Dermatology journal editors share insight on maintaining scientific integrity and relevance
By Lisette Hilton
Peer-reviewed journal editors have a tough job. They maintain journal integrity, quality, and timeliness, as well as help ensure journals remain competitive and can stay financially afloat. COVID-19 has only made that job harder. As the authors of one study published November 5, 2020 in PLOS One noted, “A debate about the scientific quality of COVID-19-themed research has emerged.”1
The authors searched the PubMed Database from March 12 to April 12, 2020 and found that indeed the quality of publications concerning COVID-19 in the 3 highest-ranked scientific medical journals—the New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and The Lancet—was below the quality average of these journals.
The Dermatology Digest asked editors of 2 respected peer-reviewed dermatology journals how they maintain scientific integrity, stay relevant, and navigate the added challenges brought on by the pandemic.
Remarks by Dermatologist Dirk M. Elston, MD, FAAD, Editor of The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (JAAD)
THE DERMATOLOGY DIGEST: Dr. Elston, talk with me about the integrity of JAAD. What do readers need to know?
DR. ELSTON: Credibility is any journal’s greatest asset. We need to ensure that published data are credible.
THE DERMATOLOGY DIGEST: What was your policy during the pandemic, when time-to-publish was of the essence? Were you concerned about quality? Did you have regrets? Did you have to withdraw any articles post-publication and, on a positive note, what did you learn?
DR. ELSTON: We offered rapid review and publication of COVID-related articles but did not relax our standards. No regrets. It worked well and was the correct approach.
THE DERMATOLOGY DIGEST: How does one balance the rush to publish with maintaining integrity?
DR. ELSTON: We have a pool of reliable reviewers willing to do expedited review. Standards remain the same.
THE DERMATOLOGY DIGEST: Some say the current peer-review process is flawed. What do you think and why? Are there things that need to change?
DR. ELSTON: It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government—except for all the others. Similarly, peer review is not perfect, but anything else is worse. The biggest change going forward will be selective prepublication determined by federal funding agencies. For select topics like the human genome project it allows information to be available as soon as possible.
THE DERMATOLOGY DIGEST: Do you have specific goals for JAAD? What are they?
DR. ELSTON: JAAD’s mission is to help dermatologists achieve better patient outcomes. We take that mission seriously and are launching many new features to help readers interpret and apply the literature to their practices. “This month in JAAD” summarizes key findings in each journal that influence daily practice. The journal is always evolving and will incorporate new features and technologies to make reading more interesting, relevant,
and efficient for busy dermatologists. We know they invest precious time in a journal, and we want to help them get the most out of their investment.
THE DERMATOLOGY DIGEST: Finally, JAAD has high impact in the specialty. As a reporter, I often refer to important studies and papers in the journal. What do you think is the journal’s niche, edge, and place in the peer-reviewed lineup for dermatologist and other readers?
DR. ELSTON: Impact factors of all of the key dermatology clinical journals have been rising, which attests to the quality of the content. I am proud of what our specialty has achieved and proud of all of our specialty’s journals.
NOTE: JAAD ranked first among dermatology journals, according to the 2019 impact factor rankings published by the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) Web of Science Group. “A journal’s impact factor reflects how often the average article in that journal has been cited in a given time period, which for JCR is 2 years. JAAD’s 2019 impact factor of 8.277 is a 16.5% increase over its previous ranking. This places JAAD in the No. 1 position among 68 dermatology journals ranked by JCR,” according to the American Academy of Dermatology.
Remarks by Deborah S. Sarnoff,
MD, FAAD, FACP, Co-editor-in-chief of The Journal of Drugs in Dermatology (JDD)
THE DERMATOLOGY DIGEST: What would you like colleagues to know about the integrity of JDD? How have you built trust among readers?
DR. SARNOFF: As a peer-reviewed medical journal, the JDD actively addresses issues involving ethics and potential bias in reporting. The JDD, like other top journals in the field, follows the ethical guidelines for scholarly publishing, such as the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (ICMJE Recommendations) and COPE (Committee on Publishing Ethics). These guidelines focus on ethics standards, grievance processes and best practices for scholarly publishing. In addition to following these guidelines, the JDD has 20 years of experience in publishing and a robust International Editorial Board of more than 160 renowned experts. Our experience—both in longevity of publishing as well as the combined expertise of our editorial board—provides JDD readers with a sense of trust in our content.
THE DERMATOLOGY DIGEST: What was your policy during the pandemic, when time-to-publish was of the essence? Were you concerned about quality? Did you have regrets? Did you have to withdraw any articles post-publication and on a positive note, what did you learn?
DR. SARNOFF: The JDD is one of the fastest-to-publish journals in dermatology. Our experience put us in a unique position to be able to use our standard process of delivering priority content quickly without disruption. Submissions related to the COVID pandemic were given priority over other articles, peer-reviewed expeditiously, and published in the next available issue once they were accepted. The majority of the accepted articles were published within 1 to 3 months of receipt. Each article was reviewed using our standard process. While that process was expedited, no shortcuts were taken. The articles were well-received, and we received only
positive feedback.
THE DERMATOLOGY DIGEST: How does one balance the rush to publish with maintaining integrity?
DR. SARNOFF: The JDD’s standard in developing situations is to disseminate accurate information in a timely manner. While there can be a rush to publish, every article must be vetted through the same process to ensure integrity. Just because a process is expedited does not mean it is flawed, provided no shortcuts were taken. This is similar to the recent development of the COVID vaccines and their emergency approval by the FDA.
THE DERMATOLOGY DIGEST: Some say the current peer-review process is flawed. What do you think and why? Are there things that need to change?
DR. SARNOFF: The peer-review process—provided it follows the guidelines—has safeguards to protect the integrity of published research. This process, while it may be expedited, must be maintained even when publishing late-breaking research.
THE DERMATOLOGY DIGEST: Do you have specific goals for the JDD? What are they?
DR. SARNOFF: Our goals for the JDD are to help educate the dermatology community on recent research and new treatments through all of our publishing channels, and to make our content widely available to anyone who is interested to learn and share knowledge. The JDD strives to perpetuate an open exchange of ideas among physicians, researchers, healthcare providers, dermatology businesses, and industry. To further our educational mission, all US dermatologists, dermatology residents, dermatology nurse practitioners and dermatology physician assistants are eligible for a free JDD print and digital subscription.
THE DERMATOLOGY DIGEST: Finally, Dr. Rosen, editor-inchief of The Dermatology Digest, noted that JDD doesn’t yet have the same impact factor as JAAD or JAMA Dermatology. How important is that impact factor for a journal to stay competitive and afloat? What is your niche and place in the
peer-reviewed lineup for dermatologists and other readers?
DR. SARNOFF: We receive many high-quality submissions but are able to publish only about 15% of manuscripts received. By focusing our content on the needs of our readers and not on the impact factor, we are better able
to serve our audience in a timely manner. I think it’s important to note that the JDD is relatively new at 20 years while other journals, such as JAAD and JAMA Dermatology, have had more time to grow their reputations. Although the JDD does not have an impact factor like JAMA Dermatology or JAAD, our impact has grown, and we rank among the most highly cited dermatology journals on PubMed.
The JDD’s impact has grown both in citations as well as our internal metrics. Submissions have increased, quality has increased, interest has increased according to our site search data, and readership has increased. In 2019, the
JDD’s impact factor calculation included the most citations to date with 3037 cites. While this metric served our industry in the past, there are other newer metrics for calculating the “impact” and ranking, such as the Eigenfactor and Google Scholar. With social media, journals are now also looking at better, data-driven “Altmetrics” scores, which measure social media visibility, views, and downloads.
The JDD publishes on timely topics with a focus on clinical studies, new aesthetic treatments, anti-aging, and skin health in order to help educate dermatologists and make the best treatments available. The JDD is also the official journal of the Skin of Color Update and publishes articles on the topic of research and treatments related to skin of color, as well as the effects of aesthetic treatments on patients with skin of color.
References
- Zdravkovic B, Berger D. Scientific quality of COVID-19 and SARS CoV-2 publications in the highest impact medical journals during the early phase of the pandemic: A case control study. PLoS One. 2020 Nov 5;15(11):e0241826. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241826.
- Web of Science. The Clarivate Analytics impact factor. https://clarivate.com/webofsciencegroup/essays/impact-factor/
- Baethge C. Impact factor—a useful tool, but not for all purposes. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2012;109(15):267-269. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2012.0267
- Hawash HBI. 2018: Latest impact factors journal list, Thomson Reuters based on 2017 journal citation reports. https://lumhs.edu.pk/administration/qec/docs/jcr.pdf
Disclosures
Drs. Elston and Sarnoff report no conflicts of interest.