Abstract
Dear colleagues and readers of Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics (JOPT),
In this annual letter, we desire to highlight the new developments and changes with the journal and highlight our performance report for 2023.
This year we embark on the 40th anniversary of JOPT. In this issue, our prestigious former and current editors-in-chief recollect the history of the journal and its journey over the years in the editorial entitled, “The JOPT Story, 40 Years of Growth and Focus.”
Our mission at Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is to inform, inspire, and advance global innovation to support a healthy sustainable future. As part of our mission, we wanted to share recent strategic advances in our company that will greatly contribute to the future growth of JOPT:
1. Production Partner Change: As we enter 2024, we wanted to formally announce that we have partnered with KnowledgeWorks Global (KGL) to provide advanced and innovative production services for our authors. This will include online proofing with digital typesetting and copyediting to promote an improved experience. Throughout the transition, your current team at Mary Ann Liebert will work to ensure a seamless onboarding of the new production workflow.
2. Rosalind Franklin Society Collaboration and Awards: Through the generous support of the Rosalind Franklin Society, we are able to present an annual award of $1,000 for the best article by a woman or under-represented minority researcher in science in each of our peer-reviewed journals. The goal of this award is to highlight the important contributions of these scientists and provide role models and mentors for younger scientists who will follow in their footsteps. You can see the winners of the 2022 awards and read their articles (https://www.rosalindfranklinsociety.org/rfs-awards-in-science-2022).
3. Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is the No. 1 Publisher of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Research: More than 70% of the research published in Mary Ann Liebert's indexed journals can be mapped to 1 or more of the UN SDGs (https://sdgs.un.org/goals). This puts Mary Ann Liebert as the leading publisher for SDG-connected research—ahead of both larger and more specialized publishers—as presented at the 2023 International Association of STM Publishers conference. 1
2023 JOPT Performance Report:
○ The journal was in its 39th volume in 2023. ○ The 2023 Journal Impact Factor (JIF) is 2.3, as compared with the previous year, which was 2.85. This represents a decrease; however, keep in mind that 70–85% of journals showed a decrease in JIF from 2022 to 2023. ○ The CiteScore is 4.3, as compared with the previous year, which was 4.6. ○ Submissions were consistent at 169 in 2023; 170 submissions in 2022. ○ The 2023 acceptance rate was 41%, which stayed stable from 2022. ○ Time to first decision was 22.6 days in 2023, an improvement from 2022's time to first decision of 23.5 days.
We are grateful for the support of our editorial board, the publisher, reviewers, and the authors who made JOPT successful. I request you to contribute your research and review articles, editorials, and special issues to further improve the impact of JOPT.
With my best regards,