Gastroenterology: A Year of Growth and Change

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The past 12 months have been an incredible period of growth and change for Gastroenterology. Perhaps most significantly, the impact factor increased for the second year in a row, up to 12.9 from its 2008 value of 12.6. This new impact factor has once again secured Gastroenterology's position as the number one journal in the category of gastroenterology and hepatology, of which there are now 65 journals. Gastroenterology not only excels in its subspecialty, but it is also recognized as a premiere biomedical journal, ranking in the top 1% of the nearly 7500 journals in biomedicine. Gastroenterology's climbing impact factor and sustained position as the leading journal in the field is a testament to our commitment to publishing only the highest quality clinical and basic science. Additionally, our content is highly topical and of immediate interest to GI investigators, as evidenced by the journal's immediacy index—the average number of times that an article published in a specific year is cited over the course of that same year. Gastroenterology's immediacy index is among the highest in the field at 2.528.

In addition to the increase in impact factor, Gastroenterology has also seen notable growth in its submissions. In 2009, the journal received >2500 submissions of all manuscript types—a record high. Over 80% of those submissions were original research. Of particular note, the number of liver, pancreas, and biliary submissions increased yet again.

We also published more content than ever before in 2009—an increase of 15% over 2008. Readers were provided more material in print as well as online-only information, including additional methods, figures, tables, and data sets. Of the content we published, >60% was original research, providing readers with the latest discoveries from GI investigators around the globe. We also treated readers to more of our very popular section “Clinical Challenges and Images in GI”; in 2009 we published 82 cases, an increase of nearly 30% over 2008.

Our acceptance rate has also seen notable growth over the last several years. Specifically, several years ago the acceptance rate ranged from 12% to 14%; in the past few years, it has increased to a range of 17%–18%, providing even more opportunity for investigators to have their research published in the premiere GI journal. We anticipate that our acceptance rate will continue to be in this range; however, our acceptance of manuscripts is purely based on the quality of the work and the high bar of excellence we strive to maintain.

Our commitment to the international community was another area of expansion for Gastroenterology during the last year. In 2009, we saw a 21% increase in submissions from authors outside of the United States. We also continued to publish several international editions of Gastroenterology, including versions in Japanese and Spanish (Figure 1). For the first time, we published select content from the Japanese edition on our website under the “International Editions” tab. Additionally, this summer we also launched an Indian edition. Our goal for the coming year is to build upon our international portfolio and publish as much translated content online as possible. Finally, we rounded out our international consultants by adding Joe West, MD, Clinical Associate Professor and Consult in GI in the Division of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Nottingham in the UK. Dr West's research focuses on the occurrence and consequences of liver disease in the UK using large, population-based data sources. Our other international consultants include Antoni Castells from Spain, Jean-Michele Pawlotsky from France, Paul Rutgeerts from Belgium, and Michael Schemann from Germany.

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• Figure 1. 

  Covers of the Spanish and Japanese editions of Gastroenterology.

Over the last several years, the scientific publishing community has witnessed a remarkable evolution in the ways readers receive and consume information. The latest wave of technology has ushered in “new media”—the ability to access content anytime, anywhere, and on any digital device. New media also allows for user participation and community formation. Gastroenterology has not ignored this shift in information delivery and consumption and has concertedly grown its new media program over the last year, providing research to readers via podcasts, video abstracts, Facebook, Twitter, and more recently, a research blog. Gastroenterology's science editor, Dr Kristine Novak, authors the blog titled “The AGA Journals Blog”, posting weekly discussions of the most critical research published in the journal. Gastroenterology readers are encouraged to interact with all of our new media platforms, discussing the research, providing feedback, and offering suggestions for future directions in digestive disease.

Related to our efforts in new media, we also recently expanded and updated our website, www.gastrojournal.org. Not only did the site undergo a complete visual makeover, showcasing a fresh and modern design, it also received several technical upgrades as well. The site now offers users an improved table of contents page for easier navigation and tools for saving, sharing, and tracking articles of interest; a focus on multimedia, including podcasts, video abstracts, and images; intuitive organization of archived content; and upgraded search functionality, including improved display, sorting tools, and citation information. Additionally, we now have a joint landing page, www.agajournals.org, that features content from both Gastroenterology and its sister journal, Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. There you will find the latest research, multimedia, and news from both journals. In 2011, we will expand our website offerings by launching a digital image library as well as online-only compilation issues focusing on specific subject matter such as inflammatory bowel disease and hepatitis C virus.

Some final exciting news for Gastroenterology is the selection of its new editor-in-chief, who will take the helm in July 2011. After a thorough application review process, the AGA Institute Governing Board appointed M. Bishr Omary, MD, PhD, to serve as the journal's next editor-in-chief. Dr Omary is the Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology and Professor of Internal Medicine and H. Marvin Pollard Professor of Gastroenterology at the University of Michigan Medical School. He currently serves as a co-senior associate editor for Gastroenterology and as an associate editor for Molecular Biology of the Cell. Dr Omary has also served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Physiology and Hepatology. In addition to his extensive editorial experience, Dr Omary's professional experience has included serving as Chief of GI at Stanford University and continuously funded research for >20 years. He has also received two Department of Veterans Affairs career development awards and is a former Pew biomedical scholar. Dr Omary's primary areas of research include the identification and characterization of genetic and molecular markers that are associated with acute and chronic liver disease. As a long-time member of the AGA, Dr Omary has served on several committees, has been a member of the Academic Skills Workshop faculty, and has served on the AGA Institute Leadership Cabinet. Dr Omary currently chairs the Research Awards Panel. We congratulate Dr Omary on his appointment and eagerly await his first issue in July 2011.

We hope that you agree the past year has been an outstanding one for Gastroenterology and we look forward to continue meeting your needs and serving you. We appreciate your feedback—you can send us comments via e-mail at gastro@gastro.org.