A Final Note from the Outgoing Editor-in-Chief

Dominique Delbeke

Dominique Delbeke

This issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine concludes my 5-year term as Editor-in-Chief. JNM is one of the educational flagships of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. The JNM mission statement is “[to advance] the knowledge and practice of molecular imaging and therapy and nuclear medicine to improve patient care through publication of original basic science and clinical research.” As Editor-in-Chief, it has been a great honor to be at the forefront of advances in the field of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging and therapy. David Mankoff led a task force that defined molecular imaging in 2007 (1): “Molecular imaging is the visualization, characterization, and measurement of biological processes at the molecular and cellular levels in humans and other living systems….The techniques used include radiotracer imaging/nuclear medicine, MR imaging, MR spectroscopy, optical imaging, ultrasound, and others.” The SNMMI has embraced molecular imaging, adding the term to its name in 2010. New targeted biomarkers with applications for imaging and therapy—the theranostics approach—continue to be developed. Nuclear imaging is becoming increasingly addressed by the press, with The Wall Street Journal recently featuring an article on new targeted probes for prostate cancer.

Under my leadership as Editor-in-Chief, the current ISI impact factor for JNM is 5.849, ranking it third among imaging journals, after JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging and Radiology. JNM manuscript submissions continued in 2015 at the previous year’s rate of over 1,190, with 45% of those accepted for publication coming from Europe, 41% from North America, 11% from Asia, 1% from Australia, 1% from South America, and 1% from Africa. The acceptance rate slightly increased to 37%, including the two supplements, and the turnaround time from submission to acceptance continued to be in the 12-week range. In 2015, JNM published 255 original research articles (166 clinical and 89 basic science), 11 brief communications, 12 continuing education articles, 6 “Focus on Molecular Imaging” articles, 22 invited perspectives, 9 letters to the editor, 12 book reviews, and 7 special contributions. The topics of the clinical articles were dominated by oncology (37%), followed by neurology (17%), radionuclide therapy (11%), cardiology (10%), physics and instrumentation (9%), radiopharmaceuticals (8%), general nuclear medicine (5%), pediatrics (2%), and infection (1%). The topics of the basic science articles were dominated by new radiopharmaceuticals (36%), followed by physics and instrumentation (17%), oncology (17%), cardiology (14%), neurology (7%), radionuclide therapy (7%), and infectious diseases (2%).

Vasken Dilsizian and Jagat Narula were the guest editors of the 2015 supplement: “Heart Failure, Myocardial Denervation, and Noninvasive Imaging.” In 2016, two supplements have been published, one on breast cancer, guest-edited by David Mankoff and Johannes Czernin, and one on prostate cancer, guest-edited by Hossein Jadvar.

David Mankoff became the associate editor for the continuing education review articles in 2013, and he negotiated with the ABNM the ability to obtain self-assessment module (SAM) credit for these articles to comply with part II of Maintenance of Certification. Obtaining credit through these articles became free for the SNMMI membership in 2014.

Jonathan McConathy, as the editor of the “Focus on Molecular Imaging” series, has selected state-of-the-art topics and prominent authors in an effort to keep the readership informed of promising investigational molecular imaging procedures.

Other improvements to JNM under my term included streamlining of the review process, with the awarding of CE credits for timely completion of reviews (78% were completed within 2 weeks) and the implementation of scores for the quality of reviews.

As I conclude my term, I would first like to thank all the authors and contributors for choosing JNM as the journal in which to publish their research. I am also sincerely grateful to all the dedicated individuals who significantly contribute to JNM on a regular basis. These include the associate editors, the editorial board members, and the more than 2,800 reviewers from around the world who volunteer their time and expertise. The associate editors were selected in 2012, and I have continued to delegate to them specific manuscripts in their fields of expertise. I would also like to thank the international associate editors for their contributions and input about their regions of the world.

I would also like to personally thank everyone who took the time to fill out our May 2014 survey about the JNM submission and peer review processes, online-only content, and open access. The results showed that most respondents are pleased with JNM’s processes and that they are in line with other journals of its kind.

I also want to thank Harvey Ziessman and Nancy Knight of Newsline for keeping the readership informed of nuclear medicine trends, regulatory issues, and the molecular imaging articles published in other journals.

Finally, I want to specifically acknowledge the considerable efforts of the members of the SNMMI Department of Communications: Susan Alexander, Laurie Callahan, Steve Klein, Rebecca Maxey, Paulette McGee, Susan Nath, and Mark Sumimoto. These individuals along with the assistants to the editor, first Tom Ebers and now Joshua Wachtel, work relentlessly to coordinate the efforts of the entire JNM team and to keep the review and production processes timely and efficient.