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This special issue of the Journal of Radiology Case Reports honors the reviewers who donated their time and expertise throughout the year 2009 to the high quality and success of this journal.

This special issue of the Journal of Radiology Case Reports honors the reviewers who donated their time and expertise throughout the year 2010 to the high quality and success of this journal.

This special issue of the Journal of Radiology Case Reports honors the reviewers who donated their time and expertise throughout the year 2011 to the high quality and success of this journal.

This special issue of the Journal of Radiology Case Reports honors the reviewers who donated their time and expertise throughout the year 2012 to the high quality and success of this journal.

The 21st century has provided new technical and educational opportunities as well as challenges which have not been approached and exploited sufficiently by traditional scientific journals. Furthermore, case reports are usually “neglected” by traditional journals for a variety of reasons, including limited space in the hardcopy version of the journal issue and priority over original research and review articles. The Journal of Radiology Case Reports is a new generation of journals, which is dedicated to provide open-access, high-quality, peer-reviewed and interactive Radiology case reports.

The first issue of World Journal of Radiology (WJR), whose preparatory work was initiated on August 24, 2009, will be published on December 31, 2009. The WJR Editorial Board has now been established and consists of 303 distinguished experts from 38 countries. Our purpose of launching WJR is to publish peer-reviewed, high-quality articles via an open-access online publishing model, thereby acting as a platform for communication between peers and the wider public, and maximizing the benefits to editorial board members, authors and readers.

Sir William Osler was an outstanding figure in American and British Medicine during the early years of this century. Over fifty years after his death, his name is still remembered and honored, whereas other leaders who were equally important in the eyes of their contemporaries have been relegated to the realm of history. This brief review attempts to discover what special qualities have kept Osler's memory vivid. No single characteristic of his skill, science, or personality seems in itself to explain his continuing reputation. Rather, a combination of his eminence in several different medical schools, his presence at a time of revolution in medical teaching and thought, his authorship of one of the most successful medical textbooks, and an enthusiastic claque of ex-students and colleagues seem to have combined to maintain his memory as a leader of medicine.

There were 56 articles published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance in 2009. The editors were impressed with the high quality of the submissions, of which our acceptance rate was about 40%. In accordance with open-access publishing, the articles go on-line as they are accepted with no collating of the articles into sections or special thematic issues. We have therefore chosen to briefly summarise the papers in this article for quick reference for our readers in broad areas of interest, which we feel will be useful to practitioners of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). In some cases where it is considered useful, the articles are also put into the wider context with a short narrative and recent CMR references. It has been a privilege to serve as the Editor of the JCMR this past year. I hope that you find the open-access system increases wider reading and citation of your papers, and that you will continue to send your quality manuscripts to JCMR for publication.

There were 75 articles published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (JCMR) in 2010, which is a 34% increase in the number of articles since 2009. The quality of the submissions continues to increase, and the editors were delighted with the recent announcement of the JCMR Impact Factor of 4.33 which showed a 90% increase since last year. Our acceptance rate is approximately 30%, but has been falling as the number of articles being submitted has been increasing. In accordance with Open-Access publishing, the JCMR articles go on-line as they are accepted with no collating of the articles into sections or special thematic issues. Last year for the first time, the Editors summarized the papers for the readership into broad areas of interest or theme, which we felt would be useful to practitioners of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) so that you could review areas of interest from the previous year in a single article in relation to each other and other recent JCMR articles [1]. This experiment proved very popular with a very high rate of downloading, and therefore we intend to continue this review annually. The papers are presented in themes and comparison is drawn with previously published JCMR papers to identify the continuity of thought and publication in the journal. We hope that you find the open-access system increases wider reading and citation of your papers, and that you will continue to send your quality manuscripts to JCMR for publication.

Contributing reviewers

The editors of Virology Journal would like to thank all our reviewers who have contributed to the journal in Volume 9 (2012). The success of any scientific journal depends on an effective and strict peer review process and Virology Journal could not operate without your contribution. We look forward to your continuous support to this journal either as an invited reviewer or a contributing author in the years to come.

Background

The past 3 decades have witnessed a boost in science development in China; in parallel, more and more Chinese scientific journals are indexed by the Journal Citation Reports issued by Thomson Reuters (SCI). Evaluation of the performance of these Chinese SCI journals is necessary and helpful to improve their quality. This study aimed to evaluate these journals by calculating various journal self-citation rates, which are important parameters influencing a journal impact factor.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We defined three journal self-citation rates, and studied these rates for 99 Chinese scientific journals, almost exhausting all Chinese SCI journals currently available. Likewise, we selected 99 non-Chinese international (abbreviated as ‘world’) journals, with each being in the same JCR subject category and having similar impact factors as their Chinese counterparts. Generally, Chinese journals tended to be higher in all the three self-citation rates than world journal counterparts. Particularly, a few Chinese scientific journals had much higher self-citation rates.

Conclusions/Significance

Our results show that generally Chinese scientific journals have higher self-citation rates than those of world journals. Consequently, Chinese scientific journals tend to have lower visibility and are more isolated in the relevant fields. Considering the fact that sciences are rapidly developing in China and so are Chinese scientific journals, we expect that the differences of journal self-citation rates between Chinese and world scientific journals will gradually disappear in the future. Some suggestions to solve the problems are presented.

Computers are nearly ubiquitous in academic medicine, and authors create and compile much of their work in the electronic environment, yet the process of manuscript submission often fails to utilize the advantages of electronic communication. The purpose of this report is to review the submission policies of major academic journals in the field of radiology and assess current editorial practices relating to electronic submission of academic works. The authors surveyed 16 radiologic journals that are indexed in the Index Medicus and available in our medical center library. They compared the manuscript submission policies of these journals as outlined in recent issues of the journals and the corresponding worldwide web sites. The authors compared the journals on the following criteria: web site access to instructions; electronic submission of text, both with regard to initial submission and final submission of the approved document; text hardcopy requirements; word processing software restrictions; electronic submission of figures, figure hardcopy requirements; figure file format restrictions; and electronic submission media. Although the trend seems to be toward electronic submission, there currently is no clear-cut standard of practice. Because all of the journals that accept electronic documents also require a hardcopy, many of the advantages gained through electronic submission are nullified. In addition, many publishers only utilize electronic documents after a manuscript has been accepted, thus utilizing the benefits of digital information in the printing process but not in the actual submission and peer-review process.

Background

To assist educators and researchers in improving the quality of medical research, we surveyed the editors and statistical reviewers of high-impact medical journals to ascertain the most frequent and critical statistical errors in submitted manuscripts.

Findings

The Editors-in-Chief and statistical reviewers of the 38 medical journals with the highest impact factor in the 2007 Science Journal Citation Report and the 2007 Social Science Journal Citation Report were invited to complete an online survey about the statistical and design problems they most frequently found in manuscripts. Content analysis of the responses identified major issues. Editors and statistical reviewers (n = 25) from 20 journals responded. Respondents described problems that we classified into two, broad themes: A. statistical and sampling issues and B. inadequate reporting clarity or completeness. Problems included in the first theme were (1) inappropriate or incomplete analysis, including violations of model assumptions and analysis errors, (2) uninformed use of propensity scores, (3) failing to account for clustering in data analysis, (4) improperly addressing missing data, and (5) power/sample size concerns. Issues subsumed under the second theme were (1) Inadequate description of the methods and analysis and (2) Misstatement of results, including undue emphasis on p-values and incorrect inferences and interpretations.

Conclusions

The scientific quality of submitted manuscripts would increase if researchers addressed these common design, analytical, and reporting issues. Improving the application and presentation of quantitative methods in scholarly manuscripts is essential to advancing medical research.

Background

The CONSORT Statement provides recommendations for reporting randomized controlled trials. We assessed the extent to which leading medical journals that publish reports of randomized trials incorporate the CONSORT recommendations into their journal and editorial processes.

Methods

This article reports on two observational studies. Study 1: We examined the online version of 'Instructions to Authors' for 165 high impact factor medical journals and extracted all text mentioning the CONSORT Statement or CONSORT extension papers. Any mention of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) or clinical trial registration were also sought and extracted. Study 2: We surveyed the editor-in-chief, or editorial office, for each of the 165 journals about their journal's endorsement of CONSORT recommendations and its incorporation into their editorial and peer-review processes.

Results

Study 1: Thirty-eight percent (62/165) of journals mentioned the CONSORT Statement in their online 'Instructions to Authors'; of these 37% (23/62) stated this was a requirement, 63% (39/62) were less clear in their recommendations. Very few journals mentioned the CONSORT extension papers. Journals that referred to CONSORT were more likely to refer to ICMJE guidelines (RR 2.16; 95% CI 1.51 to 3.08) and clinical trial registration (RR 3.67; 95% CI 2.36 to 5.71) than those journals which did not.

Study 2: Thirty-nine percent (64/165) of journals responded to the on-line survey, the majority were journal editors. Eighty-eight percent (50/57) of journals recommended authors comply with the CONSORT Statement; 62% (35/56) said they would require this. Forty-one percent (22/53) reported incorporating CONSORT into their peer-review process and 47% (25/53) into their editorial process. Eighty-one percent (47/58) reported including CONSORT in their 'Instructions to Authors' although there was some inconsistency when cross checking information on the journal's website. Sixty-nine percent (31/45) of journals recommended authors comply with the CONSORT extension for cluster trials, 60% (27/45) for harms and 42% (19/45) for non-inferiority and equivalence trials. Few journals mentioned these extensions in their 'Instructions to Authors'.

Conclusion

Journals should be more explicit in their recommendations and expectations of authors regarding the CONSORT Statement and related CONSORT extensions papers.

The purpose of this study was to review institutional statistics provided in dean's letters and determine the percentage of honors awarded by institution and clerkship specialty.

Institutional and clerkship aggregate data were compiled from a review of dean's letters from 80 United States medical schools. The percentage of honors awarded during 3rd year clerkships during 2005 were collected for analysis. Across clerkship specialties, there were no statistically significant differences between the mean percentage of honors given by the medical schools examined with Internal Medicine (27.6%) the low and Psychiatry (33.5%) the high. However, inter-institutional variability observed within each clerkship was high, with surgery clerkship percentage of honors ranging from 2% to 75% of the students. This suggests some schools may be more lenient and other more stringent in awarding honors to their students. This inter-institutional variability makes it difficult to compare honors received by students from different medical schools and weakens the receipt of honors as a primary tool for evaluating potential incoming residents.

The first issue of World Journal of Cardiology (WJC), whose preparatory work was initiated on December 13, 2009, will be published on December 31, 2009. The WJC Editorial Board has now been established and consists of 298 distinguished experts from 40 countries. Our purpose of launching WJC is to publish peer-reviewed, high-quality articles via an open-access online publishing model, thereby acting as a platform for communication between peers and the wider public, and maximizing the benefits to editorial board members, authors and readers.

The first issue of World Journal of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (WJGE), whose preparatory work was initiated on October 13, 2008, will be published on October 15, 2009. The WJGE Editorial Board has now been established and consists of 97 distinguished experts from 24 countries. Our purpose of launching WJGE is to publish peer-reviewed, high-quality articles via an open-access online publishing model, thereby acting as a platform for communication between peers and the wider public, and maximizing the benefits to editorial board members, authors and readers.

The first issue of World Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology (WJGO), whose preparatory work was initiated on September 27, 2008, will be published on October 15, 2009. The WJGO Editorial Board has now been established and consists of 210 distinguished experts from 32 countries. Our purpose of launching WJGO is to publish peer-reviewed, high-quality articles via an open-access online publishing model, thereby acting as a platform for communication between peers and the wider public, and maximizing the benefits to editorial board members, authors and readers.

The first issue of World Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery (WJGS), whose preparatory work was initiated on September 27, 2008, will be published on November 30, 2009. The WJGS Editorial Board has now been established and consists of 328 distinguished experts from 35 countries. Our purpose of launching WJGS is to publish peer-reviewed, high-quality articles via an open-access online publishing model, thereby acting as a platform for communication between peers and the wider public, and maximizing the benefits to editorial board members, authors and readers.

The first issue of World Journal of Hepatology (WJH), whose preparatory work was initiated on September 23, 2008, will be published on October 31, 2009. The WJH Editorial Board has now been established and consists of 213 distinguished experts from 29 countries. Our purpose of launching WJH is to publish peer-reviewed, high-quality articles via an open-access online publishing model, thereby acting as a platform for communication between peers and the wider public, and maximizing the benefits to editorial board members, authors and readers.

The first issue of World Journal of Diabetes (WJD), whose preparatory work was initiated on September 23, 2008, is published on March 15, 2010. The WJD Editorial Board has now been established and consists of 323 distinguished experts from 38 countries. Our purpose of launching WJD is to publish peer-reviewed, high-quality articles via an open-access online publishing model, thereby acting as a platform for communication between peers and the wider public, and maximizing the benefits to editorial board members, authors and readers.

The first issue of World Journal of Biological Chemistry (WJBC), whose preparatory work was initiated on July 01, 2009, will be published on January 26, 2010. The WJBC Editorial Board has now been established and consists of 341 distinguished experts from 37 countries. Our purpose of launching WJBC is to publish peer-reviewed, high-quality articles via an open-access online publishing model, thereby acting as a platform for communication between peers and the wider public, and maximizing the benefits to editorial board members, authors and readers.

The first issue of World Journal of Gastrointestinal Pharmacology and Therapeutics (WJGPT), whose preparatory work was initiated on September 27, 2008, will be published on February 6, 2010. The WJGPT Editorial Board has now been established and consists of 188 distinguished experts from 36 countries. Our purpose of launching WJGPT is to publish peer-reviewed, high-quality articles via an open-access online publishing model, thereby acting as a platform for communication between peers and the wider public, and maximizing the benefits to editorial board members, authors and readers.

The first issue of World Journal of Clinical Oncology (WJCO), whose preparatory work was initiated on December 20, 2009, will be published on November 10, 2010. The WJCO Editorial Board has now been established and consists of 315 distinguished experts from 33 countries. Our purpose of launching WJCO is to publish peer-reviewed, high-quality articles via an open-access online publishing model, thereby acting as a platform for communication between peers and the wider public, and maximizing the benefits to editorial board members, authors and readers.

The first issue of World Journal of Stem Cells (WJSC), whose preparatory work was initiated on September 27, 2008, will be published on December 31, 2009. The WJSC Editorial Board has now been established and consists of 281 distinguished experts from 28 countries. Our purpose of launching WJSC is to publish peer-reviewed, high-quality articles via an open-access online publishing model, thereby acting as a platform for communication between peers and the wider public, and maximizing the benefits to editorial board members, authors and readers.