interpretation, out of scope, etc.

Table 5

Acceptance and rejections rates for the year 2011

We are receiving an ever increasing number of short communications and preliminary studies. These can be very interesting, but we are very specific in selecting the articles for publication in each issue. We hope that the papers published in this issue of Pharmacogn. Mag. reflect the latest advances in the field of medicinal plants and that helps in understanding the hidden truths of nature and utilize them as potent therapeutic agents.

Wish you a happy reading.