Journal of Optometry ranks high in Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI).

In middle 2021 were published by Clarivate (formerly known as Institute for Science Information –ISI) the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and the Journal Citation Index (JCI) in Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI). In a previous Editorial we discussed some of the different metrics to measure the impact of scientific publication. This was further expanded in the recent International Congress of Optometry and Ophthalmic Optics held by the Spanish General Council of Optometrists in Madrid during May 2021.

In those previous publications we could testify the solid increase of impact for contents published in the Journal of Optometry, and now we can confirm this with the Journal ranking second in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (table 1). It is also interesting to observe that majority of the journals indexed deliver their contents in a 100% Open Access strategy. Looking back 14 years, Journal of Optometry was among the only scientific journals in the field of Visual Science adhering to such publishing scheme.

Table 1

Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) being one of the first ranked journals in the category OPHTHALMOLOGY – ESCI.

Journal name	ISSN	eISSN	Total Citations	2020 JCI	% of OA Gold
BMJ Open Ophthalmology	2397-3269	2397-3269	393	0.80	100.00%
Journal of Optometry*	1888-4296	1989-1342	566	0.77	100.00%
Clinical Ophthalmology	1177-5483	1177-5483	6.856	0.77	100.00%
Eye and Brain	1179-2744	1179-2744	335	0.75	100.00%
Journal of Ophthalmic Inflammation and Infection	1869-5760	1869-5760	685	0.69	100.00%
British Journal of Visual Impairment	0264-6196	1744-5809	341	0.50	11.93%
Journal of Current Ophthalmology	2452-2325	2452-2325	561	0.49	100.00%
Journal of Ophthalmic & Vision Research	2008-2010	2008-322X	265	0.49	100.00%
Clinical Optometry	1179-2752	1179-2752	129	0.47	100.00%
Therapeutic Advances in Ophthalmology	2515-8414	2515-8414	116	0.43	100.00%
Ocular Oncology and Pathology	2296-4681	2296-4657	378	0.43	4.72%
Open Ophthalmology Journal	1874-3641	1874-3641	549	0.37	96.88%
Strabismus	0927-3972	1744-5132	615	0.32	0.00%
Turk Oftalmoloji Dergisi-Turkish Journal of Ophthalmology	1300-0659	2147-2661	459	0.32	100.00%
Orbit-The International Journal on Orbital Disorders-Oculoplastic and Lacrimal Surgery	0167-6830	1744-5108	1.303	0.32	0.26%
Saudi Journal of Ophthalmology	1319-4534	2542-6680	753	0.31	72.20%
Middle East African Journal of Ophthalmology	0974-9233	0975-1599	808	0.30	0.00%
Taiwan Journal of Ophthalmology	2211-5056	2211-5072	261	0.26	100.00%
Case Reports in Ophthalmology	1663-2699	1663-2699	501	0.24	100.00%
Expert Review of Ophthalmology	1746-9899	1746-9902	514	0.22	2.97%
Case Reports in Ophthalmological Medicine	2090-6722	2090-6730	284	0.18	100.00%
African Vision and Eye Health Journal	0378-9411	2410-3039	120	0.12	96.05%
Nepalese Journal of Ophthalmology	2072-6805	2091-0320	228	0.10	100.00%
Eye Reports	2039-4748	2039-4756	4	0.08	0.00%
Augenheilkunde Up2date	1616-9719	1616-9735	9	0.05	0.00%
Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society	0378-6471	2092-9374	145	0.05	25.45%
Spektrum der Augenheilkunde	0930-4282	1613-7523	54	0.05	24.66%

Journal of Optometry highlighted in bold by the authors.

To the previous indexing database where Journal of Optometry was earlier included (see previous editorial for a review of milestones) now we add the ESCI indexation in an outstanding position. As stated in ESCI Clarivate's webpage, Emerging Sources Citation Index, as part of the Web of Science Core Collection™, “contains quality publications, selected by our expert in-house editors for editorial rigor and best practice at a journal level”. This is another step to reinforce the scientific contribution of Optometry to advances in vision science and to the facilitation of access to such information in a strategy to push further the frontiers of knowledge and the quality of life of millions of people benefiting from prevention, early detection, evidence-based treatment and closer follow-up of visual conditions world-wide.

As editors we want to show our gratitude to the hundreds of corresponding authors and thousands of co-authors and reviewers for helping us to bring the Journal of Optometry to this point, another stimulus to continue improving the impact of this Open Access scientific source sponsored by the Spanish General Council of Colleges of Optometrists.