Transcript Recommendations to Improve Impact Factor of TPS

Recommendations to Improve
Impact Factor of TPS
Joint PSAC/PPS&T Ad Hoc Committee
Brendan Godfrey, Steve Gold, Tim Grotjohn, Weihua Jiang, Ravi Joshi,
Andreas Neuber
Background
TPS Impact Factor
1.6
• Impact Factor (IF) < 1 causes
problems for journal:
• Goal: IF >= 1.5
1.2
Impact Factor
• many institutions only count
IF > 1 publications
• positive feedback –strong
papers may go elsewhere
• becomes harder to attract
strong papers
• concerns about images
special issue (~500 papers)
1.4
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
1990
1995
2000
2005
Year
2010
2015
Concerns
• Some Special Issues provide a strong citation rate
• IF estimate goes from 0.84 to 1.32 without Images Special Issue
• High acceptance rate correlates to low IF
• Regular papers acceptance ~60%
• Special issue acceptance ~80%
• Improve review experience and promptness
• Marketing – getting TPS in front of readers
Recommendations
1. No new Special Issue on Images beyond 2014 (acquire data on other
Special Issues)
2. Improved Reviewer Questionnairre (in full report)
3. EIC/Senior Editor screen for language and subject appropriateness
4. Monthly email blast (already in progress)
5. Study review process to determine how to reduce to 6 months (see full
report for specific recommendations), including Rapid Communications
articles where appropriate, early access viewing
6. Solicit Review papers (regular and topical Special Issue), make open
access
7. Top paper award based on citations (recognition plus open access)
8. Review competitiveness of page charge policy
Initiative Budgetary Request
Annual Budget (for two year initiative):
$35,000 open access (review papers and citation award papers)
Also consider reducing/removing page charges? Needs further
consideration, impact on Pubs revenue
Straw Man Motion (pending FinCom)
Allocate up to $35,000 per year for two years to TPS in order to support
the initiatives for improving the impact factor, including open access for
review papers and high citation award papers.