AJNR is constantly changing, many times thanks to suggestions made by our readers and others by decisions taken by myself and the senior editors. These are some of the changes that will happen this year:
Physics review articles: These have been very difficult to obtain despite due diligence of our two physics consultants. More importantly, they have not performed well and have been read, downloaded and quoted a surprisingly small number of times. For the time being we will discontinue them on regular basis and we are in the process of rethinking what would be best way to bring some physics to our readers. Suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Case reports: Their numbers will continue to decrease. We will go from five per issue in 2009 to 3 per issue in 2010 and then to 2 per issue in 2011. In 2011 all case reports will appear only online to allow us more paper space for major articles. Case reports, while interesting, are quoted very little and do not contribute to improve our impact factor.
Technical notes: These can be basically considered as case reports and also contribute very little to the improvement of our impact factor. Expect to see their number decrease considerably during the next two years.
Review articles: Another surprise! They are read, downloaded and quoted well below our expectations. We will be making a decision about them soon and may discontinue them too.
Pharmacology vignettes: Dr. Suresh Mukherji is starting this nice new section. These “capsule size” articles will deal with drugs and how they impact imaging findings. Expect to see 3 or 4 per year.
White matter tracts: Drs. Thomas Naidich and Girish Fatterpekar are working in this new section that will deal with one tract at a time. Articles will describe not only the tract but also its functional unit and imaging features. Expect to see 2 or 3 of these articles per year.
Book reviews: Dr. Robert Quencer will continue to serve as the editor of this valuable activity. They are now found exclusively in this blog site which allows input from other readers and the authors too. They are accessed much more here than they were in the journal.
Abbreviations: All articles will now contain a shaded box under the abstract detailing all abbreviations used. Other journals do this and our readers will find it very helpful.
Web-related activities:
Case of the week: It continues to be a very popular activity. For nearly one year all postings have been submitted from fellows all over the world which is very satisfying. I am thinking about choosing an editor for this section (if you are interested please contact me) and making some changes to increase its educational value.
Poll of the week: Finally we are getting more and more of you to answer the weekly question. Don’t be afraid, it is not a test!
Podcast: Dr. Doug Phillips will continue as the editor of this activity which has been initially very popular, you can expect a new podcast every month at about the time that the new issue of AJNR comes out. They are also available through iTunes.
Special collections: They will continue to be published two times per year. The next one will be on brain tumors and will be edited by Dr. Soonmee Cha from USCF.
Editor’s and Fellow’s Journal Club choices: These will be continue to be selected by myself. An icon will now mark each article chosen for any of these two selections. They will be commented on a monthly basis in our podcasts.
LAST MINUTE! Usage reports for ajnr.org have just come in as follows: total number of hits during 2008: 8,255,366; total number of hits during 2009: 9,595,879!
