Editoril MJMS t the Dwn of Its Electronic Er Wn Ilm Dewiputri 1, Irfn Mohmd 2 1 Production Editor Mlysin Journl of Medicl Sciences Universiti Sins Mlysi Helth Cmpus 16150 Kubng Kerin, Kelntn, Mlysi 2 Assistnt Editor Mlysin Journl of Medicl Sciences Universiti Sins Mlysi Helth Cmpus 16150 Kubng Kerin, Kelntn, Mlysi Abstrct This specil editoril ssessed the recent developments in Mlysin Journl of Medicl Sciences (MJMS) nd exmined the chrcteristics of the submission, peer review, nd publiction processes for MJMS. This retrospective nlysis used informtion bout the mnuscripts submitted to MJMS during the one-yer period (from 1 June 2010 to 31 My 2010) since the strt of current online submission nd review system (ScholrOne TM Mnuscripts, Thomson Reuters). In ddition, we lso discussed the future directions of MJMS. Finlly, we would like to recommend n nnul internl udit for MJMS, which is very useful to monitor the growth of this journl progressively. Keywords: editoril policies, peer review, publishing, qulity control, sttistics The pst yer hs been one of gret chnge for the Mlysin Journl of Medicl Sciences (MJMS). We hve progressed from print journl to n electronic journl, from trditionl hrdcopy submission vi postl mil to fully electronic submission nd speedy correspondence vi emils, nd from monotonous cover nd lyout to visully stimulting nd impressive ppernce. This mjor progress primrily stemmed from the Accelerted Progrmme of Excellence (APEX) sttus wrded to Universiti Sins Mlysi (USM). This wrd hs brought more funding to the journl, which is mnged under the Reserch Mngement nd Cretivity Office (RCMO). MJMS is trgeted s one of the journls tht is most likely to succeed on the interntionl pltform. USM Press took over the publiction of MJMS from the School of Medicl Sciences in Jnury 2009 with the understnding tht the School would continue to provide editoril ssistnce by selecting qulity rticles in ccordnce with the MJMS objectives, while the USM Press would offer dministrtive help nd would interntionlise the journl by incresing exposure though ISI nd PubMed. Since this trnsition, we hve been ble to utilise more resources, which llowed our recent developments. Our Guidelines for Authors hve been refined. The ltest version (updted September 2010) offers more comprehensive guidelines ment to fcilitte mnuscript preprtion nd to expedite the subsequent editoril process by voiding unnecessry hiccups. It is not our intention to ly burden on uthors with these seemingly stricter requirements, but rther we re dopting MEDLINE s requirements for mnuscripts in hopes of receiving positive outcome from the MEDLINE evlution. To fcilitte MEDLINE s evlution of MJMS, we sincerely hope tht uthors will follow the Guidelines s closely s possible. This specil editoril will ssess the recent developments in MJMS nd exmine the chrcteristics of the submission, peer review, nd publiction processes for MJMS. This retrospective nlysis used informtion bout the mnuscripts submitted to MJMS during the one-yer period (from 1 June 2010 to 31 My 2010) since the strt of current online submission nd review system (ScholrOne TM Mnuscripts, Thomson Reuters). Mlysin J Med Sci. Jn-Mr 2011; 18(1): 1-5 www.mjms.usm.my Penerbit Universiti Sins Mlysi, 2011 For permission, plese emil:mjms.usm@gmil.com 1
Mlysin J Med Sci. Jn-Mr 2011; 18(1): 1-5 The Electronic Evolution Electronic submission to MJMS strted in June 2009. We hve been ccepting mnuscripts vi ScholrOne TM Mnuscripts (formerly Mnuscript Centrl), n online mnuscript submission, trcking, nd review system. Prior to the doption of the online submission system, we relied on submission by post, in person (usully from USM), nd occsionlly by emil. Becuse we no longer rely on the exchnge of hrd copies, we do not hve to del with stcks of pper, whose storge requires considerble physicl spce. This trnsition lso obvited the need to print nd file every mnuscript submitted vi emil. This trnsition from pper dependence to pperless mnuscript processing is in line with the sustinble cmpus philosophy of the USM (1) nd with the globl mission to sve the green resources of the Erth. The pperless hndling of dt hs been dopted nd populrised by the mjority of journls in the world. Consequently, the editoril office duties hve been gretly reduced no longer must the stff mil nd trck hundreds of envelopes ech yer. With fewer envelopes to mnge, the MJMS editoril stff cn focus more on improving the qulity of the journl nd on getting the journl indexed in s mny relevnt dtbses s possible, importntly PubMed nd ISI Web of Science. In ddition to switching to n online submission system, the journl itself hs evolved into n electronic journl. Strting in Jnury 2009, MJMS hs been published electroniclly on our website, nd hrdcopies re only printed on demnd. Tble 1: Submission of mnuscripts to Mlysin Journl of Medicl Sciences vi ScholrOne Mnuscripts in one yer June 2009 - My 2010 (unless indicted otherwise) Submission Month n Jun 11 Jul 8 Aug 18 Sep 10 Oct 14 Nov 12 Dec 12 Jn 12 Feb 14 Mr 12 Apr 17 My 10 Totl 150 One mnuscript, in the formt of letters to the editors, ws sent vi emil. Submission Trends Our trnsition from print journl to n online journl brought bout perceptible increse in our submission rte. Since we implemented the online submission system, on verge, 12 mnuscripts re submitted to MJMS ech month (Tble 1). This number is double the verge number of mnuscripts submitted ech month before using ScholrOne Mnuscripts, which ws 6 (unpublished dt). This increse indictes tht switching to electronic submission fcilittes submission; it is lso possible tht MJMS is getting more publicity nd is more visible in the locl nd interntionl communities. The types of mnuscripts submitted to MJMS re illustrted in Figure 1. Originl rticles constitute the mjority (60.2%) of the mnuscripts we hve Figure 1: Types of mnuscripts submitted to Mlysin Journl of Medicl Sciences in one yer received. However, mong these, only one-third (33.3%) re lbortory-bsed reserch ppers, nd we re iming to ttrct more reserch ppers in the future to blnce the bundnce of clinicl ppers, which encompssed two-thirds (66.6%) of originl rticles. 2 www.mjms.usm.my
Editoril The electronic er of MJMS Most of our submissions come from Asi: Mlysi, unsurprisingly, is the top contributor, followed by Indi nd Irn. Clssifying the origin of submissions by region, most of our submission comes from Southest Asi (60.7%). This is followed by South Asi (14.7%), Middle Est (12.0%), Afric (9.3%), Oceni (1.3%), North Americ (1.3%), nd South Americ (0.7%). The brekdown of submissions by country is shown in Tble 2. These dt indicte tht MJMS is successful in ttrcting uthors from developing ntions; this trend is in line with the journl s im, which is to publish nd disseminte informtion on biomedicl nd helth sciences reserch pertinent to developing ntions. Tble 2: Submission of mnuscripts to Mlysin Journl of Medicl Sciences by country in one yer vi ScholrOne Mnuscripts (unless indicted otherwise) Region n South Est Asi Mlysi 88 Singpore 2 Indonesi 1 South Asi Indi 14 Pkistn 7 Bngldesh 1 Middle Est 14 Irn 11 Turkey 4 Plestinin Territory, Occupied 11 Sudi Arbi 1 Irqq 1 Afric Nigeri 13 Sudn 1 North Americ United Sttes of Americ 2 South Americ Cub 1 Oceni Austrli 2 Totl 150 One mnuscript, in the formt of letters to the editors, ws sent vi emil. Peer Review Trends Accept reject rtio On verge, MJMS rejected hlf of the mnuscripts fter peer review (Tble 3). The verge rejection rte hs incresed from pproximtely 20.0% (2) to 51.7% (Tble 3). The rejection rtes of originl rticles nd review rticles re higher thn the verge rte, t 61.5% nd 71.4%, respectively. Review rticles hve the highest rejection rte; the most common resons for rejection were the lck of novelty of the review topic nd the poor structure of the mnuscripts. These high rtes of rejection re compensted for by the low rejection rte of editorils nd specil communictions, s these solicited rticles re unlikely to be rejected. The verge rejection rte is considered high for smll scientific journl like MJMS. This sitution indictes tht lthough MJMS receives mny mnuscripts, the qulity of most mnuscripts is unstisfctory. We sincerely thnk ll of our reviewers who, by their commendble efforts in reviewing, hve contributed to improving the qulity of the mnuscripts published in MJMS. Only smll proportion (16%) of the verge rejection rte is ttributed to rejection prepeer review. Some of the resons for this erly rejection by MJMS re s follows: the topic is of low priority for publiction due to the lck of new or useful knowledge; mjor lnguge errors; filure to comply with the Guidelines for Authors; or the topic is not within the scope of MJMS, for exmple, veterinry sciences nd griculture. Screening t the erly stges (pre-peer review) should be implemented more rigorously to remove unsuitble mnuscripts. A study by Johnston et l. (3) indicted tht erly screening is fvourble, s it lessens the burdens on reviewers nd shortened the time tken to rech finl decision. For MJMS, the medin time tken to rech the finl decision to reject mnuscript using the pre-peer review screening is 8 dys, which is significntly shorter thn the 44 dys tken for the post-peer review process. Publiction Trends Lnguge We relise tht most of the ppers sent to MJMS re from uthors for whom English is their second lnguge. Although lnguge problems should not be the min reson for rejection (4), we hve hd to reject mnuscripts tht re so poorly written or presented tht they were hrd www.mjms.usm.my 3
Mlysin J Med Sci. Jn-Mr 2011; 18(1): 1-5 Tble 3: Mlysin Journl of Medicl Sciences cception nd rejection rtio of different mnuscript types Finl decision Mnuscript Type n Accept Acception Rtio (%) Reject Rejection Rtio (%) Brief communiction 4 4 100.0 0 0.0 Cse report 22 15 62.5 9 37.5 Editoril 2 2 100.0 0 0.0 Originl rticle 52 20 38.5 32 61.5 Review rticle 7 2 28.6 5 71.4 Totl/Averge 89 43 48.3 46 51.7 Mnuscripts with n originl submission dte from 1 June 2009 to 31 My 2010 nd finl decision dte of on or before 31 My 2010. comprehend. We felt tht these mnuscripts were not even understndble nd therefore hd to be rejected pre-peer review. To ensure tht our published rticles re well written, we send ll ccepted rticles to professionl English editing service, Americn Journl Experts (AJE). After the rticles re returned by AJE, the ccepted rticles re refined crefully with respect to formt nd style by our in-house copyeditors. Witing time of publiction The witing time of publiction of n ccepted mnuscript hs been reduced from 6 months (5) to medin of 4 months (Figure 2). The witing time of rticles ccepted to MJMS depends on () the order of cceptnce; (b) the type (originl rticles get higher priority thn cse reports, nd editoril rticles re solicited nd do not undergo peer review; hence they re lmost immeditely ccepted nd published in the next upcoming issue of the journl); nd (c) the subject re of the rticle. The Editor will select rticles representing vriety of subject res for ech issue; therefore, if we hve n bundnce of otorhinolryngology ppers (which did hppen!), we would publish these rticles in seprte issues. Within prticulr subject re, rticles tht re more ppeling, tht is, offering new knowledge nd re informtive nd exciting, get prioritised. Future directions MJMS is still developmentl in chrcter, nd certinly there is more room for improvement. However, we re content with the current progress; we hve mde smll strt, which is nonetheless importnt in setting the journl s pce. We hope tht the Editoril Bord members will be ctive contributors to the journl, for exmple, in helping to screen the growing number of new submissions. We re lso in the process of incorporting more medicl-bsed sttistics experts on the Bord in ddition to retining the members with multidisciplinry res of expertise to ensure tht the published rticles re not only of high qulity content-wise but re lso sttisticlly sound. At the moment, we re experimenting with the submission of video with mnuscripts. Video mteril nd nimtion sequences cn be used to support nd enhnce scientific or medicl reserch. Videos ccompnying mnuscript must be innovtive, provide dded vlue, nd, most importntly, not merely rehsh of the procedures described in the text. We will welcome the submission of videos (s supplements to mnuscripts) strting in erly 2011. We re lso striving to increse our worldwide visibility nd redership by pplying to be indexed in s mny relevnt dtbses s possible. MJMS is currently indexed in SCOPUS, Bioline Interntionl, the British Librry, EMBASE, Index Copernicus, DOAJ, nd few more. Currently, we re under evlution for indexing in PubMed nd ISI. As smll journl from smll country, we relise tht getting indexed in these dtbses is herculen tsk; however, it is not impossible, s we re breking slowly from the soclled vicious cycle of indequcy tht journls from semi-developed countries fce (6). We hve published ppers on issues tht re pertinent to developing countries, for exmple, rticles on the unique experience of mobile medicl tem during mjor flood (7), the recent developments in dengue reserch (8), nd the H1N1 pndemic (9). Therefore, MJMS offers fresh perspective 4 www.mjms.usm.my
Editoril The electronic er of MJMS from USM Press for ll the dministrtive help in funding, nd the essentil groundwork. Correspondence Ms Wn Ilm Dewiputri B Helth Sc Hons (Adelide) Mlysin Journl of Medicl Sciences Universiti Sins Mlysi Helth Cmpus 16150 Kubng Kerin Kelntn, Mlysi Emil: ilmdewiputri@gmil.com References 1. Lee LM, Abidin M, Rzk DA. Kmpus sejhter kmpus lestri: The genesis for sustinble cmpus [Internet]. 2007 [cited 2010 Aug 22]. Avilble from: http://helthycmpus.usm.my/v4/filesup/ KmpusSejhter-Lestri-s.pdf 2. Abdullh JM. Words from the current editor of MJMS. Mlysin J Med Sci. 2008;15(4):1. 3. Johnston SC, Lowenstein DH, Ferriero DM, Messing RO, Oksenberg JR, Huser SL. Erly editoril mnuscript screening versus obligte peer review: A rndomized tril. Ann Neurol. 2007;61(4):A10 A2. Figure 2: Publishing time of ccepted mnuscripts in Mlysin Journl of Medicl Sciences. Dt ws nlysed from 43 ccepted mnuscripts in the period of oneyer. Men = 4.7 months, medin = 4.0 months. on helth nd medicl issues from the developing world. Clerly, MJMS hs grown in mny spects s discussed bove. These chievements re the result of the hrd work of tem dedicted to the development of MJMS. As finl note, we would like to emphsize the importnce of n nnul internl udit, which we hope will llow the growth of this journl to be monitored progressively. 4. Ehr S, Tkhshi K. Resons for rejection of mnuscripts submitted to AJR by interntionl uthors. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2007;188(2):W113 W116. 5. Embong M. MJMS: The pst nd future. Mlysin J Med Sci. 2008;15(4):5 7. 6. Mrusic A, Mrusic M. Smll scientific journls from smll countries: Breking from vicious circle of indequcy. Crotin Med J. 1999;40(4):508 514. 7. Ahmd R, Mohmd Z, Mohd Noh AY, Mohmmd N, Che Hmzh MSS, Nik Mohmed NA, et l. Helth mjor incident: The experience of mobile medicl tem during mjor flood. Mlysin J Med Sci. 2008;15(2):47 51. 8. Guzmn MG, Vzquez S, Kouri G. Dengue: Where re we tody? Mlysin J Med Sci. 2009;16(3):5 12. 9. Lee CKC. Influenz A / H1N1 pndemic: The scre of 2009. Mlysin J Med Sci. 2009;16(3):1 4. Acknowledgements We would like to thnk MJMS tem 2009 2010: Professor Jfri Mlin Abdullh for his continuous encourgement nd excellent ides; Siti Nor Qmrih Ismil for the new nd improved MJMS look nd feel; nd Fzlin Mohmed Rouse www.mjms.usm.my 5