The first leg of the race - Swimming - has begun!

We do all of the usual journal things, and with short turn-around times we can quickly get papers out and check our download statistics, and other altmetrics. We are also constantly looking to see which areas of ecology and evolution we should cover, particularly when technoloical advances mean that methods are developing rapidly. And we maintain a blog and use twitter, which we use to get feedback from readers.

Methods in Ecology and Evolution - How many more cute animals must pay for bad statistical procedures?

The Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences (CJAS) is a multidisciplinary publication, which publishes papers that are empirical, conceptual, and qualitative or quantitative. We assess if we are accepting the right papers for the journal in a number of ways:
1) CJAS is ISI listed, and we monitor the impact factor regularly to see what articles are being cited and which are not. We make adjustments accordingly on annual basis as a result of this checking
2) Through our publisher and through Google Scholar, we monitor which CJAS publications are the most downloaded
3) We solicit feedback from our readers/reviewers/associate editors regularly. In addition to regular editor meetings, we are exhibitors at both the Academy of Management conference and the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada. We host social hours, panels, editor’s talks, and meet with editorial board members.
4) Finally, and perhaps most efficient, is the careful monitoring we give to submissions. We know we are accepting the right papers because we weed out those papers that are not right for CJAS very early in the process. Manuscripts are first screened for language quality, applicability to the administrative sciences, and most importantly, contribution to research. It is only once papers have met this initial screening that they are entered into the review process. Papers are rigorously reviewed, and only those that show potential and can realistically meet the demands of reviewers and editors are invited for resubmission. Generally, time from submission to publication is under one year, which attests to our ‘agility.’ Our acceptance rate currently sits at under 10% - if a paper is accepted for publication, it’s because, much like swimming, it underwent a rigorous, fair, and efficient process.

Chemical Science is the RSC’s flagship journal, publishing research of exceptional significance from across the chemical sciences. From launch our vision was to only publish articles of the highest quality and importance, while providing exceptional service to our authors.
In order to achieve this, we first introduced the Edge article, a new article type which allows authors to present a novel piece of scientific research in an exciting succinct format. Edge articles have no page restrictions and do not adhere to the one size fits all format for chemistry. With Edge articles, it truly is the science that dictates the length of the article.

Secondly, the Editor-in-Chief recruited 17 world-leading scientists as Associate Editors whose expertise covers the breadth of the chemical sciences. Their primary role is to act as gatekeepers of the science and ensure only the very best articles are considered and accepted after peer review. The Associate Editors also raise the visibility of the journal internationally providing a further stamp of approval which is vital in generating high quality submissions in the first instance.

The Associate Editors are supported by a group of highly talented professional editors who themselves have a broad range of experience and expertise both in publishing and the chemical sciences. As well as supporting the Associate Editors, the professional editors will make an initial assessment of all submissions received and decide whether a manuscript should be rejected without peer review or forwarded to an Associate Editor for consideration. With each submission, the professional editors followed by Associate Editors are required to ask themselves as series of challenging questions around the novelty, significance, impact and originality of the research article. This triple layer of peer review helps us achieve our goal of only publishing exceptional research.

Only 10% of Edge articles submitted meet the exceptionally high standards required to be accepted and published.

How do we know that accepted Edge articles, published in Chemical Science are great? Well post publication we monitor a number of metrics including citations and impact factor. Both are continuing to increase following the launch in 2010 and we now see the journal being ranked close to its competitors, which are steeped in history. Of most importance however are the growing submissions and profile of the journal. These metrics rely heavily on the quality of articles accepted and read by an ever expanding dedicated international chemical science community.

In summary, the robust, vigorous and critical nature of the triple layer of peer review has helped Chemical Science get to where it has in such a short time. The final product is an outstanding, community based journal which is continuing to flourish and grow with great accepted articles at its core.

Energy & Environmental Science (EES) was launched in 2008 in response to the high demand from the scientific community for a home for high-impact international research that bridges the various disciplines involved with energy and the environment. The journal has quickly become a leader in this fast-growing and competitive field, and agility has played a vital role in this success.

EES’s official 2012 Impact Factor is 11.65 and it publishes insightful, agenda-setting, very high-quality science that is of significant general interest to the journal’s community-spanning readership. To be acceptable for the journal, submissions must comprise outstanding new applications to energy and environmental systems, and must meet the high novelty standard set by the Editorial Board.

Rigorous editorial procedures ensure that EES only publishes science of the highest quality. Only 10% of submitted articles are eventually accepted following an initial assessment by the in-house editors and peer review.

Scholar One supports EES to achieve and maintain its high standards by allowing EES to be agile in its rigorous peer review procedures. New submissions that are unsuitable for the journal in terms of quality and scope are rejected without peer review, which helps us to provide authors with a quick service. Editors meet daily to discuss these cases and appropriate Editorial or Advisory Board members are consulted where necessary. We use the Scholar One account flagging system to highlight board members’ Scholar One accounts and the “edit account information” function to maintain up-to-date descriptions of board members’ areas of expertise. This allows us to consult the appropriate member quickly through Scholar One.

For rapid and rigorous peer review we have used Scholar One to build a portfolio of expert and trusted referees. We make use of the account flagging system to highlight trusted and reliable referees who know the scope of our journal well. We find appropriate referees quickly by using the Scholar One search functions: Quick Search, Keyword and Reasearch Interests Seach, Related Papers Search and Advanced Search. Scholar One systems also supports our agility by allowing us to send appropriate and timely reminders to referees and to easily and quickly find additional referees if necessary to get the right information to make a decision. The rescind report function allows us to contact referees for further information so that we can provide detailed feedback to our authors. For those papers which report great science but which don’t quite meet the exceptionally high standards of the journal, we look where possible to offer the authors an alternative Royal Society of Chemistry journal that would be more suitable. We use Scholar One to implement this service for authors, which allows them quick and easy resubmission.

In order to measure our rejection rates and review the work that we have accepted or rejected, we use the ScholarOne Reports functions. The Scholar One reporting functions The “Manuscript Status and Summary Reports” and the “Peer Review Details Reports” allow the whole Editorial team and the Editorial Board to stay informed about the quality of work we are accepting, so that we can continuously improve our strategy for publishing the best work. We also use the reporting functions to compile statistics on referees, which feeds into our effective referee flagging system.

AMJ screens all submissions for plagiarism using CrossCheck/iThenticate. This alerts us to potential problems immediately upon submission and ensures that the journal does not waste valuable time processing papers which might later need to be retracted. Every submission is also checked by a highly qualified Managing Editor who was among the earliest to receive certification from ScholarOne University. While new automated tools such as Crosscheck make our job easier, nothing can replace the importance of having a top notch Managing Editor who knows if a paper is suitable for the journal. AMJ’s Managing Editor seems to check in submissions at all hours, every day and passes on those which are appropriate to the journal Editors within hours, not days. He is more efficient then a machine!

1) Strict manuscript selection process: The first step is to conduct iThenticate anti-plagiarism checking to get rid of papers with plagiarism behavior; 2) quick initial review: JMS has 32 Scientific Editors (SE) to do initial review. SEs make recommendation within four days, low quality paper will be directly rejected; 3) high quality double-blind peer-review: One paper will be sent to at least two referees for peer-review; 4) Careful editing for ensuring the publication quality: Generally, the editors make first editing to ensure it meets the journal style, and the high quality of figures and tables, and then a native speaker will have a final editing on the language to ensure its readability.

JAD is the leading journal in Alzheimer disease

Our metric is the community of scholars and their feedback, either via "official" citation metrics, altimetrics, or direct feedback on our editor's blog (www.biotropica.org), facebook page, or twitter.

the editorial board gives the most valuable and educative comments for the author irrespective of article whether accepted not accepted for publication

dear sir madam
we the group of the academicians publishing the journal since from 2007 mumbai india

They have a fast review/publishing policy with reviews generally done within 4 weeks and online publishing one day (!!!) after acceptance.

Islam is a religion that is on the news everyday. It is easily the most misunderstood religion. The need to communicate the different positions of Islam on different subjects has become more crucial than ever in the history of this religion. Hence, the journal publishes high-quality papers from all over the world on past and present issues pertaining to religious decrees, classical works, politics, economics, sociology, history, science, etc. The comprehensive of the journal places it in a unique position.

Journal of Ecology – through the skills and enthusiasm of our top-notch editorial team and over 50 internationally renowned Associate Editors we are able to quickly and easily validate manuscripts so we accept only the best and most important papers in our field for publication. Our Editors and Associate Editors have expertise across the board in all areas of current plant ecology. Submissions are initially checked for format by our Assistant Editor, then for content by an Editor within 48 hours of submission before a decision is made whether or not to send the paper to an Associate Editor to handle the peer-review process. But, even at this stage, the paper has to be considered novel and ground breaking by the Associate Editor or it will be rejected without further review. Reviewers also have to indicate to us that a paper meets these criteria. After publication we check download statistics on abstracts and full papers, article citations, and have most recently added a number of altmetrics into the mix. These metrics guide us in determining the direction that our field is moving in allowing Journal of Ecology to stay at the cutting edge, and in fact set the trends.

The peer-reviewed journal Thrombosis and Haemostasis provides efficient and timely review of submitted manuscripts through its streamlined workflow (average time to 1st decision 23 days). The two Editors in Chief, one each for basic science and for clinical studies, as well as the dedicated Editorial Board of 50 Section Editors, invite expert reviewers, assess papers for their technical merit and originality, as well the degree to which they further advance the field. The steadily increasing Impact Factor of Thrombosis and Haemostasis over the past decade (now 6.094) is proof that we are making the right choices!

The South Asian Journal of Management Sciences (SAJMS) is peer refereed journal published bi-annually by IQRA University Research Center. The journal recognizes the growing involvement of regional issues in management sciences within the larger context of globalization and international business arena. It, therefore, aims to provide an opportunity and a forum to communicate relevant and current issues in the area of business management and its allied sciences including emerging trends and their application to and implication for the global business community. The papers will be based on empirical research, conceptual frameworks, literature reviews and case studies. The papers and articles submitted will be reviewed by Editorial Advisory Board and other peer reviewers as necessary.

Most updated,relevant and real life article

Computational Materials Science now publishes high-quality articles, fast, from all over the world, and increasingly attracts interest and citations

Soft Matter, now in its 9th volume, has quickly become one of the leading journals in the field. With a unique scope and filling an important niche for soft matter scientists, the journal has gone from strength to strength since launch. It has grown in market share and visibility and attracts some of the leading soft matter researchers as authors.
It is crucial for the Editorial team to ensure that Soft Matter remains true to its roots and is the journal of choice for authors and readers alike. Articles accepted for publication in the journal must demonstrate an important advance in the fundamental understanding of the soft matter system and articles must be accessible to the journal's broad readership which includes (bio)physicists, chemists, engineers, materials scientists.

To ensure Soft Matter publishes only the most significant advances in the field, we have undertaken several steps to tighten our acceptance criteria. We have made use of the flexibility of ScholarOne to enable us to achieve this. Upon submission, authors are required to provide a justification for their submission. They must state what important fundamental question is addressed in their manuscript and why the research will appeal to Soft Matter's broad readership.

These fields are important at several stages in the manuscript process. Firstly, they prompt the authors to consider the journal readership and criteria during the submission process. If the answers to these questions are not easy, authors can consider whether they have chosen the most appropriate vehicle for the dissemination of their research. Secondly, the editors use the answers to these required fields during the initial assessment of the manuscript, in deciding whether the manuscript meets the journal's criteria. The decision of whether to send the manuscript for peer review is an important method of ensuring authors receive a quick decision on their manuscript if it is unsuitable and also of decreasing unnecessary burden on referees. The authors' justification enables editors to quickly assess these two important factors in the decision. Thirdly, for those papers sent for peer review, the referees also review the justification provided by the authors.

ScholarOne has enabled the facile introduction of these fields to the manuscript submission process and the easy sharing of the information with referees.

These steps are assisting us in making sure that Soft Matter publishes the most relevant work and remains a leading journal in the field.