The year 2017 was both a challenging and rewarding year for Saudi Medical Journal (SMJ). Having marked its 38th anniversary, SMJ’s Impact Factor has risen to a high record of 0.709 with a total of 2,523 citations as reported by the InCites Journal Citation Reports Thomson Reuters (Figure 1). This achievement has validated the continuous efforts of the whole editorial team. Along with the rest of the editors, we would like to recognize and express our appreciation to our dear authors, reviewers, readers, editorial board members and staff for their input, hard work and support.
Saudi Medical Journal impact factor from 1999-2016.
The journal started the implementation of CARE Case Report Guideline1 as a mandatory requirement for case report submissions. Prior to submission, authors should read the CARE Checklist and write the article following the guideline’s essential requirements. This hopes to raise the clinical value of case reports published.
We are also conducting a regular critical auditing to the performance of the Journal. We are very meticulous with regards to the accuracy of the editing; medical writing is different from other professional writing, an excellent scientific experiments with novel ideas may still be rejected due to poor writing. Most authors in this region have difficulty in incorporating the objective, methods and knowledge in a proper English language.
The editors observed that poor language quality is one of the factors that delays the peer review process. Occasionally, reviewers were unable to assess the paper due to poor writing. Language should not be a barrier in scientific publication especially for non-native English speakers. Subsequently, articles with language deficiencies also take significant time in the editing stage and delay the publication process. To overcome this, we strongly suggest that prior to submission, authors should have their articles edited for correct use of grammar, syntax, flow and clarity and submit only once the language has been improved. As a pre-submission requirement, strict compliance shall be observed.
The discoverability and accessibility of scientific content to various relevant platforms is very important in today’s digital age. We take this time to announce the indexing of Saudi Medical Journal in Cengage. Cengage Company is a global leader with thousands of partner libraries around the world and has a large digital archive of research databases, reference books, eBooks and more. With the recent inclusion in this database, we anticipate enhanced visibility and accessibility of our articles.
The journal faced a few challenges this year. The frequent website issues also add more to the administrative burden of the team. Website issues adversely affect the day-to-day editorial operations. For the past years, the journal has shifted from one online submission system to another to provide the best service experience possible. As technology advances and more sophisticated tools emerge, we need to constantly update and select the best platform that will meet the demands of our growing business requirement. Committed to addressing this issue, the journal made a decision of shifting from the existing internal system to ScholarOne-Clarivate. While minor details and transition issues are ongoing, we are enthusiastic with the launching of the new submission system by first quarter of 2018. ScholarOne’s comprehensive and secure management system is expected to significantly improve the journal’s processes.
Annual statistics
This year, we received 973 manuscripts from which we processed 402 articles that have complied with the journal requirements (Figure 2). Fifty-five percent of the papers we published were from Saudi Arabia (Table 1). Our total rejection rate was 85% of which 58% were rejected at initial review by the editors.
Type of manuscripts received for the year 2017.
Origin of “peer-reviewed” articles published in the Saudi Medical Journal for the year 2017.
There are reasons that large number of SMJ’s rejected articles are Case Reports. First, some of them do not qualify to be published because they do not meet the proper criteria. Case Reports are published when they have novel ideas, unique observations, unusual association of disease, and a new side effect of medication or a unique therapeutic approach. The second reason for rejection is merely due to the large volume of submission, which gives the Case Reports a chance to be published in another journal.
The average processing time frame of original articles in the year 2017 from received date to acceptance was 2.5 months, from acceptance to publication 2.9 months, and from received to publication 5.4 months.
We are pleased to announce the following new additions to the Editorial Team: Dr. Ali SM Jawad and Abdulghani Al Saeed. We are honored to have them and we look forward to working with them in the coming year. Also, we bid farewell to the 3 long-time members of the board Dr. Mohamed Bakheit, Shireen Qureshi, and Mohamed Tariq. We are very grateful for their outstanding commitment and invaluable contribution and wish them success in all of their future endeavors.
We are particularly happy to welcome back our biostatistician, Dr. Adel Mishriky. His experience and expertise will be beneficial to the journal.
We have surpassed many changes and challenges in 2017, yet we remain focused on our goals and priorities. As the new year commences, we will continue to deliver the brand of excellence we have established for many years. We will remain keen to sustain our position in the region as a respected journal for scholarly publishing.
Again, we would like to thank everyone who supported us through the years.
Our thanks goes to the reviewers who have participated in the excellent review of manuscripts and books for the year 2017.
Aaron Slusher
Aasem Saif
Abbasali Palizban
Abdel-Hady El-Gilany
Abdulaziz Alshaer*
Abdulghani Alsaeed
Abdulkader Daif
Abdulla Al-Abassi*
Abdullah Ali Al-Maniri
Abdullah Alkhenizan*
Abdullah Alwahbi
Abdullah Saeed Al-Shamrani
Abdullah Salem Hadi
Abdulmohsen Al Elq*
Abdulmuhen Younis Saleem
Abdulrahman Al Asmari
Abdulrahman Almulhim
Abdul-wahe Meshikhes
Abeer Elkady
Abimbola Osoba
Abu Zidan
Adel Mishriky
Adham Ammar
Afaf Al-Adsani
Ahmad Madarati
Ahmed Al Fagih*
Ahmed Al Mahdi
Ahmed Bahmmam
Ahmed El-Hassan
Ahmed El-Ma’aita
Ahmed Gibreel
Ahmed Mandhari
Ahmed Mohamed Elhassan
Ahmed Oliemy
Ahmed Saileek
Akhilesh Sharma
Akin Usta
Akram Asbeutah
Akram Kharroubi
Alaa Abd-Elsayed
Alaa Abduljabbar
Alabi Sulyman
Alastair Glossop
Alena Machovcova
Alexandra Schneider
Alfonso Otero Gonzalez
Ali Albenmousa
Ali Farahani
Ali Jawad
Ali S. Omrani*
Alper Ergin
Alvaro Ruibal
Amal Alhemidan
Amal Shammas
Amanda Fowler
Ambrosio Maria Raffaella
Amir Khaliq
Amjad Wyne
Andrea Pace
Andreas Mavrogenis
Andreas Sakkas*
Andrew Blazar
Andrew Miller*
Andrew Worster
Anil Thota
Anirudh Acharya
Anna Aftyka
Anne Weaver
Anne-Mette Lange
Anouar Bourghli
Anthony Chow
Antonio Frontera
Antonios Tzamaloukas
Arezou Rezaei
Arif Adnan Shaukat*
Arinze Okere
Arja Aro
Armin Weinberg
Arthur Kemoli
Aseel Kamil Hussain
Ashish Mathew
Ashok Shah
Ashraf Abdrabulnabi
Asindi A Asindi
Asmaa Faden
Assim Alfadda
Atilla Buyukgebiz
Atsushi Imai
Aylin Marz
Ayman Moussa
Aziza Aljohar
Babu Ezhumalai
Barbara Morrison
Barbra Backus
Basil Elnazir
Bassam Saeed
Benay Yildirim
Beng Kwang Ng
Bengu Cetinkay
Benny M Soegiharto
Bernhard Frey
Bettina Piko
Beyza Hancioglu Kircelli
Bhakti Soman
Bin Gong
Boggio Elena
Boris Ajdinovic
Bridie scott-Parker
Brogi Etrusca
Bruce Hall
Bulent Duran
Bulent Kayahan
Burke Cunha
BW Darvell
Caouette Laberge
Carlo Gagliotti
Carlo Perricone
Carlos Alfonso Tovilla Zarate
Carlos Cornejo
Carlos Lifschitz
Carlos Rezende
Carolyn Primus
Cecilia del Busto Martinez
Chadli Dziri
Charles Jennette
Chi-Chuan Wu
Chii-Min Hwu
Chloe Zeng
Chong Huat Siar
Chris Fisher
Christian Grieser
Christian Turk
Christophe Orssaud
Christopher Ekpenyong
Chu Lim
Claudia Menzaghi
Claudia Stollberger
Claudio Puoti
Constantinos Mihas
Cornelis Slagt
Daniela Nasu Monteiro Medeiros
Daifallah Al Raggad
Danijela Gasevic
David Bell
David Coats
David Lafon
David Rodbard
Davide Cattano
Deepa Suryanarayan
Derya Tureli
Didier Raoult
Dimitrios Nasioudis
Doris Bardehle
Doris Oberle
Dubravka Hranilovic
Ebrahim Shahul
Ebrahimi Hossein
Ebru Us
Ebtesam Al-Suhaimi
Eileen Delaney
Elena Boggio
Emad Aljahdli
Emre Bodrumlu
Enrico Spinas
Ermanno Ruffini
Esmeralda Vizzi
Evan Paul Cherniack
Eveline Heijnsdijk
Fabiana Martins
Fabianne Carlesse
Fabio Cibella
Fadel Al Rowaie
Fadi Titinchi*
Fahad Mohamed Al Abbas
Faisal Alem
Faizan Zaffar Kashoo
Fares Haddad
Farid Bourzgui
Fatehi Elzein
Fatih Buyukcam
Fawaz Kashlan
Fayek Alhilli
Federica Provini
Felipe Piedade Goncalves Neves
Ferdinand Agresta
Fernado Martinelli
Fernando Pava
Filippo Migliorini
Florence Dalgard
Francesco Benazzo
Frank Peinemann
Frankie Leung
Frederico Gleber-Netto
Fusun Gultekin
Fusun Kalpaklioglu
Gabor Nagy
Gabriele Tonni
Gang Zhou
Gehan Abdelfattah Mohamed Hegazy
George Thompson
Gerald Tomkin
Gerhard Grabenbauer
Ghaida Aljamal
Gina D. Roque-Torres
Giovanni D’Alessandro
Giuditta Mannelli
Giulia Sapuppo*
Giuseppe Gorini
Giuseppe Listro
Godfred Menezes
Gokhan Adas
Gokhan Keser
Graham Ogden
Graham Serjeant
Guido Filler
Guimaraes de Abreu
Gulzin Ozalp
Gunter Oberdorster
Gustavo Meirelles
Guy Van Vliet
H. Hasan
Hagay Shemesh
Haitham Ahmad Odat
Halil Ibrahim Durak
Hamed Al Sinawi
Hammad Ismail
Han Luo
Hana Thunayan Al Majed
Hanan Al-Kadri
Handan Ersev
Harukazu Hiraumi
Haruhiko Kanasaki
Harunor Rashid
Hasan Altug
Hasan Ekim
Hatice Gokalp
Heino Meyer
Hendrik Van Poppel
Hesham Al-Inany
Hind Fallatah
Hirokazu Oyamada
Hiroko Tobari
Horia Malawi
Hossein Rafiei
Huang Benshian
Huda Basaleem*
Husham Hasan
Ibeth Guevara-Lora
Ibrahim Bello
Ignacio Jauregui
Ihab Abd Elhamed Halaby
Ilaria D’Angeli
Ilaria Umbro
Imad Al-Shahwany
Ioannis Messinis
Iraklis Avramopoulos
Irene Morales Bozo
Isabelle Arnulf
Iskender Gun
Ismail Laher
J. Antoni Ramos-Quiroga
J. David Spence
JA Kyriakidis
Jacques Daele
Jae Park
James T Fitzgerald
Jan Bakker
Jawad Al-Lawati
Jean-Xavier Mazoit
Jeffrey Kopp
Jelena Mirnic
Jeremy Brown
Jeremy Huw Jones
Jeroen Hagendoorn
Jessica Serafinelli
Joanna Oswiecimska
Joaquin De Nova Garcia
Joel Schlessinger
Johana Alejandra Moreno-Drada
John Grabenstein
John Ludlow
Jonas Cruz
Jordi Rello
Jorge Bevilacqua
Jose Antonio Rodriguez-Montes
Jose Colleti Junior
Jose Dorea
Jose Luiz Pedrini
Josef G. Heckmann
Josef Stehlik
Joseph Evans
JP Allain
Judith Tischler
Julien Hoffman
Kahraman Ulker
Kamel Ajlouni
Karen Stonecypher
Karl Ekbom
Karyn O’Keeffe
Kayode Oduwole
Kazim Sahin
Keiichi Ito
Keith Hansen
Kelly Young
Ken Dawson
Keng-Thye Woo
Kenneth Beck
Ketan Pande
Khalid Abulaban
Khalid AlJabri
Khalid Bzeizi
Khalid Soliman Al-Grooni
Kiran Ejaz
Kiyohito Hosokawa
Koji Kishimoto
Kollipaka Rupa Vani
Kopp Jeffrey
Kuang-Ming Kuo
L. F. Quintana
Lada Zibar
Laura Audi
Leendert Trouw
Lefteris Zolotas
Lesley Rees
Leslie Eiland
Leslie Grissom
Lifang Wang
Lionel Fry
Lohynska Radka
Loudovico Messineo
Louis Lin
Louis M. Lin
Luai Ahmed
Lucas Wiessing
Lucia Piccioni
Lucy Pembrey
Luis Catoggio
Luis Passeri
Luisa Veiga
Luiz Paranhos
Lulu Abdullah Al Nuaim
Lutz Heinemann
M. R. Khammash
Maciej Przybylski
Mahira Jahic
Mahmoud Sirdah
Mahrokh Imanimoghaddam
Majid Avijgan
Majid Fasihi Harandi
Malcolm Booth
Malcolm Law
Mamdoh Eskandar
Mana Oloomi
Manal Al Sheddi
Mandy Schierz Iam
Mansour Al-Nozha
Manuel Morgado
Marc Daniel Beyer
Marcela Silva Couto
Marco Ciccone
Marcus Barbosa
Maria Correa-Rodriguez
Maria Pia Conte
Marianna Cancela
Marina Figliuzzi
Marius Irimie
Mark Davenport
Mark Detweiler
Mark Nielen
Mark Powis
Marko Spasic
Markus Klimek
Marta Herreros-Villanueva
Martin Johr
Martin Voracek
Martine Docx
Marzia Savoini
Masutaka Furue
Matina Angelopoulou
Matthew O’Connor
Mauro Henrique Nogueira
Maziar Moradi-Lakeh
Medghalchi Abdorreza
Medhat Ghoraba
Mehtap Kartal
Meiyan Jiang
Menguhan Araz Altay
Meran Ediriweera
Metab Algeffari
Michael Fettiplace
Michael Verhofstad
Michael Voigt
Michael Wilke
Michael Wilson
Michal Fedorko
Michele Tonerini
Milan Cizman
Milica Brovcanin
Minetaro Arita
Moawiah Khatatbeh
Mohamad Ali Suliman
Mohamed Adel
Mohamed Afm Youssef
Mohamed AlDawish
Mohamed Elsharawy
Mohamed Ismail Nounou
Mohamed Labib Salem
Mohamed Yassin
Mohammad Alshahrani
Mohammad Hadi Saeed Modaghegh
Mohammad Hajeer
Mohammad Hammad
Mohammad Hossein Biglu
Mohammad Imtiaz
Mohammad Khursheed Alam
Mohammed Aboelmagd
Mohammed Albarrak
Mohammed Albashtawy
Mohammed Al-Dawish
Mohammed Imran Sajid
Mohammed Kawser Hossain
Mohammed Liaquatullah Imtiaz
Mohd Fadhli Bin Khamis
Mojtaba Panjehpour
Molly Miller-Petrie
Mortada El-Shabrawi
Mouloudi Eleni
Mounia Amzerin
Moussa Riachy
Mra Aye
Mubasher Ikram
Muhammad Aslam
Muhammad Rushdi Khammash
Muhammad Waseem
Mujgan Ozdemir
Mukul Kapoor
Murat Oncel
Murray Thompson
Mustafa Afifi
Mustafa Alkhader
Mustafa Nazim Karalezli
Mutahir Tunio
Muwafak Al-Eithan
Myrna Medlej-Hashim
Nadeem Khan
Nader Honjol
Naeemah Abrahams
Nagwa Sief Ahmed
Naoto Urushihara
Nasih Othman
Nasser Abu-El-Noor
Nasser Al-Daghri
Nassir Al Allawi
Natale Daniele Brunetti
Nayef Alzahrani
Nazzareno Galie
Nereo Vettoretto
Neslihan Yerebasmaz
Nesrin Varol
Nik Nairan
Nilay Coplu
Niola Petrosillo
Nirvana Samy
Nonso Ejike
Nor Hayati Othman
Nuray Bayar Muluk
Nurettin Erben
Odutola Aderonke
Oguz Sipahi
Ohoud Owaidhah*
Ola Bratas
Ola Omar
Olugbenga Ayodele
Osama Alabdulhadi
Osman Demirhan
Osman Zeki Karakus
Ove Sonesson
Owolabi Bjalkander
Ozgur Irmak
Ozgur Karcioglu
Paolo Boffano
Paul Downey
Paul Komesaroff
Paul Thornton
Pauline Siew Mei Lai
Paulo Evora
Per Minor Magnus
Peter Schubert
Peter van der Voort
Philip Benson
Philip Kiely
Philippe Gautret
Pietro Calo
Pinar Kendigelen
Pinar Okyay
Pollyanna Fernandes Patriota
Prema Menon
Radwan Ajlan
Rafiza Binti Shaharudin
Raheleh Roudi
Rahmet Guner
Ralph Fingerhut
Rameesh Bhat
Rami Jarjour
Ramy Ghabril
Randah Hamadeh
Raphaelle Richieri
Ratana Banjerdpongchai
Raymond M. Khan
Rebecca Wallihan
Reeta Lamminpaa
Regina Eckhardt-Abdulla
Reinhart Grundmann
Remi Charrel
Reyhan Polat
Reza Pakzad
Riccardo Stoohs
Riccardo Troncone
Richard Naspro
Richard Sutton
Riffat Najeeb
Roah Merdad
Robert Ellis
Roberto Biagi
Robin Vollmer
Rohit Saluja
Roman Pawlak
Rooban Thavarajah
Roy Harrison
Ruijie Huang
Ryan Blumenthal
Ryan McCreery
Ryo Okuda
Saad Nseir
Sadd AlRabeeah
Saeed Alsamak
Saeed Dastgiri
Sahail Bakkar
Said Boujraf
Saime Paydas
Saleh Salman
Saleha Babli
Salman Mroueh
Sam Hassan
Samantha Kurosky
Samer Bessa
Samia Shouman
Samileh Noorbakhsh
Samir Al-Adawi
Samira Awaji
Samy Elsafty
Sandro Contini*
Sang Yeoup Lee
Saniya Eltayeb
Sanjay Rathi
Santamariajr Milton
Santigo Mas-Coma
Santosh Kumar Tadakamadla
Sara Ghederi
Sarar Mohamed
Saulat Jahan
Seems Devi
Seigo Minami
Seigo Ohba
Seok Joo Han
Serap Demirkol
Serge Pissard
Shahrad Taheri
Shahriar Jalali Mazlouman
Shahzad Raja
Shawki Elmoursi
Sheeja Perumbil Pathrose
Shinsaku Imashuku
Sibel Sevinc
Silvano Bertelloni
Silvina G. Cortese
Silvina Santana
Simel Ayyildiz
Simon Clarke
Simon Levin
Sohail Bakkar
Solange Andreoni
Somayeh Heidari
Somboon Keelawat
Songlin Wang
Stefano Omboni
Stefano Zucchini
Stepan Jan
Steven Lamm
Suchit Kamble
Sudrat Nguansangiam
Sujita Shrestha
Suleyman Aydin
Sung Bin Park
Suphi Vehid
Suriani Ismail
Surinder Jindal
Susan Al-khateeb
Susan Parsons
Susie Lew
Suzan Attar
Syed Mohd Abbas Zaidi
Sylvia Guerra
Tadao Nagasaki
Tae-Hun Kim
Taha Ozyurek
Tahseen Chowdhury
Tamar Zerekidze
Tanju Celik
Tariq Iqbal
Tarun Jindal
Tawfik Al-Khatib
Tayep Kareem
Teet Seene
Theodore Stern
Thomas Erb
Thomas J. Moore
Timothy Self
Tin Tin Htar Myint
Tomas Buchler
Ton A.R Schreuders
Torben Hansen
Toru Watanabe
Toshiki Iwase
Tran Ngoc Son
Tuba Tortop
Tuba Turunc
Turki Alharbi
Ugur Kesici
Ulpee Darbar
Vadim Brjalin
Varikasuvu Seshadri Reddy
Verity Chester
Veronica O’Dwyer
Veronique Baudin Creuza
Victor Kong
Vikram Vattipally
Viktoriia Tsuber
Vijendra Singh
Vincent Rotimi
Viral Vadwai
Virginia Miller
Vivienne Tippett
Volodymyr Dvornyk
Vural Fidan
Wafaa Jamal
Wagih Ghnnam
Waseem Al Tameemi
Westchina Li
William Domb
Wisam Akram
Wolfgang Landgraf*
Wong Wai-Yee Amy
Woo Keng Thye
Xin Li
Yavuz Kececi
Yigit Akin
Yonglun Fu
Yoshio Nakata
Yousuf Khira
Yu Wu
Yuji Kaku
Yuksel Peker
Yves Renaudineau
Zahid Shakoor
Zaid Baqain
Zainab Aljufairi
Zamros Yuzadi Mohd Yusof
Závada Jakub
Zhang ling
Ziad Awwad
Ziyad Alotaibi
Zuzana Haramiova
Footnotes
↵* Reviewers who reviewed 3 or more articles for the year 2017.
- Copyright: © Saudi Medical Journal
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