Journal metrics for the Netherlands Heart Journal

Excerpt

Over the past years, the Netherlands Heart Journal (NHJ) has seen a considerable increase in the total number of submissions. Since NHJ was accepted by PubMed in 2007, the total number of submissions has more than doubled (Table 1). In each major article category (case report, original article, review article, imaging in cardiology) an increase could be observed. However, the increasing number of submissions together with a fixed space for publication has resulted in higher rejection rates. On one hand, this allows a more critical attitude towards the scientific level of a certain article, on the other hand we have to disappoint more authors. This holds in particular for case reports, which can only be accepted if they provide truly novel information. The only other way out for a case report is the transfer to the imaging article category, if the enclosed image is of indisputable value. In general, we discourage our readers from submitting case reports unless the case histories contain ‘prime time news’. We are delighted to see a considerable rise in both original and review articles. These categories of articles reflect the scientific quality of a journal. Apart from their inherent scientific value, journal editors highly welcome such articles because of their citation value. Usually, both original and review articles are highly cited which may directly lead to an improved impact factor. …