The Annual Meeting of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy is ideal for reviewing the progress of Pharmacotherapy, one of the two official journals of our professional association. This year’s meeting was held virtually and included an annual report by each editor-in-chief during the business meeting. For interested readers and ACCP members who were unable to attend, this column summarizes the presentation and provides additional updates on Pharmacotherapy.
One of the chief metrics of how Pharmacotherapy is viewed in the world’s biomedical literature is its impact factor (IF), a numeric value reflecting the number of citations in other articles to publications in the journal. The Clarivate Analytics database used to calculate the IF includes over 8000 biomedical journals. For 3 consecutive years, Pharmacotherapy has exceeded an IF of 3.0. For 2019, the current year of reporting, the value was 3.473, an increase of 14% over that for 2018. This new record high places the journal in 83rd place among 270 journals in the category of pharmacology and pharmacy, an improvement from 97th place in 2018. In achieving this level of impact, the journal has benefited from increased worldwide marketing by its publisher, a continued increase in the number of high-quality submissions, and the contributions of a renowned editorial board and knowledgeable reviewers.
Of the hundreds of Pharmacotherapy reviewers who are asked each year to provide evaluations of the suitability for publication of submitted manuscripts, many are also critical in providing advice to the journal’s scientific editors in making editorial decisions. A few individuals each year are honored as Outstanding Reviewers for significant contributions to the journal’s mission. At the 2020 ACCP Annual Meeting, four such individuals were identified: John M. Allen, Pharm.D. (University of Florida College of Pharmacy); Audrey J. Lee, Pharm.D. (University of the Pacific School of Pharmacy); Zachary R. Noel, Pharm.D. (University of Maryland School of Pharmacy); and Kerry Pickworth, Pharm.D. (Ohio State University Medical Center).
In addition, a new annual “Editor’s Choice Award” was established this year to recognize one or more outstanding articles that are highly influential for the insight they offer for enhancing the field of pharmacotherapy or clinical pharmacy. Pharmacotherapy recognizes the review of therapeutics by Alexandra M. Hanretty and Jason C. Gallagher titled “Shortened Courses of Antibiotics for Bacterial Infections: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials” (Pharmacotherapy 2018;38:674-87) with the inaugural recognition of this award.
The role of reviewers is increasingly important as the journal continues to receive a record number of submissions. Over the past few years, Pharmacotherapy has received an increasing number of new manuscripts each month. The number of submissions originating from outside the United States and from non-pharmacist authors continues to grow. The journal publishes about 150 manuscripts each year spread over monthly issues, with 712 manuscripts received in 2019. This editorial process requires a rejection rate in the range of 84%. Authors submitting to Pharmacotherapy receive a rapid editorial decision. The average time from submission to the final decision is consistently fewer than 30 days. This turnaround time is highly valued by authors when deciding where to submit their work for publication and is also highly competitive.
Although IF is an important metric of a journal’s status within its field, the editors of Pharmacotherapy are increasingly aware that the use and potential value of the articles published therein, regardless of the number of yearly citations, also reflect the journal’s importance in influencing optimal drug therapy for countless patients. Metrics that reflect these values of Pharmacotherapy include the number of article downloads and the journal’s mentions on social media. The number of article downloads exceeded 480,000 in 2019, surpassing the previous year’s record of 363,000 by over 32%. The number of Twitter and Facebook followers continues to rise. Related to Internet promotion of the journal, Pharmacotherapy is committed to promoting its authors with podcast interviews. Monthly publication of an interview with an author by one of the scientific editors has become a standard procedure. These can be found at anchor.fm/accp-jrnls or by subscribing to the ACCP JRNLS podcast from your favorite platform. Overall, the principal indicators suggest that Pharmacotherapy provides important knowledge for the world’s drug therapy decision-makers.
Pharmacotherapy relies heavily on the proficiency of its editorial board and was pleased to add Ryan M. Carnahan, Pharm.D. (University of Iowa) and Janelle B. Perkins, Pharm.D. (University of South Florida) to its existing panel of experts in 2020.
Pharmacotherapy continues to be an important conveyor of knowledge in human pharmacology and drug therapy to researchers and end users. In 2020, the journal published or accepted 17 articles related to the COVID-19 pandemic. These included a mixture of editorials, case reports, original research articles, and reviews of therapeutics. Many of these articles have gone on to be highly cited and downloaded. Together with the College’s other official journal, the Journal of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (JACCP), Pharmacotherapy advances human pharmacology and drug therapy and promotes the progress of the clinical pharmacy profession.