Editor appointments
Interviews were held for the Editor‐in‐Chief of AJP‐Heart. William C. Stanley, currently an AJP‐Heart Associate Editor, was selected as the new Editor‐in‐Chief and his term will begin January 1, 2011. Curt Sigmund, Editor, AJP‐Regu; Tom Kleyman, Editor, AJP‐Renal; and Ron Terjung, Chair, APS Book Committee were reappointed for their second three‐year terms.
Impact Factor
The 2009 JCR journal Impact Factors held steady for all journals. PRV, at 37.726 (increased from 35.0 in 2008), is ranked highest among all physiology journals and sixth among all cited journals.
Journal statistics
Accepted manuscripts. Time from manuscript submission to first decision for 2009 averaged 28 days, the same as in 2008. The average rejection rate for all journals increased to 56% in 2009 from 53% in 2008.
Peer review system. Physiology has moved from a paper‐based peer review process to an electronic system like the other AJP journals.
Submissions. There was a 10% overall decrease in submission of regular articles in 2009 as compared to 2008.
Articles and pages published. The number of regular research articles published decreased 6% from 2008 to 2009. This was due to the higher average rejection rate across the journals and decreased submissions in 2009. The number of manuscripts in AiPS decreased 6% compared to 2008; journal pages published decreased 4% compared to 2008; and the number of published pages was 5% under the 2009 page cap.
Supplemental data. A total of 553 data supplements were published in 2009 compared to 399 data supplements in 2008.
AuthorChoice. There were 40 requests for AuthorChoice in 2009 (compared to 48 in 2008), which represents less than 1% of all accepted articles during that period.
Color figures. In 2009, 4666 color figures were published in APS journals of which 2606 were published by APS member authors.
‘Call for Papers’ in APS journals. In 2009, there were 169 submitted and 110 papers published in response to calls for papers.
PubMed Central deposits. In 2009, 1,428 NIH‐funded and 41 Wellcome Trust‐funded research articles were deposited into PMC by the APS on behalf of authors, representing 42% and 1% respectively, of the total number of research articles published in 2009.
Neuroscience Peer Review Consortium
The Journal of Neurophysiology has participated in the Neuroscience Peer Review Consortium on a trial basis since the inception of NPRC in January 2009. The trial period concluded in December 2009. The Publications Committee has approved continuing with the trial through December 2011 when the program will be reassessed against specific criteria.
Finances
2011 subscription and Legacy content prices
Based on the cost plus 10% model used by the APS since setting 2002 prices, the Committee recommended that subscription prices be increased for 2011 by 5% for the Print plus Online journals and Online Only journals, and recommended a 7% increase in the Print Only version of its journals. The Committee also recommended that the price of the Society’s Legacy product be increased by $250, from $2,250 to $2,500.
Cases of ethical misconduct
The total number of cases of ethical misconduct originating in 2009 was 120, a 32% increase compared to 2008.
Open Access
Key activities associated with Open Access (OA) in 2009 included OA advocate Harold Varmus being invited by the Obama administration to serve as co‐chair of PCAST; The NIH Public Access Policy became permanent via the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009; The Fair Copyright in Research Works Act (to rescind the NIH Public Access Policy) was reintroduced in the House; The APS and other publishers signed a letter to Senators Lieberman and Conyers expressing concern over the reintroduction of the Federal Research Public Access Act (mandating public access across all federal funding agencies); and the APS responded to the OSTP call for public comments regarding extending public access policies across the federal government.
Books
Comprehensive Physiology
The contract for publication of “Comprehensive Physiology” (CPHY) was signed with Wiley‐Blackwell in 2009. CPHY is the update of the “Handbook of Physiology” in online‐only format and edited by Ron Terjung. The Book Committee is the Editorial Advisory Board. The original Handbook content is being digitized and will be included in CPHY as “Classic Content”. To date, 264 articles have been commissioned, the approximate equivalent of 25% of the original Handbooks. Sample content of CPHY previewed at Wiley‐Blackwell’s booth at EB, and is publicly available until its launch in January, 2011.
New initiatives
Physiology in Medicine
Three articles were published in 2009 and in 2010. With change of editorship at the end of 2009, Annals of Internal Medicine has chosen not to continue the PIM series. At the 2009 APS Summer Council meeting, interest was expressed in furthering inter‐society relationships and the suggestion was made to take PIM forward under APS auspices and possibly in collaboration with other societies (in particular, The Physiological Society). A subcommittee has been formed, which includes representation from The Physiological Society, to explore the feasibility of a new publication on the topic. The Subcommittee has identified the target audience as the ‘inquisitive practicing clinician’ across all specialties, with the secondary audience including PhD investigators in translational medicine; young investigators whose training is directed ‘by example’ and who no longer ‘learn the basics’ and people in industry, who may include, but not be limited to, any of the above categories. Current action points for the Subcommittee involve market research and include the development of a readership questionnaire, drafting of a mock issue table of contents and discussion with Wiley‐Blackwell regarding their offer to support our market research efforts, no strings attached.
DeepDyve
In May 2009, the APS signed a two‐year agreement with DeepDyve allowing DeepDyve to create a searchable index of APS journals, display the first page of each article and enable customers on site to “rent” an article for a 24‐hour period for $.99 and for longer periods at modestly higher fees. Customers can view the article but cannot print or copy/paste the content.
Marketing and sales strategic plan
In April 2010, the APS Publications and Marketing Departments retained publishing consultants who are expert in the area of sales and marketing to analyze the APS journals program to develop a sales and marketing strategic plan. The consultants were asked for recommendations for specific sales and marketing initiatives that will increase submissions and subscriptions as well as provide an overall strategic framework from which APS can work from in the future. The report is due to APS by end of June 2010.
China agreement
As of June 2010, the APS has entered into an agreement for selling the electronic version of our journals to institutions in China. Previously, the APS has had minimal sales representation in this growth market.
Committee Issues
Recommendations on procedures and guidelines to address ethical misconduct in publications
A set of formalized procedures describing APS ethical policy and new guidelines for handling cases of apparent ethical misconduct were recommended to the Publications Committee. Cases of apparent or actual ethical misconduct in APS publications that had to be managed in 2009 grew by 32%. The largest number of cases in 2009 involved figure manipulation (36%) and the majority of overall cases (72%) were identified prior to acceptance. The majority of cases involving figure manipulations were unintentional “presentation errors”.
To help manage the increasing complexity and volume of these cases the Publications Committee recommended the implement flowcharts and standardized letters, and the creation of a Publications Committee‐appointed Ethics Officer. This would be done by reducing the Publications Committee Chair term to a one four-year term and then the chair would serve as the Ethics Officer for a one two-year term, overlapping with the first two years of the new Publications Chair. The Committee made additional recommendations including requesting that a statement of the author’s contribution to the article to be submitted with the manuscript; that an explicit statement indicating that the Corresponding Author had seen the raw data be submitted with the manuscript; and that all authors be responsible for all of the submitted data ( as is current APS policy). The Council approved all the Committee recommendations.
New ICMJE conflict of interest disclosure form
The editors of several major medical journals have announced that all journals published by members of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) will begin using an identical financial disclosure form. The ICMJE disclosure form is more detailed than the current APS form and could be incorporated into the APS manuscript submission system. The advantage of a standard form is that it would become familiar to authors it does not require disclosure of company ownership or disclosure in excess of any monetary amount of stock. The Publications Committee will wait to see if more changes are made to the form by the ICMJE and will review the issue again at the fall Committee meeting.
Physiological Genomics to be offered online only
Physiological Genomics (PG) subscriptions totaled 332 in 2009; 236 were online subscriptions, and 50 were print plus online subscriptions. The Committee approved offering only online subscriptions beginning in 2011.
Limiting the number of new experiments requested during peer review
It was agreed that APS Editors would be asked not to make unreasonable demands regarding the number of experiments requested during peer review.
Undergraduate Publications
Publication in a student publication, such as the peer‐reviewed Journal of Undergraduate Life Sciences, is considered prior publication under current APS policy. The Committee approved maintaining the current policy not to exempt undergraduate publications.