Factors influencing surgeons’ choice of journal

for article submission

Kjetil Søreide MD PhD

Department of Surgical Sciences

Department of Surgery

Vougot, France June 12-14, 2009

Background• JCR: some 139 ”surgery” journals available

• NOT incl. non-indexed; BMC etc…

• How to choose a [”the right”] journal? *• visibility of the journal, • the focus of the journal and how well it matches the topic of the

manuscript, • the impact factor of the journal, • the timeliness of the editorial office process and whether feedback is

constructive, • journal accessibility, author costs, and the governance of the journal

* Thompson, Chest 2007

Objective

• What factor(s) guide surgeons’ journal submission preferences?

Materials

• Authors of top 5 general surgical journals• Years 2007-2008

• Email contact & online questionaire• Person descriptives (age, gender, field etc)• “Factor importance” rating

Factors scored

for 'unimportant', for 'of little importance', for 'somewhat important', for 'important' for 'very important'

Factors investigated

• Journal Impact factor• Journal overall reputation• Knowing editors/editorial

board• Subscription numbers and

wide distribution• Open access to articles• General scope of journal• Specialty scope of journal

• Costs with publication• Journal previously published

on “your” topic• Previous acceptance in same

journal• Fast-track decision• Time from acceptance to “in

print”• Time from acceptance to “e-

print”• acceptance/rejection rate• Possibility to invite/exclude

referees

Journal factors in categories

Prestige

• Impact factor•Reputation•Subscriptions/distribution

Turnaround time

•Fast-track decision•Time to print•Time to e-print

Accessibility

•Acceptance/rejection rate•Costs•Open access

Scope

•Society affiliation•Previous publ. on “your” topic

•General vs specialty

Influence

•Previous success same journal

•Knowing editors/board•Suggest/exclude referees