ASTRO's Advances in Radiation Oncology Top Downloads of 2019.

As we enter 2020, Advances is now in its fourth year of publication. Submissions have grown steadily since our launch in December of 2015, with just over 200 publications in both 2018 and 2019. Our CiteScore, a measure of the average number of citations per document published, is now 1.93. An application for an Impact Factor was submitted in 2019 and we anticipate a score of around 2.0 when granted. The most popular articles represent a diverse selection of topics, ranging from physics to clinical outcomes, including machine learning and the impact of gender diversity in training. As a whole, the editorial scope of Advances has continued to broaden with the submission of more manuscripts relating to nontraditional subjects and subjects that bridge conventional disease site classifications, such as incorporating immunotherapy with radiation treatments.

The most popular article to date with over 2000 downloads in 7 months time is a physics manuscript from the team of Kelly Paradis at the University of Michigan, “The Special Medical Physics Consult Process for Reirradiation Patients.” In it, the investigators “present a systematic approach to the reirradiation special medical physics consult (ReRT-SMPC) process” to cope with increasing numbers of patient undergoing definitive reirradiation. A special of edition of Advances will focus on this topic later in 2020.

The second through sixth most popular papers all received more than 1000 downloads a piece. The second most downloaded is “Association between Long-Term Second Malignancy Risk and Radiation: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Entire Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Database (1973-2014)” from Chenyang Wang et al demonstrating that overall rates in secondary malignancies remain low, but that secondary cancers in women treated for head and neck cancer are the fastest category of growth. In third place is “Does 5 + 5 Equal Better Radiation Treatment Plans in Head and Neck Cancers?” from Mark Corkum in a dosimetric study questioning the value of the 5 + 5 rule in head and neck contouring. Samuel Marcrom and colleagues reported a retrospective experience of fractionated radiosurgery in patients with large, intact brain metastases reflecting increasing interest in in this treatment as whole brain radiation therapy continues to wane in the primary treatment of brain metastases. Chelsea Pinnix reported on consolidative radiation therapy in elderly patients receiving shorter course chemotherapy and found it to equally efficacious to long course chemotherapy alone. Ashley Albert and colleagues reported on the impact of the #Womenwhocurie social media campaign, a global social media event that generated millions of impressions.

Absent from the list are 2 manuscripts that generated tremendous interest on social media. Ranking second and third after the #womenwhocurie paper respectively by altmetrics ranking are Wei Jang’s paper on machine learning predictions for xerostomia in head and neck patients and Anna Lee’s work on gender diversity in mentorship in trainees reflecting the growing interest in this area., In recognition of the expanding professional focus on this topic, Advances will be creating a workforce diversity editorial track later this year with intent of soliciting similar manuscripts.