Saudi Medical Journal 2017 ========================== * Fahdah Alokaily 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. ![Figure 1](http://smj.org.sa/https://smj.org.sa/content/smj/39/1/3/F1.medium.gif) [Figure 1](http://smj.org.sa/content/39/1/3/F1) Figure 1 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. ![Figure 2](http://smj.org.sa/https://smj.org.sa/content/smj/39/1/3/F2.medium.gif) [Figure 2](http://smj.org.sa/content/39/1/3/F2) Figure 2 Type of manuscripts received for the year 2017. View this table: [Table 1](http://smj.org.sa/content/39/1/3/T1) Table 1 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**. **A**aron 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 **B**abu 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 **C**aouette 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 **D**aniela 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 **E**brahim 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 **F**abiana 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 **G**abor 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 **I**beth 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 **K**ahraman 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 **N**adeem 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 **O**dutola 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 **P**aolo 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 **R**adwan 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 **S**aad 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 **T**adao 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 **U**gur Kesici Ulpee Darbar **V**adim 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 **W**afaa Jamal Wagih Ghnnam Waseem Al Tameemi Westchina Li William Domb Wisam Akram Wolfgang Landgraf* Wong Wai-Yee Amy Woo Keng Thye **X**in Li **Y**avuz Kececi Yigit Akin Yonglun Fu Yoshio Nakata Yousuf Khira Yu Wu Yuji Kaku Yuksel Peker Yves Renaudineau **Z**ahid 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 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ## References 1. CARE Case reports guidelines, Available from URL: [http://www.care-statement.or/](http://www.care-statement.or/). [Updated 2018;Accessed 2017 November 14].