BMC Editor’s Day 2013: MALARIA JOURNAL Developing a successful journal: an Editor’s perspective BMC Editor’s Day 2013: MALARIA JOURNAL Developing a successful journal: an Editor’s perspective Marcel Hommel Editor-in Chief, Malaria Journal

In 2001, creation of the OPEN ACCESS concept = creation of Malaria Journal, online and open access journal Peer-review and copy-editing (= quality) No cost for the reader, but cost for authors who pay an ‘APC’ (£1,310/US$2,110/€1,630 in 2012) From the beginning, no APC or a reduced APC for authors from the poorest countries (World Bank list) Copyright belongs to author not the journal

In 2001, in which journal were malaria papers published ? 25% of the 1,660 articles published were in American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine Tropical Medicine and International Health Annals Tropical Medicine and Parasitology Trends in Parasitology (ex Parasitology Today) Infection and Immunity Disease-specific journals are not a new concept: Tubercle created in 1919 AIDS created in 1988 J Viral Hepatitis in 1994 Why a journal on Malaria?

In 2012, Malaria papers (4,166) – adjusted number: 3,688 29% were published in Malaria Journal (439)(12%) PLoS ONE (322) Am J Trop Med Hyg (92) Trop Med Int Health (90) Parasites & Vectors (66) Acta Tropica (66)..a major shift towards Open Access journals

Careful : bibliometric tools are not very accurate tools ! For example : Web of Science - keyword ‘malaria’ 01 Jan 2012 to 01 Jan Result : 4,166 papers Actual (corrected results): 3,688 – 9 to 11 % not relevant Errors detected: some 2013 and 2011 papers some records not papers but meetings abstracts papers with no relevance or only trivial malaria content - Wild cervids are host for tick vectors of Babesia species with zoonotic capability in Belgium. VECTOR-BORNE AND ZOONOTIC DISEASES Volume: 12 Issue: 4 Pages: Spinal bombesin-recognized neurones mediate more nonhistaminergic than histaminergic sensation of itch in mice. CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL DERMATOLOGY Volume: 37 Issue: 3 Pages:

Number of malaria papers published (from Hommel M. Malar J 2010, 9:284) Number of malaria papers published (from Hommel M. Malar J 2010, 9:284)

In 2012, Malaria Journal published over 12% of papers on malaria, but is it a quality journal ? What makes quality ? Editorial Board Peer-review process Quality output – copy-editing papers Influence in the discipline Metrics : Impact factor, Eigenfactor, etc Quality publisher

A strong Editorial board, with about 50 top names in the field, involved in peer-reviewing. Final decision made by Editor-in-chief Unique feature: 20% of Editorial board are changed every year (randomly !) A strong Editorial board, with about 50 top names in the field, involved in peer-reviewing. Final decision made by Editor-in-chief Unique feature: 20% of Editorial board are changed every year (randomly !)

Submissions and publications for the journal in the last 5 years Average submissions per month in 2012 = 57.5 Average publications per month in 2012 = 36.5

2011 Impact Factor Journal is ranked 2 nd in Tropical Medicine (behind PLoS NTD) and 7 th in Parasitology Impact in the field

Quality of anti-malarials collected in the private and informal sectors in Guyana and Suriname Implementation of basic quality control tests for malaria medicines in Amazon Basin countries: results for the 2005–2010 period Implementation of basic quality control tests for malaria medicines in Amazon Basin countries: results for the 2005–2010 period Malaria resurgence: a systematic review and assessment of its causes (Press Released on World Malaria Day) Malaria resurgence: a systematic review and assessment of its causes Artemether resistance in vitro is linked to mutations in PfATP6 that also interact with mutations in PfMDR1 in travellers returning with Plasmodium falciparum infections Artemether resistance in vitro is linked to mutations in PfATP6 that also interact with mutations in PfMDR1 in travellers returning with Plasmodium falciparum infections Estimates of child deaths prevented from malaria prevention scale-up in Africa A new world malaria map: Plasmodium falciparum endemicity in 2010 A new world malaria map: Plasmodium falciparum endemicity in 2010 A framework for assessing the risk of resistance for anti-malarials in development Malaria Journal publishes excellent high quality research, which is of interest to a wider audience. It is therefore, important to make sure that articles are disseminated to the general public as well as to the scientific community. In the past 12 months, Press Releases have been sent out for the following articles. Where possible, we have coordinated Press Releases with the authors’ institutes. Press releases

WHO decides to publish its malaria policy recommendations in Malaria Journal

* These are based on accesses from the journal website and do not include accesses from repositories such as PubMed Central Article accesses to Malaria Journal

The articles most read in 2011

Overall, for all BMC journals, the submission pattern is: In 2011, Malaria Journal published 388 papers of which 105 had African scientists as first author (27%) 52 had African scientists as co-author (13%) 14 concerned African issues, without African co-author

Based on 2010 published papers

MALARIA CONFERENCES MALARIA CONFERENCES The next one: Challenges in Malaria Research: Core Science and Innovation will be held in Oxford, September 2014 (organizers: Simon Hay and Marcel Hommel) 9 The next one: Challenges in Malaria Research: Core Science and Innovation will be held in Oxford, September 2014 (organizers: Simon Hay and Marcel Hommel) 9

Editorial issues Finding peer-reviewers Editing and production issues – mathematical formulae and tex Legal issues – libelous statements (how to spot them ?) Ethical issues – trial registration Authorship issues Managing quantity and speed of publication Editorial issues Finding peer-reviewers Editing and production issues – mathematical formulae and tex Legal issues – libelous statements (how to spot them ?) Ethical issues – trial registration Authorship issues Managing quantity and speed of publication