In order to meet the increasing demand for rheumatology-focused articles, AC&R will begin publishing 12 issues per year in January 2008. AC&R publishes both original research and review articles that promote excellence in the clinical practice of rheumatology. Covered topics include evidence-based practice studies; clinical problems; practice guidelines; healthcare economics; healthcare policy; educational, social, and public health issues; and future trends in rheumatology practice.
Since 2001, submissions have steadily increased, and in 2006, the impact factor (a measure of the number of citations to articles in a journal) for AC&R and A&R ranked first in the rheumatology category again, with a combined impact factor of 7.421.
In 2006, the number of issues published increased from six to eight in order to address the increase in quality submissions. However, submissions of high-quality work continue to increase, and the ACR journal publications committee increased the number of annual issues to 12 beginning in 2008.
The journal’s co-editors, Patricia Katz, PhD, and Ed Yelin, PhD, were enthusiastic about the change. “We never thought that the quantity of excellent manuscripts would increase sufficiently to justify expansion to twelve issues a year, but that has in fact occurred,” said Dr. Yelin. Dr. Katz added, “Publishing monthly will allow us to enhance the reputation of the journal, since authors prefer seeing their manuscripts in print as quickly as possible. ”