I am pleased and delighted to announce the impact factor (IF) for the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology has increased from 4.969 to 6.347 in just one year. Many journals use their IF as a “bragging tool.” But just what is IF and why should it matter to you, the reader?
The Impact Factor is a measure of a journal’s influence in its field. It is determined by a bibliometric group called Clarivate and is a measure of how often articles published in a particular journal are cited in the reference list of other articles published in all indexed journals. Journals within a specific field are often ranked based on their IF. The 2020 IF, just released a few days ago, ranked the Annals number 7 out of 28 indexed allergy-immunology journals from around the world. This is a general measure of our influence as a journal.
Does this matter to you as readers and practicing allergists-immunologists? It certainly does. Many of the excellent articles published in our journal are written by authors whose work is sought after by many different journals. Wearing my author hat, I look for the journal with the highest likelihood of best reaching the audience I am most interested in writing to as a home for my articles. This is a common practice among authors who publish multiple papers per year. The IF is a general measure to attract the best writers to publish in our journal. As we have steadily improved our IF over the past eight years, we are now in a position to attract the best authors in our field. There are, of course, other reasons why a journal is attractive to an author, such as a rapid, fair review process and an attractive journal in which to publish.
The success of our journal has, and continues to be, a team effort with our executive, deputy and associated editors, an outstanding managing editor and her staff and, perhaps most importantly, a large cadre of dedicated reviewers who provide timely, objective, helpful reviews. This ensures that you, the reader, has the best of the best articles and features in each and every issue of the Annals. Sincere thanks also goes out to our publisher Elsevier, our Publisher Executive Theresa Monturano and the College office led by Rick Slawny and his incredible staff who assist and support the Annals mission each and every day. I want to offer my personal heartfelt thanks to our entire outstanding Annals family for their dedication and willingness to share their considerable talents with all of us. Lastly, I thank ACAAI’s officers and Board of Regents for their unwavering support of the Annals, which has made the success of this journal a reality. The new editorial team, under the leadership of Mitchell Grayson MD, FACAAI, will take Annals beginning in 2022 to new heights of success for the education of and enjoyment for you, our readers and, most importantly, our patients.
Gailen D. Marshall, Jr., MD, PhD, FACAAI
Editor-in-chief
