Saudi Medical Journal during the COVID-19 era

An unpredictable year 2021 was, that began in hope and ended with fear and disappointment. A year after the pandemic, effective vaccines and boosters have become widely available. We were emerging from the worst of the pandemic to liberation from lockdown and social distancing. At the end of the year, it was shocking to know about the outbreak of the new variant of COVID-19 known as Omicron which has rapidly spread over some parts of the world. This led to an increasing number of cases which resulted in lockdown and travel restrictions. Fortunately, this is not the case in Saudi Arabia, but the number of affected people started to increase which is likely due to leniency towards the protective measures. At the end of 2021 most of the population are vaccinated, but we lack strong evidence of the degree and duration of vaccine efficacy.^1,2

In Saudi Arabia, the COVID-19 crisis had been well managed with prompt actions to prevent the spread of the virus. Urging public awareness, adding drive-thru COVID-19 vaccine services, and requiring full vaccinations were some of their outstanding response to aid the global pandemic.^3,4 Saudi Arabia health officials have dedicated a tremendous effort and financial support to carry on strict regulations and strategies to protect the well being of all the population from the risks and the spread of diseases such as COVID-19 and its mutations. Therefore, the only way to return to our normal life is through mass vaccination programs. Vaccines have become available to all the people of Saudi Arabia (citizens and residents) for free. By August 2021. It has become mandatory to have 2 doses of COVID-19 vaccine before attending social, cultural, sporting, and entertainment events, as well as entering both government and private establishments.While approaching the end of year 2021, most of the population have received 2 doses. Recently, COVID-19 vaccine booster shots have been available for anyone over 18 years of age.

Researches on COVID-19 dominated the world after the pandemic. The main mission of SMJ is to spread medical knowledge, and has contributed to the scientific field by shedding the light on this pandemic. We received more studies on COVID-19. Moreover, it has remained our priority in publication. The COVID-19 clinical presentation and vaccinations, their safety, effectiveness, and side effects were the most discussed topics. They constitute almost 25% of SMJ 2021 publications.

We believed that protective measures should continue as this pandemic may take longer than anyone would anticipate.

Annual statistics

This year we received 727 manuscripts of which we processed 279 articles that have fullfilled the Journal’s requirements (Figure 1). In the past 12 months, we have published one Editorial, 3 Systematic Reviews, and 120 Originals, with a total of 1354 pages. Approximately 81.1% of the papers we published were from the Saudi Arabia (Table 1). Our total rejection rate was 82% of which 60% were rejected at the initial decision. The average processing time frame of Original Articles in the year 2021 from received date to acceptance was 2.7 months, from acceptance to publication 1.2 months, and from received to publication 3.9 months (Table 2). We take pride in our latest Journal Impact Factor of 1.5 that continues on a steady-rise.

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Table 1

- Origin of “peer-reviewed” articles published in the Saudi Medical Journal for the year 2021.

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Table 2

- Average processing time frame of articles published in the Saudi Medical Journal for the year 2021.

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Figure 1

- Type of manuscripts received for the year 2021.

We wish to express our sincerest appreciation to our referees for their valuable contribution in improving the quality of the paper that we publish. On behalf of the editorial team, we would like to thank everyone for all their support, allowing us to continue the brand of excellence we are committed to. We are looking forward to wish everyone success in the coming year ahead.

Our thanks goes to the reviewers who have participated in the excellent review of manuscripts and books for the year 2021.

Abazid, R*

Abdel, NA

Abdelfattah, E

Abdelmonim, S

Abdelreahim, A IA

Abdelsamad, Yassin*

Abdou, Y

Abdul Wahat, NH

Abdulahi, M

Abdulazeez, S

Abdulaziz, A

AbdulJabbar, H

AbdulRahman, EM

Abitagaoglu, S

Abohamr, S*

Aboo, M

Abosoudah, I

Abreum, W

Abu-Shaheen, A

Abudayah, A

Abyad, AMB

Adetunji, H

Adhikari, S

Adjuk, J

Agarwal, I

Ahmad, I

Ahmed, A

Ahmed, AM

Ahmed, H

Ahmed, L

Ahmed, S

Ahmed, S

Ahmed, S

Ahmed, W

Aissaoui, A

Aker, S

Al Akawi, H

Al Aseri, Z

Al Ayed, M

Al Baadani, A

Al Basiri, S

Al Dhahab, H

Al Doghaither, H

Al Jenaee, K

Al Kaf, F

Al Khateeb, S

Al Rajhi, M

Al Ryalat, SA

Al-Alem, F

Al-Aojan, S

Al-Bahili, H

Al-Dubai, S

Al-Eitan, L

Al-Elq, A*

Al-Habib, D

Al-Hindi, MY

Al-Hinnawi, AM

Al-Hussain, M

Al-Hussain, T

Al-Jumaili, AA

Al-Khateeb, Ta

Al-Khatib, S

Al-Maghraby, H

Al-Mugheed, K

Al-Numan, A

Al-Otaibi, ST

Al-Ouqaili, MTS

Al-Qahtani, A

Al-Qahtani, M

Al-Rasheedi, M

Al-Sadi, EK

Al-Salloum, H

Al-Sayaghi, K

Al-Sobhi, E

Al-Yousif, HA

Al-Zalabani, A*

Alabbasi, A

Alahmari, D

Alajazeeri, I

Alassaf, W

Alawami, S

AlBasri, A

Albati, A

Aldhafeeri, A

Aldosari, M

Aleanizy, F

Alelayan, H

Alfadhel, S

Alfadhly, A

Alfaqih, A

AlFaraj, M

Alfegi, S

Alfuhaily, M

Alfurayh, N

Algethami, M

Alghamdi, A

Alghamdi, S*

Alghanim, K

AlHaddab, S

Alharbi, A

Alhasan, A

Alhatlani, B

Alhemyadi, S

Alhendi, M

Ali, S

AlJahdali, E

Aljohaney, A

Aljohani, N

Aljudaibi, B

Alkaluby, E

Alkhamees, A

Alkhenizan, A*

Alkushi, A

Alkushi, A

Alluwimi, I

Almatrafi, M

AlMazroa, MA

Almehmadi, M

Almomani, F

Almutlaq, I.

Alojan, A

Alqarni, N

Alqurashi, M

Alraey, Y

Alrasheed, M

Alrasheedy, AA

Alsaeed, A*

Alshaer, AR

Alshahrani, D

Alshahrani, O

Alshahwan, M

AlShammari, S

Alsulimani, Loui K.

Alsubaie, S

Alsulmi, E

Alswat, K

Altaf, B

Altuwaijri, Ahmad

Alzahrani, M

Amil, J

An, G

Appiah-Kubi, A

Arfken, CL

Arslan, M

Ashraf, I

Ashraf, M

Aslanpour, Z

Astoul, P

Atilgan, KG

Attar, S

Awwad, W

Aydin, C

Aydin, K

Ayuk, A

Badheeb, A

Bal, ZS

Baloch, Z

Barosi, G

Basaleem, H

Basit, S

Basu, B

Batista de Sousa, J

Baykara, M*

Bedekovic, V

Behnaz, F

Berg, K

Betz, RC

Biricik, E

Bitar, ZI

Blondeel, J

Bonavina, L

Bonavolonta, P

Brooks, AW

Cademartiri, F

Caglar, O

Cakmak, B

Caramori, G

Celik, M*

Chandrakumari, AS

Chang, IW

Chen, X

Chernyshov, P

Cheskin, L

Chesters, J

Chiwanga, F

Cho, YH

Choi, HG

Chow, TL

Chua, ME

Cicero, AFG

Cihan, F

Clarke, B

Cokmez, H

Colombatti, R

Comim, FV

Concha, J

Contini, S

Creutzburg, A

Cui, Y

Dakik, HA

Dane, S

Darwish, B

Darwish, H

Dayoub, N

Dedivitis, RA

Delen, LA

Derman, R

Deshpande, K

Dhama, K

Dhanasingh, A

Dieguez, L

Djuric, O

Domac, FM

Dommerholt, J

Doulgeraki, A

Dumic, M

Dutta, D

Ece, I

Eid, R

Eksert, S

El Shikieri, A

El-Nawawy, A

Eldabe, S

Elgohary, G

Elmadhoun, WM

Elmardenly, A

Elnazir, B

Elsaie, ML

Elsawi, H

Endo, S

Enosawa, S

Ertekin, H

Escallon, J

Faggioni, L.

Farahat, F

Fenton, T

Ferrao, YA

Ferro, JM

Fichna, JP

Filloy, A

Forero, DA

Forner, A

Fruhbeck, G

Fukazawa, R

Fung, JJ

Gadelkareem, RA*

Garrido-Garcia, LM

Gasparyan, AY*

Giannella, L

Gomez-Rios, M

Gondim, F

Gonzalez, N

Gulbis, B

Gungor, A

Hadi, Y

Han, H

Hannan, FM

Happel, C

Haque, M

Hasanoglu, H

Hatamleh, MM

Hatzopoulos, S

Hazwani, T

He, J

Henry, ML.

Higgs, S

Huang, YM

Huang, ZY

Hubacek, JA

Hussein, A

Ibrahim, A

Ibrahim, AMKS

Ichwan, M

Ilyas, S

Isayama, H

Ishaqui, AA

Jahrami, H

Janovic, MB

Jawad, A*

Jiang, H

Johr, M

Joubert, G

Jradi, H

Kaddour, O

Kafadar, H

Kallel, A

Kamal, M

Kang, Hyun

Karakukcu, M.

Kassim, S

Katagiri, T

Katotomichelakis, M

Kaveladze, B

Kennedy, RB

Kessler, D

Khabour, O

Khan, M

Khandekar, R

Kilic, M

Klisic, A

Klonoff, DC

Koenig, H

Kostic, M

Koukoulaki, M

Kucukosman, G

Kujan, O

Kumar, A

La Rosa, VL

Lade, D

Lakhe, G

Landis, BN

Lattanzi, S

Lee, JY

Lee, KR

Lee, SH

Li, MC

Liu, CH

Lonardo, A

Luksic, I

Lusignani, M

Mansour, AA

Marianela, S

Maric, G

Matsumoto, K

Mendelsohn, A

Metzger, M

Michael, GC

Mierzchala-Pasierb, M

Mills, KE

Misdrahi, D

Mitra, B

Mohamed, H

Mohammed, T

Mohammedsaeed, W

Mohapatra, RK

Monostori, P

Montelmans, L

Moppett, IK

Moreira, LFP

Mostafa, A

Mu, Y

Mughal, MZ

Muhammad, IN

Muluk, NB

Murni, IK

Mushtaq, N

Muthaffar, O

Nagaya, D.

Naji, M

Natarajan, J

Navolan, D

Neelam, K

Nicolau, DP

Nikolic, D*

Nnadozie, UU

Notaro, R

Nouraie, M

O’akley, GP

Oh, JH

Oliveira, J

Omrani, A

Osman, H

Ovenseri, GO

Oztorun, CI

Paholpak, P

Panda, PK

Pankaj, S

Paudel, S

Peela, JR

Peto, K

Pfund, Z

Poddighe, D

Pohl, HG

Prasad, SC

Puchalski, J

Qi, X

Radulescu, L

Rafique, M

Rajalakshmi, R

Reade, M

Reginster, JY

Rey, RA

Romano, C

Roy, D

Sader, HS

Saghir, SA

Saglio, G

Sahin, F

Salahuddin, M

Samadi, SA

Sami, W

Savoia, P

Sayer, JA

Schlumberger, M

Schulman, S

Scott, DL

Sedono, R*

Sehlo, M

Sen, C

Sevinc, M

Sezgin, E

Shaha, AR

Shahid, R

Sharir, R

Sharma, R

Shaukat, I

Shetty, C

Shi, Z

Shoji, S

Siddiqui, J

Silvestri, R

Simon, A

Singh, M

Siristatidis, C

Spalek, M

Sribnick, EA

Stevens, RM

Sungthong, B

Surbatovic, M

Swellam, M

Tanaka, Y

Tancredi, DJ*

Tanniru, K

Tas, A

Tas, H

Templeton, WT*

Therrell, BL

Thiene, G

Triponez, F

Tsai, Chia-Liang

Tuncali, Bahattin

Tutar, Nuri

Unal, Ekrem

Upadya, Madhusudan

Vesikari, Timo

Vitoria, Paulo D.

Vockley, Jerry

Waheed, Khawaja Bilal

Waheed, Yasir

Waisberg, Jaques

Wanchai, A

Wang, Qun

Whiteley, Mark S.

Wiernik, PH

Wilson, R. Douglas 

Yamaguchi, Tsuyoshi

Yigit, Serbulent

Yilmaz, Yusuf

Yogeesha, B.S.

Yusof, Barakatun Nisak Mohd

Zakaria, Andee Dzulkarnaen

Zakzouk, Abdulmajeed

Zaragoulidis, Paul*

Zawawi, Faisal

Zhang, Yan

Zhou, Cheng-Mao

Zwaigenbaum, Lonnie