Integrative and Comparative Biology Advance Access originally published online on June 7, 2007
Integrative and Comparative Biology 2007 47(1):1-3; doi:10.1093/icb/icm049
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Editorial
Editor ICB
Assistant Editor ICB
President, SICB
Oxford Journals
The year 2006 saw a complete change in Integrative and Comparative Biology, with a new editor, new publisher, and a different system for handling manuscripts. It is gratifying that all the 2006 symposia but one were published in the year they were presented, even if it did mean that early issues were thin and the last one of the year was of sufficient size to serve as a door stop. All the issues were published according to the planned schedule, and we fully anticipate remaining on schedule in future years.
One of the obvious consequences of these changes was that the journal now uses a fully electronic system for submission, review, editing, and acceptance. The new system works smoothly, although inevitably the transition brought some teething problems, particularly with regard to color and page charges, that are thankfully now largely resolved.
The two main problems in 2007 were (1) failure by one or more authors to meet the deadline, thereby delaying publication of a whole symposium, and (2) misunderstandings held over from 2006 regarding charges for color figures.
It is expected that authors have their papers in final, or near-final, form at the time of presentation in January and that, consequently, only minor revision to reflect discussion at the meetings should be required before final submission. That way, conflict with such exigencies as preparation of NSF applications, will be eliminated. The deadline for all papers, accordingly, is 31 January, allowing for such minor revision to take place after the meeting. Attempts to persuade authors to have their papers ready for publication at the time of the symposia in January were not entirely successful in 2007 and some papers arrived several months beyond that target date, causing some problems with the production schedule. The situation was somewhat improved over 2006, however, and this year the issues will be more even in size. It is anticipated that as authors become familiar with the new system there will be a steady progress toward 100% submission by the 31 January deadline.
A more generous policy regarding color charges to come into effect in 2008 was drafted by the society's executive and ratified by the Editorial Board. It is as follows:
SICB POLICY ON CHARGES FOR COLORED FIGURES
Many fields of research employ techniques that require colored illustrations to adequately portray results. Accordingly, a number of journals are now routinely publishing colored figures in research papers. ICB has been part of that trend and in recent years has published colored figures at a cost to authors. Beginning in 2008, each author will be allowed colored figures gratis, as long as the following three criteria are met:
- The paper was submitted on, or before, the deadline of January 31
- Neither the author nor the symposium has funds earmarked for publication costs
- Color is essential for effective portrayal of the results, as deemed by the editor in consultation with the member of the editorial board representing the division supporting the symposium.
Papers submitted after the deadline, for whatever reason, will incur the charge of US$600 per colored figure. Authors should be aware that color charges waived for papers submitted in time do not merely vanish. They have to be paid by SICB. Payment for color by the Society takes money that would otherwise be used to support attendance by students at SICB meetings, so authors and symposium organizers are encouraged to cover color charges in their budgeting.
To enable us to publish all one year's symposia during the year of presentation, with regular, even-sized issues (essential for inclusion in PubMed), we have adopted a rather unusual publication schedule. Issues will be published monthly from July through December, with none appearing during the first half of the year. Note, however, that all papers are published online in the order in which they are received without reference to when their symposia are completed for hard-copy publication.
The year 2007 saw a greater involvement of the Editorial Board both in policy and in the day-to-day operation of the journal. The Board is composed of a standing member from each of the Divisions plus Associates nominated by the Editorial Board and/or Executive of the Society and ratified by the standing members of the Board. These are selected on the basis of eminence in an appropriate field and with a view to provide greater international coverage. Because of their increased role in the affairs of the journal, it is appropriate that the members of the Editorial Board be introduced to the readership (see "Introduction to the Editorial Board").
One of the recent notable developments was an analysis by Essential Science Indicators of the Institute for Scientific Information in Philadelphia that showed ICB to have "achieved the highest percent increase in total citations in the field of Plant & Animal Science" over the past decade. The Institute wanted to know why there had been such a dramatic increase in citations relative to other journals and sent a questionnaire seeking explanation. The Editorial Board was canvassed for their ideas and their collective opinions were compiled and relayed to the Institute. Upon request, that report is available as a pdf file to any member of SICB.
From the beginning of the compilation period (1996) until sometime between 1998 and 2002, none of the papers published during those periods were cited at all in the journals included in the database of Essential Science Indicators. A few citations were registered for papers published in 1998–2002 and thereafter there was an almost exponential increase to the present time (Fig. 1). This was not an artifact merely reflecting the publication of a greater number of papers in successive years, as there was a corresponding increase in the mean number of citations per paper during that time (Fig. 2). Thus, there has been a remarkable increase in the impact of papers published in ICB.
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There are multiple reasons for the increase in stature of ICB among scientific journals but the selection of topics on the leading edge of the biological sciences and their presentation by innovative, productive persons in the field must have been a major factor. For this, thanks go to the organizers of the symposia and to the speakers. The increasing internationalism of the journal must also be a factor.
There were a number of unsolicited, individual manuscripts submitted in the past year. Although most of these were of high caliber, none was accepted and the authors were informed of the journal's policy of only publishing symposium proceedings. The Editorial Board did consider the possibility of accepting papers that either (1) were on the topic of a symposium in progress and that might be added to that symposium upon the approval of the symposium organizer, or (2) was a comprehensive review of a broad topic that could serve as a stand-alone "symposium." None submitted in 2007 fulfilled either of these criteria and at the same time was of sufficient quality for acceptance.
There was one extra-societal series of papers that was accepted. The First International Congress of Respiratory Biology (ICRB) took place 14–16 August 2006 in Bonn, Germany. It consisted of a series of symposia, each with 5–23 speakers. Delegates from 25 nations attended. A summary of each of these 22 symposia will be published in ICB in 2007, after appropriate review and editing.
In 2006, the backlog from 2005 was published as were all but one paper emanating from symposia held in 2006. This year, that one paper will be published and we have undertaken to publish all acceptable papers from the 2007 symposia in the volume for 2007. Now that the journal has caught up with its backlog, it is anticipated that in the future all symposia will be published in the same year as they are presented at the SICB meetings. In addition, as soon as papers are accepted and edited they go online as citable publications immediately, to be followed later in the hard-printed version. Another advantage of online publication is that the author can supply supplementary material that could not appear in hard copy. It may be in the future that journals, including ICB, either themselves, or in a shared endeavor, will be the repositories of the raw data on which papers are based, thereby making it readily available to anyone wishing to use the data for other purposes or to verify results.
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