Abstract
While some authors are still contributing articles much better suited to a clinical journal or a chemistry or physics journal (and this 36.7% of manuscripts are being rejected immediately, without review in 2013 to date), just over half the manuscripts sent to the Journal in 2012 were not considered suitable for peer review for DNA and Cell Biology.
The editors require that the molecular mechanisms of the problems under study are featured, not merely epidemiology or meta-analysis of others' data. Potential authors are considering our criteria more closely and are making decisions about the appropriateness of the Journal when decisions are made about where their work is best suited.
Most of the articles that appear in this issue required only one revision to meet the exacting standards of the reviewers and editors. The authors come from a diverse background.
We are also very pleased to note that the recently announced Impact Factor for the Journal has increased 13% from 2.072 to 2.344. The impact factor reflects citations of articles published in 2010 and 2011. Clearly, the Journal's profile is improving and we hope that next year it will be even higher.
In July, we published the first new series of articles, by Kenneth Berns, on the Life Stories of eminent scientists. Other accomplished senior scientists have agreed to share their histories in future issues.
Further, several indicators followed by economists are suggestive that the economic crisis is abating, that consumer confidence is up, and tax revenues in the Unites States are above projections. Potentially, this could lead to an easing of the sequester and the profound cutbacks that research funding and other domestic spending programs have suffered. The outlook in the European Union also seems to be more stable now.
Thus, I am pleased to report that the quality of articles is increased, and the economy may have gotten solidly on the road to full recovery.