Abstract
How do we begin to reflect on the year 2020? I want to first acknowledge the devastating losses experienced by Journal of Applied Gerontology’s (JAG) community of authors, reviewers, readers, and editors. I have heard from many of you about family members, friends, and colleagues lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. You have provided care to severely ill relatives and waited for news, unable to visit loved ones in nursing homes and hospitals. So many of us abruptly switched to telecommuting with children and spouses vying for time and quiet spaces. We modified courses mid-semester to teach remotely and then worked hard all summer to revamp fall courses more intentionally for remote or “hybrid” delivery. And overlaid on the pandemic, the relentless racial biases of our political, educational, health, and justice systems continue to cause widespread grief and trauma. Please see the list below of resources curated by SAGE Publishing for current articles from multiple sources addressing both the pandemic and structural racism.
Against this 2020 background, I will share some highlights of JAG activities and productivity, and extend appreciation to all who have contributed to keeping the journal on track through this unprecedented year.
New Initiatives and Editors
Call for COVID-19 Manuscripts
As the pandemic advanced through the spring, JAG issued a call for manuscripts to address the health and well-being of older adults affected by the virus directly or indirectly, due to social distancing practices. We published two early commentaries in the July issue and have received 60 additional submissions, 18 of which are accepted or under revision and eight more are under review. Accepted articles appear immediately online and in the next available print issue. Thank you to the reviewers of these COVID-19 submissions who have responded quickly with detailed, insightful reviews. Beyond COVID-19–specific manuscripts, many JAG authors have thoughtfully discussed how their research findings relate to the pandemic now and looking into the future.
Special Issues and Mini-Topics
JAG published three Special Issues with guest editorial introductions in 2020, on successful aging, diversity and disparities, and home and community-based services. An additional four issues included focused “mini-topics” sections on caregivers, cognition and dementia, transitions between settings, end of life, and driving. These issues and introductions always draw strong interest from readers and we will continue to produce thematically organized issues in 2021.
JAG’s New Look
In January, JAG’s format changed to an 8.5-by-11-inch layout, which makes articles easier to read both online and in print, and allows readers to see tables and figures without rotating the page.
Book Editor
Please welcome Dr Keith Anderson as JAG’s new Book Editor! Keith, a member of JAG’s editorial board and professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Arlington, now coordinates requests for new book reviewers. Feel free to let Keith know through our
Managing Editor
I would also like to introduce and welcome Christine Bailey, our new managing editor, who has joined the team as Kaleigh Ligus transitions into other responsibilities in her graduate work. Christine has a master’s degree in gerontology and is a research assistant at the UConn Center on Aging. Please contact Christine with questions about articles, reviews or other JAG-related issues at
Empirical Updates
Impact Factor
Despite yearly increases in the number of articles published, JAG’s impact factor held its spot above two, at 2.144 for 2019, with a 5-year impact factor of 2.456. This 2019 number represents a marked increase in standing from 1.258 in 2015. JAG retained its rank of 11th out of 33 ranked gerontology journals. These advances primarily derive from steady increases in article citations: from 727 total cites in 2014 to 1,664 total cites in 2019.
Journal Metrics
The acceptance rate has held steady from 20% in 2019 to 19% as of September, 2020. Meanwhile, 2020 shows a 33% increase to date in the number of submissions over the same time point in 2019 and a staggering 80% increase since 2018, with 464 original articles submitted through September 11, 2020. As of September 1, JAG had 155 articles in the OnlineFirst queue, up a bit from 130 articles 1 year earlier. Fortunately, these articles are considered fully published and citable. Our former 2-year backlog will have dropped precipitously to 13 months by January 2021. Reducing the backlog to print has been a major goal in my 3-year tenure. Keeping a tight acceptance rate coupled with word and table limits and yearly increases to the page allotment have led to this substantial progress. With our steady increase in submissions, we will continue to monitor the backlog carefully while selecting the highest quality manuscripts for publication.
Online Usage and Disseminating Articles
Through July 31, 2020, JAG readers downloaded 101,839 full-text articles, a 36% increase over 74,925 from the same time period in 2019 and a 54% increase over 66,118 articles in 2018. The SAGE Publications team employs multiple strategies to bring readers to JAG’s website and tracks and reports Altmetric (alternative metrics) scores, tracking all online references to each article. A new Altmetrics widget, a “Trending on Altmetric” tab on the JAG homepage, displays the top five articles with the highest Altmetric scores from the last 3 months, indicating influence and impact. All authors receive information about how to publicize their articles through social media and how to connect with health reporters from various news outlets. SAGE also promotes JAG articles through social media, press releases, and blog posts. I strongly recommend checking out our podcast series (accessible from JAG’s homepage) where gerontology students interview authors of recently published articles. The students ask excellent questions drawing out fascinating backstories from each author.
Recognizing Reviewers
We are especially grateful this year to so many people who agreed to review articles amid exceptionally busy and stressful personal and professional situations. JAG’s high-quality manuscripts and continuous growth demonstrated by the metrics above flow directly from peer reviewers’ volunteered time and guidance. We especially appreciate Editorial Board member reviewers who provide multiple quick and rigorous reviews every year, enabling us to maintain a short article turnaround time. Using JAG’s “reviewer-in-training” option is a great way to mentor graduate students and junior colleagues! All 2020 peer reviewers will be listed in January 2021 on the journal’s website at: https://journals-sagepub-com.web.bisu.edu.cn/page/jag/reviewers. Check this page in January to recognize JAG’s select group of Outstanding Reviewers for 2020!
Reminder to Share the Excellent Scholarship in JAG
We now publish more than 150 new articles every year on topics with clinical, policy, and research applications in gerontology. Remember to search JAG for new articles to cite in your ongoing work, which contributes directly to JAG’s standing among gerontology journals. Direct students and colleagues to the JAG website to share links to specific articles rather than sending them a pdf. Use social media and other online modes to share JAG articles that interest you—on Twitter, Facebook, personal blogs, or Wikipedia. If you have authored a JAG article, try out the free SAGE Infographic or Video Abstract features and share your feedback with us! And share any other ideas you have with us via JAG’s email address:
2020 Resources for JAG Readers
SAGE Publishing has assembled topical article collections from their social and behavioral science journals and other resources that JAG readers may find useful. Check the links below to see the details:
COVID-19 Research site: https://journals-sagepub-com-s.web.bisu.edu.cn/coronavirus. This collection includes the latest medical research from SAGE related to the virus as well as top social and behavioral research to help individuals, communities, and leaders make the best decisions on dealing with the outbreak and its consequences.
Structural Racism and Police Violence site: https://journals-sagepub-com-s.web.bisu.edu.cn/structural-racism. This collection shares freely accessible articles to support researchers in future scholarship and amplify their critical work, educators as they discuss the impacts of systemic racism with students, and policymakers and advocates in their fight to make sweeping reform.
Structural Racism and Police Violence Resource Center: https://group.sagepub.com/structural-racism-police-violence. Here you will find a range of resources based on social and behavioral science for researchers, instructors, students, policymakers—as well as the general public—to help you educate, inform, research, and learn.
New book: Together Apart: The Psychology of COVID-19, commissioned in March, has been released as a free-to-read uncorrected proof on Social Science Space.
With tremendous support from the Editorial Board, the Southern Gerontological Society, SAGE’s highly responsive editorial team, managing editors Kaleigh Ligus and Christine Bailey, authors and reviewers, JAG has navigated the challenges of the year 2020 to bring readers impactful and relevant research. I am excited to start my second term as JAG’s Editor-in-Chief and look optimistically forward to a safer and less chaotic year ahead, reading, and curating the best of applied gerontology research aimed at optimizing the aging experience for all.