The 27th year of the International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care (IJTAHC) introduced major changes in editorial work. Submission processes were modernized by introducing Web-based submission at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/thc in September 2010. The change has been a learning process to staff, authors, and reviewers alike. During the transition period, responses were often slower than usual, with occasional technical problems. Now that the change is completed, we expect to get back to normal reviewing times. From this issue onward, all manuscripts, including letters, are accepted through the Web site only.
After the Web submission started, we have seen an increase in the number of submissions that are unsuitable for the profile of our Journal or clearly below the requirements of good scientific writing. When it is easy to submit, the authors (or their supervisors!) seem to have relaxed their standards. Even more worrying, we have seen authors withdraw a submission under review in IJTAHC with the explanation that it has been accepted elsewhere. This is downright fraudulent. On the other hand, there was an increasing amount of email queries on the suitability of a topic for the journal, a good practice, although we have not yet figured out how to count these in our statistics.
For volume 27, 188 original manuscripts and twelve letters were submitted, an increase of 30 percent as compared to volume 26. Of these, 54 percent were from Europe and 16 percent from North America, as judged by the address of the first author. This shows an increase of submissions from other parts of the world, and manuscripts were sent from thirty-seven different countries. A higher number of manuscripts also meant more rejections. By September 2011, fifty-three papers and twelve letters (33 percent of submissions) had been accepted for publication, 108 (54 percent) had been rejected, eighteen (9 percent) had been invited to submit a new version, and nine (5 percent) were still in review. The impact factor (IF) of the Journal has during the last 5 years been 1.3 or higher. In 2010, the IF stayed at 1,317.
The 254 authors of sixty-five published articles represented twenty-four different countries and all continents. Sixty percent of first authors were from Europe, most often from the United Kingdom (20 percent). The amount of methodological papers (20 percent) and policy studies (14 percent) decreased somewhat from the previous year, but more assessments of various health technologies were published. The increase in the number of letters to the editor is very welcome—this Journal is a good forum for discussions on HTA! The theme issue on Patients and Public in HTA presented eleven invited and peer-reviewed papers and an interesting set of invited letters on the theme.
IJTAHC has the tradition of selecting the Reviewer of the Year. For 2010, the recipient of this award was David Banta, a swift and constructive reviewer who has delivered countless papers in much better condition than they originally arrived, often guiding aspiring authors quite closely. For 2011, the award winner is Karen Facey. She has a track record of several years as a diligent reviewer especially in her own field of statistics, while her reviews also reflect a good overall understanding of HTA. The Patients theme issue was her brainchild, and the result was excellent. Thank you and congratulations!
The quality of the journal depends very much on the support of its Editorial Board and other reviewers, and we thank warmly for their valuable scientific input. This year the following experts have commented on one or more manuscripts: Eleanor Ahern, Anneli Ahovuo-Saloranta, Lieven Annemans, Toni Ashton, Ilona Autti-Rämö, Christel Bahtsevani, David Banta, Simona Bartoli, Renaldo Battista, Christine Bergeron, Andrew Booth, Andrew Boyd, John Bridges, Eduardo Briones, James Brophy, Reinhard Busse, Daniel Callejo, Chris Cameron, Per Carlsson, Andy W. Chuck, Americo Cicchetti, Irina Cleemput, Andy Clegg, Tammy Clifford, Keith Cooper, Silvio Daidone, Tim Dall, Francois Dionne, Tomas Dolezal, Karla Douw, Michael Drummond, Adam G. Elshaug, Karen Facey, David Feeny, Katharina Fischer, Martin Flattery, Alison Ford, Deanne Forel, Nick Freemantle, Barbara Froeschl, Anne Fry-Smith, Gisselle Gallego, Pedro Gallo, Sarah Garner, Lou Garrison, Ron Goeree, Stephen Goodall, Clifford Goodman, Javier Gracia, Alicia Granados, Kees Groeneveld, Iñaki Gutierrez-Ibarluzea, David Hailey, Nina Hakak, Hannu Halila, Ariel Hammerman, Dorte Gilså Hansen, Helle Ploug Hansen, Chris Henshall, Janet Hiller, Björn Hofmann, Kalle Hoppu, Liisa Husu, Heli Hätönen, Maarten J. IJzerman, Iñaki Imaz, Lisa Irvine, Nele Jacobs, Tiina Jahkola, Alberto Jiménez-Puente, Jukkapekka Jousimaa, Don Juzwishin, Bengt Jönsson, Torben Jørgensen, Minna Kaila, Brendon Kearney, Wilhelm Kirch, Lars Klack, Marianne Klemp, Gisele Kobelt, Jukka Kokkonen, Heli Kotilainen, Ivar Sønbo Kristiansen, Tanja Krones, Hirohiko Kuratsune, Jorma Lahtela, Kristian Lampe, Gill Lawrence, Anne Lee, Jaana Leipälä, Morgan Lim, Xiao-Li Liu, David M. Low, Georgios Lyratzopoulos, Jielai Ma, Sumit R. Majumdar, Antti Malmivaara, Tomi Malmström, Kristiina Manderbacka, Lisa Masucci, Joseph L. Mathew, Josephine Mauskopf, Francesco Mennini, Tracy Merlin, Aline Monte Mesquita, Rubin Minhas, Barbara Mintzes, Rebecca Moran, Jean Mossman, Graham Mowatt, Debjani Basu Müller, Matti Mäkelä, Anna Nachtnebel, Duncan Neuhauser, Jair Nicolini, Tom Noseworthy, Vitalis Nwagbara, Wija Oortwijn, Sari Susanna Ormstad, Claire Packer, Feng Pan, Ken Patterson, Steve Pearson, Matthias Perleth, Jaime Peters, Julie Polisena, Keng Ho Pwee, Jasmine Pwu, Feng Qian, James Raftery, Barney Reeves, James Reston, Mette Bech Risør, Karen Ritchie, Risto P. Roine, Måns Rosén, Alric Rüther, Mandy Ryan, Laura Sampietro-Colom, Petra Schnell-Inderst, Erik Schokkaert, Ann Scott, Sinikka Sihvo, Sue Simpson, Ann Single, Harri Sintonen, Becky Skidmore, Oriol de Solà-Morales, Hyun Jin Song, Elizaveta Sopina, Kitti Sranacharoenpong, Kristina Staley, Ken Stein, Andrew Stevens, Hae Sun Suh, Mette N. Svendsen, Pekka Tarkkila, Rosanna Tarricone, Rod Taylor, Victoria Thomas, Hanne Thorsen, Leigh-Ann Topfer, Päivi Topo, Giuseppe la Torre, Rebecca Turner, Giedrius Vanagas, Catherine Voutier, Janet Wale, Anne-Maree Wallace, Sophie Werkö, Rebecca Whear, Ania Willman, Gert Jan van der Wilt, Klaus Witt, Marsha Wittink, Durhane Wong-Rieger, Sarah Wordsworth, Wenya Yang, and Yiduo Zhang.
The Editorial Office welcomes input from authors and readers. Please feel free to contact us at IJTAHC@thl.fi should you have any comments or suggestions to improve our Journal.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Both authors’ institute receives a grant from the European Commission.
