Clinical Microbiology Reviews, April 1999, p. 183-186, Vol. 12, No. 2
Clinical Microbiology Reviews: Genesis
of a Journal
Departments of Pathology and Medicine, The
University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois 60637-1470
0893-8512/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
MINIREVIEW
SUMMARY
IN THE BEGINNING
ASSEMBLING AN EDITORIAL BOARD
FILLING PAGES
The editorial process.
The result.
KEEPING UP WITH THE "HOT" TOPICS
MEASURING SUCCESS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
REFERENCES
SUMMARY
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In 1986 planning for a new ASM review journal, Clinical Microbiology Reviews (CMR), began. CMR would publish articles primarily of interest to persons concerned with pathogenesis, laboratory diagnosis, epidemiology, and control of human and veterinary pathogens. The first issue was published in January 1988, with quarterly publication since then. The journal quickly became successful in terms of subscribers and impact on the field, earning a strong national and international reputation. The achievements of CMR are owed to many persons, including the editorial board, the production team, and especially the contributing authors.
IN THE BEGINNING
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In 1985, the Publications Board recommended to the Council Policy Committee of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) that the ASM publish a new quarterly journal. This publication, the Society's ninth journal, would be called Clinical Microbiology Reviews (CMR), although at first it was referred to as Reviews of Clinical Microbiology. The journal was conceived as a quarterly counterpart to the prestigious and long-term publication Microbiological Reviews (now called Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews). CMR would concern itself primarily with articles of interest to persons concerned with pathogenesis, laboratory diagnosis, epidemiology, and control of human and veterinary pathogens. The recommendation of the Publications Board to establish this new journal was approved by the Council Policy Committee.
The search for the first editor of CMR resulted in the appointment of Josephine A. Morello of the University of Chicago Medical Center. In concert with the ASM Publications Board, she recognized the need for this journal in the rapidly evolving field of clinical microbiology. After a lull in which the field had seen few advances, the development of diagnostic DNA probes and other molecular techniques, as well as an expanding population of immunocompromised patients susceptible to "old and new" infections, had resulted in an explosion of novel information. As with other areas of microbiology, it had become extremely difficult to keep up with the field only by reading original papers. Although attendance at national meetings affords the opportunity to interact with colleagues and to attend seminars and symposia where new material is presented and synthesized, many bench technologists, an important audience for the new publication, are not able to attend such meetings. Thus, this quarterly review journal would provide a forum accessible to a broad constituency.
ASSEMBLING AN EDITORIAL BOARD
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The first planning and advisory meeting for the new journal was held in March 1986 during the 86th Annual Meeting of the ASM in Washington, D.C. The participants were chosen not only because of their expertise in diverse areas of clinical microbiology but also because they were potential editorial board members. Present were Albert Balows, Don Brenner, Judith Domer, Kenneth Ryan, James Smith, Thomas Smith, Joseph Staneck, and Kenneth Thompson. Helen Whiteley, chair of the ASM Publications Board; Linda Illig, managing editor of Journals Division; and Kirk Jensen, director of publications, also attended. Consensus about the need for this new journal was not unanimous among the participating clinical microbiologists (e.g., "Who would have time to read yet another journal?"), but all agreed to lend support and to suggest potential topics for reviews. Considering the time that would be needed to solicit, receive, and review completed manuscripts and for the production process, the first issue of CMR was scheduled for publication in January 1988, to be followed by issues in April, July, and October and quarterly during these months thereafter.
The first editorial board was composed of Judith Domer, Kenneth Ryan,
Christine Sanders, Thomas Smith, Joseph Staneck, and Kenneth Thompson.
Together, they provided expertise in the areas of clinical microbiology
encompassing general clinical microbiology, antimicrobial agents,
mycology, microbial pathogenesis, infectious diseases, virology, and
immunology. Lynne Garcia joined the board with the second issue to
represent the area of parasitology, and Betty Ann Forbes and Daniel F. Sahm joined in 1993 to help with the new focus on molecular biology.
Table 1 lists the present and former
members of the CMR editorial board and their primary areas of
specialization, although each provided expertise in other categories as
well. Their efforts were invaluable in the start-up and subsequent
success of the journal.
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FILLING PAGES
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On the basis of the Microbiological Reviews experience, it was expected that receiving sufficient manuscripts to produce the journal in a timely fashion would be a daunting task. To insure a steady flow of manuscripts and avoid duplication of topics, the editorial board agreed to meet in a marathon session for one day each year to suggest and select the subject matter that it considered deserving of in-depth reviews. Once the topics are selected, the editorial board members have the task of contacting potential authors to convince them about the need for reviews on the subjects for which they are acknowledged experts.
The editorial process. To assure consistent quality of the review articles, an outline describing the extent and scope of the paper is requested a few months before manuscript receipt. The outlines are reviewed for content and completeness by several editorial board members, and comments and suggestions are forwarded to the authors. Each completed manuscript is peer reviewed by at least two persons actively working in the pertinent field and sometimes by the editorial board member who solicited the article. The editor in chief also reviews every manuscript before returning the reviewers' assessments and her own to the author. Her comments often provide suggestions intended to improve comprehension for CMR's wide audience with diverse backgrounds and ensure consistency with ASM editorial style. Final manuscript review and acceptance are also functions of the editor in chief.
The result.
Although some skeptics of the journal
predicted that the number of potential pertinent subjects was finite,
the progress in the field has been such that each year more than 70 topics have been proposed and between 21 and 36 topics have been
published in regular issues from 1988 through 1998 (Table
2). It soon became evident, however, that
colleagues who agreed to contribute reviews were burdened by many other
professional responsibilities (and often personal hardships) that
prevented timely completion of their articles, or even completion at
all. Thus, approximately 40 to 50% of promised manuscripts never
materialized and the time to completion varied from an average of 2 years to more than 7 years.
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KEEPING UP WITH THE "HOT" TOPICS
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As described earlier, each year the editorial board is
faced with the challenge of proposing current and cutting-edge subjects that are significant to the general field of clinical microbiology. To
determine how successfully this responsibility has been attained, an
on-line search of the most frequently cited CMR articles was made
through the Institute for Scientific Information's Web of Science
(1). Table 4 lists the 12 CMR
articles cited most often as of 4 January 1999. Each article was cited
150 or more times in other publications, and the top article
(3) was cited more than 500 times. Table
5 lists other popular topics published in
CMR, those articles cited 100 or more times. Because the citations are
cumulative, more recently published articles have not yet achieved
sufficient "hits" to be included in these two lists. Table
6 includes the five most-cited articles
from 1995 through 1997, and the search revealed citations to a number
of articles published in 1998, one of which had already been cited 22 times (5).
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From CMR's inception, its scope has stated that "Appropriate reviews would include those addressing pathogenetic mechanisms, specific or groups of microbial pathogens, clinical and laboratory aspects of newly recognized or reemerging infectious diseases, recently developed antimicrobial agents and their application, and new diagnostic laboratory technology." As borne out by an inspection of the most commonly cited articles (Tables 4 to 6), the chosen scope has accurately reflected the themes of essential use and interest to CMR readers; reviews pertaining to all of these topics are included in the lists.
MEASURING SUCCESS
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The information in Tables 4 to 6 validates that CMR has been a source of important information for its readers. Even from its first year, however, it was apparent that CMR would become an unqualified success. More than 5,000 ASM members and nonmembers subscribed during the first year, and the number doubled to almost 10,000 by 1994. Whereas most journals require approximately 5 years to become financially viable, CMR was financially successful after only the second year. Although the level of subscriptions for most journals has varied, CMR has held third place among the 10 ASM journals (Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, the 10th ASM journal, was established in 1994) after the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews. By the end of its first year of publication, the Literature Selection Technical Review Committee of the National Library of Medicine had recommended that CMR be included in its MEDLARS system, available on-line to more than 17,000 (at that time) individuals and institutions worldwide.
Table 7 provides additional information
for the years 1990 through 1997 available from the Institute for
Scientific Information (2). Except for its first 2 years of
publication (1988 and 1989), in terms of citations, CMR has ranked
among the top three microbiology journals published worldwide, with an
impact factor that has risen from 2.4 to 8.6 or higher. The impact
factor relates to the average number of times articles published within
the past 2 years have been cited. These data are especially
significant because the top two ranked journals (the former
Microbiological Reviews and Annual Reviews of
Microbiology) publish articles relevant to the entire field of
microbiology, in contrast to the more limited scope of CMR.
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Thus, the early promise of CMR has continued through its now 11 years of publication. In 1997, Josephine A. Morello completed her final term as editor in chief of CMR and was succeeded by Betty Ann Forbes of SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse, N.Y. Dr. Forbes' commitment to the high quality and timeliness of the submissions ensures CMR's continued success.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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During her leadership as Chair of the ASM Publications Board, it was the vision of the late Helen R. Whiteley to launch CMR, and her successor, Barbara H. Iglewski, continued to provide important support and guidance. The colleagues who served on the editorial board and especially the CMR editors, Lynne S. Garcia and Kenneth D. Thompson, were vital to solicitation of articles of the high quality and variety that have become the hallmark of CMR. The CMR production team has included the late Marie Smith, Jack Kenney, Karen MacKavanagh, Beverley Bennett, and Victoria Cohen. Together, they have provided exceptional editorial assistance and are responsible for the excellent presentation of the journal and for monitoring the production process. Daphne Greenwood has been helpful in providing current information on CMR's impact factor. Linda Illig, Director of Journals, serves as a constant source of encouragement and imparts her unwavering high standards. Ultimately, the knowledge conveyed by the authors and coauthors of the articles published in CMR is the true basis for success of the journal.
FOOTNOTES
* Mailing address: University of Chicago Medical Center, Clinical Microbiology Laboratories, MC0001, Chicago IL 60637-1470. Phone: (773) 702-1299. Fax: (773) 702-2315. E-mail: j-morello{at}uchicago.edu.
REFERENCES
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| 1. | Institute for Scientific Information. 1998. Web of science. [Online.] www.webofscience.com. [4 January 1999, last date accessed.] (Access requires institutional subscription.) |
| 2. | Institute for Scientific Information. 1990-1998. Science citation index/journal citation reports. Institute for Scientific Information, Philadelphia, Pa. |
| 3. |
Karmali, M. A.
1989.
Infection by verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli.
Clin. Microbiol. Rev.
2:15-38 |
| 4. |
Lyerly, D. M.,
H. C. Krivan, and T. D. Wilkins.
1988.
Clostridium difficile: its disease and toxins.
Clin. Microbiol. Rev.
1:1-18 |
| 5. |
Nataro, J. P., and J. B. Kaper.
1998.
Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli.
Clin. Microbiol. Rev.
11:142-201 |
Clinical Microbiology Reviews, April 1999, p. 183-186, Vol. 12, No. 2
0893-8512/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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