Acta Ophthalmologica stands on top level after 100 years

Abstract

After celebration of Acta Ophthalmologica 100-year anniversary, our journal stands on the Q1 level (the top 25%) in the group of 95 ophthalmology journals (Kaarniranta et al., 2024). Last year, we received 1468 manuscripts (Figure 1). Original manuscripts were 1201, reviews 130, letters to the editor 66, articles on education 47, perspectives in ophthalmology 17, three editorials, two historical perspective papers, one case series and one PhD thesis. China is the most active country with 414 submitted manuscripts, followed by Germany and Denmark (Figure 2). Last year 201 manuscripts were accepted for publication, while 1051 manuscripts were rejected (Table 1). The acceptance rate was 16%, which follows the trend in Acta Ophthalmologica. Top countries by publications were Denmark (n = 30), Finland (n = 20) and Sweden (n = 19) (Figure 3).

Most of Acta Ophthalmologica societies have selected electronic subscription. The printed version of the journal is still produced and sent to those who choose. However, the days of the printed version are probably counted, and the Acta Board will consider its future in the coming years.

The 2023 scientific impact factor (IF) is 3.0 (Clarivate) which has slightly declined from the highest levels (Figure 4). The IF is calculated from original articles and reviews published in the previous 2 years and the total number of citations for those papers. Recently, the IF calculation system has changed so that papers that are not allocated to journal issues are not any more noted. This may reduce the calculated IF value as observed in many medical journals. During the COVID-19 epidemic, the number of publications increased, and this contributed to increased IFs (Figure 4; Kaarniranta & Stefánsson, 2021). Now, it seems that we have returned to the previous levels seen in Acta Ophthalmologica.

Submission to the first decision takes 3 days and the average days for acceptance is 128 days. Full-text views are almost 1.5 million in 2023 (Figure 5). A positive trend is that more articles are better cited than before (Figure 6).

The Acta-EVER (European Association for Vision and Eye Research) honorary lecture was given by Prof. Hannu Uusitalo, Tampere, Finland. The last issue of 2023 was dedicated to geographic atrophy (Kaarniranta & Stefánsson, 2023). More special issues will be published in near future.

Sincerely,

Kai Kaarniranta

Einar Stefánsson

(Editors-in-Chief)