The pandemic has affected public health and scientific publication significantly, there was a dramatic rise in COVID-19 publications associated w-ith a substantial decrease in non-COVID-19 research. Similar to last year, 25% of the papers published in Saudi Medical Journal (SMJ) were Covid-related articles; and 75% of which constitutes local contributions. We do encourage contributions from other parts of the globe to continue advancing the knowledge on Covid-19 related issues.
We hope in 2023 that the dark cloud of COVID-19 is fading away with the present implementation of laws, restrictions, and public health education.
Some publishing trends have emerged and become popular, especially during the start of the pandemic, one of them is publishing on preprint servers especially since Crossref began assigning DOIs to preprint in 2016.1 Authors seek quick feedback, fast dissemination, citation, and the primacy of their work so they prefer to submit their preliminary, non-peer-reviewed articles to these repositories than the traditional journals. Submission to preprint servers is a personal publishing choice of the author, the peer review process improves but does not eliminate incomplete reporting and spin, however, we at Saudi Medical Journal do not consider submissions of manuscripts posted in preprint servers and also do not consider the use of preprint references. Thus, we revised our policy when it comes to articles that were submitted to these repositories. Any material that has been publicly available, with a permanent identifier and citable will no longer be considered for submission.2
The journal follows the double-blind peer review policy so having a paper posted in preprint servers, publicly available and visible with DOI, with full details of authors such as ORCID will nullify the purpose of the double-blind policy we apply.
In early January 2022, the Saudi Medical Journal faced some technical issues with the submission system that probably affected the submission volume and a slight decline in citations.
Peer review is vital to maintain the integrity of science by critically assessing and validating the originality and scientific merit of the article before publication and dissemination of information, hence, we discourage preprint.
One of the struggles we faced in the peer-review process is keeping the reviewers complete the review of revised versions. Prior to the submission of the review, the reviewers are asked if should they wish to see the article again after it has been revised. Only the reviewers who agreed to see the revised version will be invited and very few reviewers are able to follow this workflow. When a reviewer declines to review the revised version or is not available, this causes lag in the decision process and leaves the editor the task to go over the suggestions of the reviewers. Despite all the technical innovations available, it is still difficult to attract qualified reviewers and establish a dedicated editorial board. Perhaps, a survey for reviewers regarding the evaluation of the revised will help us understand and improve our peer-review process
Other ways of addressing this challenge, Saudi Medical Journal highly recognize the reviewer’s contribution to the peer review process. Apart from publishing their names in the yearly Editorial Message, we have activated Publons in our peer review system. Therefore, whenever a reviewer submits a review, they will be asked if they want to receive recognition on Publons.
Publons is a free platform that creates and verifies researchers’ peer reviews and editorial contributions. It has joined the Web of Science, so it is linked directly to the Web of Science publication and peer review history. Anyone can register via the Web of Science.3
This year, Saudi Medical Journal and Neurosciences in collaboration with the Saudi Pediatric Neurology Society conducted a workshop at the “7th Saudi Pediatric Neurology Society Conference & Workshop.” Saudi Medical Journal’s role in this scientific event was to educate participants on how to write a publishable manuscript. Focusing on writing guidelines, peer review process, publishing tips, common reasons for rejection, and avoiding predatory journals. This overview of the publication processes is beneficial for research fellows and residents and all other health researchers.
Saudi Medical Journal pledges to continue providing educational events. As the event was a success and well received by the attendees, SMJ pledge to continue providing educational events.
Annual statistics
This year we received 635 manuscripts from which we processed 309 articles that have complied with the journal requirements (Figure 1). Over the past 12 issues, we have published one Editorial, 11 Systematic Reviews, and 516 Originals, with a total of 1285 pages. Approximately 78.8% of the papers we published were from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Table 1). Our total rejection rate was 75% of which 51% were rejected at the initial decision. The average processing time frame of original articles in the year 2022 from received date to acceptance was 2.6 months, from acceptance to publication 1.2 months, and from received to publication 3.8 months (Table 2).
- Type of manuscripts received for the year 2022.
- Origin of “peer-reviewed” articles published in the Saudi Medical Journal for the year 2022.
- Average processing time frame of articles published in the Saudi Medical Journal for the year 2022.
Editorial Message
Our thanks goes to the reviewers who have participated in the excellent review of manuscripts and books for the year 2022.
A. Seval Ozgu-Erdinc
A.A. Gde Putra Semara Jaya
Abdul Meshikhes
Abdulaziz Mansoor Al Raimi
Abdulbari Bener
Abdulghani Alsaeed*
Abdulla Darwish
Abdullah Abdulkareem
Abdullah Abudayah
Abdullah Alarfaj
Abdullah Alkattan
Abdullah Alkhenizan
Abdullah Awadh
Abdulmoein AlAgha
Abdulmohsen Al-Elq*
Abdulmohsen Al-Zalabani
Abdulrahman Alashkar
Abeer Ali
A. S. Chandrakumari
Abuobaida Abukhelaif*
Adnan Mubaraki
Ahlam El Shikieri
Ahmad Alsaeed
Ahmed Abdel Moneim
Ahmed Absi
Ahmed Al Fagih
Ahmed Al-Ameer
Ahmed Alamri
Ahmed Kadhum
Ahmed Kemalettin Koltka
Ahmed Morad Asaad
Ahmet Aslan
Ahmet Caglayan
Ahmet Kokurcan
Aladdin J. Mohammad
Alberto Modenese
Aleksa Jovanovic
Alexander E. Berezin
Alexandr V. Belousov
Alexandra Senegaglia
Ali A. Alshatwi
Ali Alasmari
Ali Aldhebaib
Ali Alhilly
Ali Alshabi
Ali Alyami
Ali Ismail Ali Abdelreahim
Ali Jawad*
Alian A. Alrasheedy
Altug Tuncel
AM Al-Hinnawi
Amal Ismail
Amari Alhozali
Amjad Alharbi
Amr Arafat
Amro Hanora
Amy Gladin
Anan S. Jarab
Andreas Jahnen
Andreas Tiede
Angham Al Mutair
Anil Kumar Sah
Anirudha Agnihotry
Anna Baran
Anna Horwood
A. M. Badowska-Kozakiewicz
Annang Giri Moelyo
Anne Cusick
Anshoo Malhotra
Anusha Yanamadala
Aqeel Alaqeel
Areej Alkhaldy
Arghya Das
Arife Akay
Arli Aditya Parikesit
Armen Yuri Gasparyan
Ashwin Subramaniam
Asmaa Abdel Nasser
Atousa Deljou
Attia Bari
Aveek Jayant
Aws Al-Numan
Ayman Al-hazmi
Ayse Akbas
Badr Aljarallah
Bahar Dernek
Balaji Zacharia
Bander Alanazi
Bang-Gee Hsu
Banu Ordahan
Bareng A.S. Nonyane
Basile N. Landis
Basman Al-Metwali
Bedoor Alomran
Bekir Kocazeybek
Benoit Bedat
Biswanath Basu
Carlos Sanchez-Garcia
Carlton Dampier
Cathy L. Lazarus
Cemil Kayali
Chao Li
Charles Doarn
Cheorl-Ho Kim
Christopher J. Nolan
Christos Kosmas
Chuan Shao
Cristina Gluhovschi
Cynthia L. Arfken
D. Kafadar
Dan Dupont Hougaard
Daniel Reim
Dara Al-Banna
Dayel Alshahrani
Deependra K. Rai
Derya Karasu
Desh Deepak
D. Kostova-Lefterova
Dhia Kadhem
Dian Handayani
Dina Alsohaibi
Dingshen Lin
Dongsheng Sun
Dragos Ioan Tohanean
E. Zangiacomi Martinez
Eiman M. AbdulRahman
Eitaro Kodani
Eman Abdelrazek
Eman Abduljawad
Eman Dyab
Eman E. Elsharkawy
Enas Abdelaziz
Endale Tefera
Erna Rochmawati
Fadime Kilinc
Fahad Al Juraibah
Fahad Almutairi
F. Mohammadghasemi
Fairoz Ali Al-Wrafy
Faizan Zaffar Kashoo*
Farah Dayana Zahedi
Fares Haddad
Farid Alzhrani
Farrukh Majeed
Faruk Buba
Fatimah Al Aldahan
Fawaz Al-Kassim
Feras Alkholaiwi
Ferdinando Antonio
Gulino
Filiz Ozsoy
Firas S. Azzeh
Foad Abdallah
Fouad Almomani
Francesco Ria
Frederic Triponez
Gaurav Goyal
Gennaro Martines
Ghada Elgohary
Ghassan Alokby
Giancarlo Micheletto
Gina Joubert
Giovanni Conti
Girmay Fitiwi Lema
Gokhan Ozkan
Grigoris T. Gerotziafas
Gulali Aktas
Gulfem Ece
Gulseren Akyuz
Gunes Senol
Gunnar Hillerdal
H. Mazimilian Mehdorn
Hadi Almohsen
Hakan Cokmez
Hakan Turkon
Hala Abdelkarem*
Hala Amer
Halah Mosli
Halil Ozcan
Halls Suleyman
Hamed Adetunji
Hani Mawardi Mawardi
Hao Zhang
Hassan AbdulJabbar
Hassan Abugad
Hassan Al-Trabolsi
Hatice Simsek
Hatim Al-Jifree
Henk Schonewille
Hesham A. AbdelHalim
Hisakazu Nakajima
Hongxun Wu
Hui-shan Wang
I Reid
Ibraheem Abosoudah
Ilhan Ece
Ilker M. Arer
Imran Ahmad
Inci Alacacioglu
Isra Aljazeeri
Iyad Naeem Muhammad
Jacqueline Maria Dias
Jawahir Abuhaimed
Jigeeshu Vasishtha Divatia
Joan L. Robinson
Jone Trovik
Jong Woo Chung
Joshua Barzilay
Jyoshid R. Balan
Jyrki Vuola
Kazuya Takehana
Kenji Hayashida
Kevin Hellman
Khaled Hamed Salem
Khaled Saad
Khalid Al-Mugheed
Khalid Alshahrani
Khalid Banimelhem
Khalil Abu Jamileh
Kostas Persinakis
L. Faggioni*
Lamia Elgarhy
Lamya Alnaim
Lasitha Samarakoon
Latifa Yahya Al Ajeel
Layth Al-Hajjar
Leman Acun Delen
Leo Massari
Liang Zong
Li-ming Yu
Li-Ting Kao
Magdalena Baymakova
Magdi Salih
Maha Aleid
Maha Alharthi
Maha Elkholy
Mahwish Faizan
Maja Surbatovic
Mamdouh Allahyani
Mana Almuhaideb
Manar Nabolsi
Man-sang Wong
Marcone Lima Sobreira
Mario Lima
Martin H. Steinberg
Martino Introna
Marwa Abdelhamed
Maryam Al Badi
Maryam Al-Zahrani
Marzia Miglionico
Mateusz Spalek
May Bin-Jumah
Mazen Almehmadi*
Md. Rabiul Islam
Mehmet Ali Eren
Mehmet Artac
Mehmet Burak Eskin
Mert Senturk
Michael D. Crossland
Michele Merli
Milan Lepic
Miltos Lazarides
Mine Kiseli
Mirjana Kostic
Misra Abdulahi
Moba Al Shahed
Mohamed AlAgeel
Mohamed I. Kamel
Mohamed S. Abdel-Latif
Mohammad A. Gaballah
Mohammad Abdelghani
Mohammad Abu Assab
Mohammad Alam
Mohammad Alfuhaily
Mohammad Eid Mahfouz
M. Waheed El-Anwar
Mohammed AlAteeq
Mohammed Alhendi
Mohammed Alsaadi
Mohammed Alsakkaf
Mohammed Salih Mahfouz
Mohd Yazid Bajuri
Mohsen Alzahrani
Mona F. Mahmoud
Morten Dahl
Mostafa Waly
Muath Alammar
Muhammad Kashif Munir
Muhanna AlShaibani
Munierah Al-Hussain
Murat Baykara
Murat Gunay
Mushtak T. S. Al-Ouqaili
Mustafa Arslan
Mustafa Said Aydogan
N. Hancerliogullari Nadia Alhazmi Nagwa Alamin
Naser Shari
Nasser Shubayr
Nawal Dayoub
Nesrin Alharthy
Nicola Magnavita
Nicola Mumoli
Nicola Troisi
Noorizan Abd Aziz
Nopporn Apiwattanakul
Noura Alqahtani
Nuha Alkhattabi
Nuri Bayram
Odd Martin Vallersnes
Ola A. Bakry
Omar Al Zahrani
Onur Fezvi Erer
Osama A. Samargandi
Osama B. Albasheer
Paolo Boffano
Paolo Cavoretto
Philip S. Barie
Pinar Korkmaz
Pinar Okyay
Polina Popova
Pradeep H. Navsaria
Q. E. Ali
Q. Ji
Qin Xiang Ng
Qintai Yang
Qun Wang
R. A. Gadelkareem
Rabie Soliman
Raghib Abusaris
Ram Das
Ram Samujh
Ramazan Akcan
Rami Abazid
Raymon Siu Ming Wong
Recep Akdur
Rehab Werida
Reinaldo Figueroa
Riwa Kishimoto
Roah Merdad
Ronald Oude Elferink
Rose Costa
Rudyard dos Santos Oliveira
Saad AlKhowaiter
Saad Alqahtani
Sabah Jastaneiah
Saddam Al Demour
Sakina Zerizer
Saleh Alanazi
Salih Ozgocmen
Salina Husain
Samah Abohamr*
Sameh Ahmed
Sameh Shehata
Samera AlBasri*
Sami Abu-Halaweh
Samy Kasem
Satyabhuwan Singh Netam
Sayed Abdulazeez
Selim Afsar
Selma Tosun
Sema Alacam
Serbulent Yigit
Seshadri Reddy Varikasuvu
Seyda Efsun Ozgunay
Shawn Thomas
Sheela Mathew
Sherif Abdelmonim
Shi-Yang Guan
Shoroq Altawalbeh
Shu-Qin yu
Sibtain Ahmed
Siraj Wali
Sirajudeen Shaik Alavudeen
Siva Reddy Challa
Sohaib Al-Khatib
Sohaib Shujaat
Sohail Ahmad
Stefan Opperman
Stefan Stortecky
Stephanie Baggio
Subhi Alghanem
Suhael Ahmed
Suheyla Abitagaoglu
Sultan Alamri
Sultan Alhowti
Sultan Ayesh Saghir
Sumayah Al Helali
Susan Busch
Svetlana Madjunkova
Tahir Hameed*
Taisuke Ito
Talal Alfaadhel
Tamer Abouelgreed
Tatjana Pekmezovic
Taymour Mostafa
Turki Albacker
Turki Al-Hussain
Ulunay Kanatli
Umut Sabri Kasapoglu
V. Bedekovic
Veli Avci
Vikas Gupta
Wafa I. Elhag
Waled Ahmed
Waleed Abdelfattah
Waleed Milaat
Waqas Sami
Wei Kang
Xiang-jun Qiu
Yasemin Astandaa
Yasir Khayyat
Yasser Hadi
Yasser Samhan
Yassin Abdelsamad
Yoichi Nishimura
Yong Joo Kim
Yoshikatsu Nomura
Young Han Lee
Youssef M. Mosaad
Yusuf Aksu
Zaid Zoumot
Zainab A. Al Jufairi
Zakaria Al Habib
Zubair Syed
Zulqarnain Baloch
Footnotes
↵* Reviewers who reviewed 3 or more articles for the year 2022
- Copyright: © Saudi Medical Journal
This is an Open Access journal and articles published are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (CC BY-NC). Readers may copy, distribute, and display the work for non-commercial purposes with the proper citation of the original work.
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