The new Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) impact rankings were just released, and Pharmacotherapy’s 2008 (which is the most recent figure) impact factor increased from 2.012 (in 2007) to 2.527, surpassing both Annals of Pharmacotherapy (2.305) and AJHP (1.763). The Board of Directors (BOD) and Scientific Editor Council (SEC) review strategies on an ongoing basis to improve journal quality and effect on pharmacotherapy. One device that is monitored to assess impact and quality is the ISI impact factor. For the past couple of years, the Scientific Editors have increased the rejection rate of papers submitted to the journal to reduce the number of papers that do not significantly contribute to evidence-based pharmacotherapy or clinical research. Although we cannot determine precisely what increased the impact factor for 2008, we suspect that the increase is partly because of the increase in the rejection rate, fostered by the increased involvement of the SEC.

The ISI impact factor reported each year reflects data from the previous 2 years. The 2008 impact factor was calculated as follows:

The SEC and BOD remain confident that these and other initiatives will lead to further increases in the quality of the journal as well as the impact factor. More will be published in this newsletter and in the journal about these and other initiatives. We thank all of you who have served the journal in so many capacities.