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EDITORIAL

Transition in Journal of Applied Physiology editorship

A high-impact scientific journal such as the Journal of Applied Physiology has several important obligations to its authors, to its readers, and to the discipline of physiology. First, the highest level of peer review must be provided for each submitted manuscript. To this end, our new panel of associate editors encompasses scientific excellence in a variety of fields; contains geographic diversity with representatives from Australia, Belgium, and Denmark as well as North America; and is well represented by both relatively new and more senior investigators. The associate editors and I pledge to provide fair and timely reviews of your manuscripts. We encourage authors to further enhance and streamline the peer review process by recommending the best available arm’s-length referees for their submitted manuscripts.

Second, we need to improve the citation rates of our published manuscripts. This includes both the two-year citation rate, which has improved in the past year, as well as the long-term "cited half-life" impact factor, although the Journal of Applied Physiology already ranks close to the top of all physiology journals in this regard. We plan to improve the quality of publications in the Journal of Applied Physiology by setting even higher standards for judging the physiological significance of submitted manuscripts. In addition to requiring excellence in study design and experimental methods, acceptance criteria for manuscripts will depend even more heavily on whether the findings are judged to be sufficiently novel and insightful to move the specific research field forward. We anticipate a reduction in the acceptance rate of submitted manuscripts below the current level of 40–45%. The scope of authorship in the Journal of Applied Physiology will be expanded primarily through the continued use of the "Highlighted Topics" series, as well as through encouragement of the publication of new techniques in applied physiology and of manuscripts devoted to translational physiology.

Finally, two new initiatives will address the obligation that a journal has to encourage communication among its readers and authors, with a special emphasis on the inclusion of new investigators. First, we will publish editorial articles in every issue of the Journal, at least one per issue, wherein an expert places novel findings from a specific manuscript in perspective to the field. These time-honored interpretive accounts provide broader meaning to the published findings, allowing the reader to gain insight and envisage future directions. Second, we need more debate on our printed pages. Controversy questions the status quo, breeds critical thinking, gives birth to new ideas, and is crucial to moving a field forward. The dialectic process, whereby a thesis is advanced then opposed by an alternative view and subsequently a synthesis is arrived at, provides a powerful and often entertaining method for gaining knowledge. Beginning with the current issue we will publish a "Point-Counterpoint" article every two to three months in the Journal of Applied Physiology. The readers, especially newer investigators, are encouraged to submit their comments on these debates as brief versions of "Letters to the Editor." We will publish these comments as quickly as possible. The feature editors and I will be primarily responsible for coordinating these new initiatives. We need your input, including your commentaries, and especially your suggestions for specific topics and authors for the debate series.

Applied physiology has a very promising future in its potential to impact science across the spectrum from molecular to translational biology. The associate editors and I are committed to attracting the very best science to our journal and to providing a forum that will allow many opinions to be voiced and our field to move forward. We look forward to your participation in this exciting venture.

Jerome A. Dempsey

Journal of Applied Physiology,
July 2005, Volume 99

This Article Full Text (PDF) Free Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Dempsey, J. A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Dempsey, J. A.