The Impact Factor of Balkan Medical Journal Continues to Rise

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

According to the 2020 Journal Citation Report by Clarivate Analytics, the impact factor of Balkan Medical Journal arose by 1.53 in 2019, which reflects 27% increase compared to last year. It has become one of the most prestigious journals in the Balkans and Turkey because of this new score. Based on this development, I would like to talk about what has been done in the last 4 years on behalf of the editorial team. After taking over as editor-in-chief in autumn 2016, for the first time in the history of the journal, an editorial independence agreement was signed between the editor and the owner of the journal. However, in the early days of this new appointment, the editorial team faced a publisher change. The publishing house change which is one of the most difficult processes and changes of a journal was successfully realized with the support of the Dean and the intensive work of the editorial board. From 2017, we decided to continue with the Galenos publishing house. In November 2016, the news that the journal was accepted to be indexed in the PubMed/MedLine increased our motivation. Therefore, as stated in the history of the journal (1), the first four months of our editorial task were very challenging. Another innovation in the year 2017 was the journal cover. Founded in 1488, Sultan Bayezid II complex of Edirne is the first example of a centrally planned medical center and considered the pioneer of modern hospitals thus, the roots of medical education in the city date back to the founding day of the school. The third issue therefore was the change to a new journal cover, designed to symbolize the silhouette and historical heritage of the Bayezid II Hospital (2). In the last quarter of 2017, we signed one of the most challenging changes. After working hard with our publisher, we created a new and improved website that would better serve readers, reviewers, and authors (3). This dynamic website would contribute to the visibility and recognition of the journal. Another innovation in that same year was the articles and content of the magazine became visible on the social media. In the third quarter of 2018, the editorial team of the Balkan Medical Journal was pleased to announce the new policy (gender and gender reporting) of the Balkan Medical Journal (4). We have chosen to be a part of global efforts to report and evaluate gender and gender differences in scientific research. With this policy, we started to encourage authors to use the terms gender (to report biological factors) and gender (to report identity, psychosocial or cultural factors) correctly. One of the most challenging changes in 2018 was the switch to the online submission system. In the second half of 2018, as a result of the depreciation of the Turkish lira, we had to reduce the cost of the journal. After a long-term search by the editorial team and the publisher, we decided that the Manuscript Manager peer review system would meet all our needs (5). With this decision, starting from the last week of November 2018, we were able to use the new system. We have successfully overcome this transition period. Another job waiting to be done for us was the journal’s legal regulation. The editorial independence agreement between the owner of the journal and the editor alone did not guarantee the institutional independence of the journal therefore, a legal regulation was needed. We thought that the implementation of the journal legal regulation would guarantee the independent and responsible management of the journal, protect the freedom of publication, and ensure the transparency of the team at work. In addition, the effort to maintain the editorial freedom had posed distinct challenges arising from regional dynamics in the Balkan region. After working closely with the Dean’s Office and rectorate’s legal commission, the Balkan Medical Journal Legal Regulation came into force in January 2019 (6). As a member of IJMCE, in January 2019, Balkan Medical Journal declared compliance with the ICMJE data sharing statement (7). As a journal of this geography, it should not be a surprise to say that we have difficulties in implementing this policy. It is obvious that we need more time in this regard. One of the most important factors in the implementation of this policy is the willingness of the authors and institutions to share their data. In the second quarter of 2020, the whole world was shocked by the new coronavirus pandemic. The COVID-19 outbreak pressured journals and authors to quickly publish many academic articles about the new coronavirus. This edition led to some editorial practices that ignore ethical principles. During this period, we witnessed many qualified journals withdrawing or retracting COVID-19 articles. This period has shown how important the competence of editorial board members is (8). In addition, this pandemic process has become a real opportunity for predatory journals (9). As the editorial board, I think we did a good job in this period. In all the original articles on COVID-19 that were not rejected by the Editor-in-Chief but sent to the relevant editor, they were either rejected or withdrawn after the peer review or detailed and rigorous evaluation. In the accepted articles (Invited review, case report and letter to the editor), there were extensive revisions of the relevant editor and/or editor-in-chief. Table 1 summarizes our struggle in the past 4 years. The upward trend in the journal's impact factor stemmed from the rigorous selection of articles, good communication with readers and authors, the application of ethical standards, and the devoted work of the editorial board and the publisher. We believe that the key to being a second quarter journal is the continuity of these policies.

Related collections

Most cited references 9

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

History of Balkan Medical Journal: Road to High-Impact Journal

Zafer Kocak, Ahmet Ulugol (2018)

The recent dramatic development of the Balkan Medical Journal (1), especially after 2005, led us to share the history of our journal with our readers and authors. Another reason for writing this editorial is to document the story of how the Balkan Medical Journal has gained respect in the Balkans and in the world. 1979-1980: Launching the Journal and Publishing the First Two Volumes The Balkan Medical Journal had its beginning under the title of “Edirne Tıp Dergisi” (Edirne Medical Journal) in May 1979 when Edirne Medical Faculty was a branch of İstanbul University in Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty. In the summer of that year, the school gave its first graduates. During the presentation of the first issue, Professor Dr. Suat Vural, the owner of the journal and the dean of the medical faculty, launched a journal in the field of general medicine, which he hoped would be the scientific voice of Edirne Medical Faculty. Figure 1 shows the founding editorial board and the opening editorial. The first two volumes were published in Istanbul. After movement from İstanbul to Edirne in 1982, Edirne Medical Faculty received a new name, “Trakya University School of Medicine.” Accordingly, “Edirne Tıp Dergisi” had its name changed to “Trakya Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Dergisi” (Medical Journal of Trakya University). Interestingly, the first two volumes were published by three different editors (Vefa Ülkü, Zeynep Erdal, and Meliha Özkay); unlike today’s publishing conception, they were working more as an executive secretary than as an Editor-in-Chief. 1986-2005: Tough Times to Get Articles from Outside of Trakya University After publishing the second volume in 1980, the publication of the journal was interrupted for 5 years during the foundation period of Trakya University in Edirne. Beginning from the third volume in 1986, the journal resumed its publication life under the patronage of Associate Professor Çobanoğlu (Figure 2). He continued this task for 10 years. In 1996, Professor Karasalihoğlu was appointed as the Editor-in-Chief and served until 2002 (Figure 3). During his 6-year term, the journal was accepted to be indexed in the Turkish Medical Index for the first time in 2000. Perhaps this was the presage of the steps that would be taken later. In 2002, Professor Yalnız was appointed as a new Editor-in-Chief of the journal (Figure 4). Only a year later, he announced that Index Copernicus was the first international database where the journal was indexed. Despite this great news of those years, the primary source of submission was still Trakya University School of Medicine in Edirne (Table 1). 2005 and After: A respected Journal in the Balkans and in the World Professor Yalnız resigned in the first quarter of 2005, and Professor Ulugöl took over the task (Figure 5). Professor Ulugöl started his task with a change in the Editorial Board and establishment of an international advisory board. In his first editorial, he stressed the importance of rapid peer-review and timeliness publication and set his sights on coverage of the journal in Index Medicus and Science Citation Index-Expanded. Commencing with his period, the journal also started to publish review articles only by invitation. In 2005, with great efforts of Professor Ulugöl and the Associate Editors, the journal was covered by Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory, Oxford University Libraries, JournalSeek, and DOAJ. In 2006, the editorial team began to use the online submission and peer-review systems, which simplified and accelerated the publication process. These changes were important steps for the future of the Journal. Consequently, the number of submissions from outside of Trakya University began to increase steadily, reaching two-thirds of the total in 2007 (Table 2). At the same time, good news about indexing continued to come up, and the journal began to be indexed in Free Medical Journals, Chemical Abstracts, and EBSCO. Three years after his leadership, some goals of Professor Ulugöl took place as it was mentioned in his first editorial. Certainly, the first important milestone for our journal was the inclusion into SCI-Expanded in 2008, which led to a significant increase in the number of submissions (Table 2). This striking increase in the number of submissions was partially due to the new criteria of the Higher Education Council in Turkey for applying for academic promotion. One of the criteria was to publish an original article in journals indexed in SCI-Expanded. Professor Ulugöl’s period lasted three and a half years, and he left his post as an Editor at the end of 2008. After Professor Ulugöl’s resignation, Associate Professor Öztürk was appointed as the Editor-in-Chief (Figure 6). In fact, there is nothing wrong in calling his term as an era of several breaking changes. He immediately faced two challenges, i.e., increased number of submissions and financial problems. Beginning from January 2009, the editorial team decided to publish the journal quarterly and charge submission fee from authors. In 2010, Professor Öztürk was informed that the journal was accepted to be indexed in Scopus and Embase. This was a great news for us as Scopus is a citation database. In the same year, we started to get DOI number for journal articles. A few months after DOI’s application, we began using a plagiarism software to raise ethical standards (2). On the other hand, probably due to submission fee, we observed a dramatic decline in the number submissions in 2010 and 2011. On the way to becoming an international journal, some of the biggest decisions were taken in 2011. Changing the title of the journal was one of the boldest actions; the other critical decision was to accept articles only in English. This decision-making process was very difficult and extensive discussions were made at editorial meetings. The editorial board of the journal at that time believed that the title of an ideal journal should be short, clear, unique, indicative of the coverage of the publication, and easily remembered. Besides this, the title at that time was “Medical Journal of Trakya University” and it was found to be too local for the journal covered by international indexes. Thus, the new journal title, “Balkan Medical Journal,” was announced by Professor Öztürk and started to be used from volume 28 onward (Table 3). In 2012, the last sentence of the farewell letter by Professor Öztürk was as follows “Your contributions are essential for the Balkan Medical Journal to help it achieve its goals which basically include contributing to medical sciences and healthcare in the Balkan area through increased scientific productivity and continuous medical education” (3). In the third quarter of 2012, Professor Uzun’s term started (Figure 7). In his period, the policy on cooperation with the Balkan countries was remarkable. One of the first attempts he made was to enhance the Editorial Board with Balkan scientists. His close links with scientists in the Balkan countries have increased the regional reputation of the journal. Some achievements during his editorship were updated instructions and editorial policy, acquisition of the ScholarOne Manuscripts peer-review system, and English editing service (4). Professor Uzun has made great efforts to establish international standards of publication ethics for the journal. As a result of this, the journal became a member of important international organizations, including the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), the Council of Science Editors (CSE), and the European Association of Science Editors (EASE). With those memberships, the journal became committed to following their instructions (5). In 2013, we were informed that the journal was accepted to be indexed in PubMed/Central. This was very good news for the visibility and prestige of the journal. At the end of the same year, we decided to do something more for the journal’s prestige, and beginning from 2014, the submission fee was abandoned. These developments led to a dramatic increase in the number of submissions in 2015. Starting from 2016, the increase in the number of articles forced us to publish the journal bimonthly. Another characteristic of Professor Uzun’s period was the educational task of the journal. As read in Professor İnan’s editorial “In addition to independent, impartial and active sharing of scientific information with the whole world, the mission of the Balkan Medical Journal is to train the actors taking part in this process” (6). There are two scales of the training mission of the journal, national and international. In the national scale, the Editorial Board provides training on project design to researchers in the Thrace region (Figure 8a). In the international scale, the training activity is carried out in cooperation with the International Scientific Summer School (ISSS). The Balkan Medical Journal has been a member of the ISSS initiative since 2010. In 2014, the 11th session of the ISSS was organized in Edirne under the patronage of the Balkan Medical Journal with the support of Trakya University (Figure 8b) (7). Present and Future In the fall of 2016, Professor Koçak handed over the editorial duty (Figure 9). For the first time in the journal’s history, an editorial independence agreement was signed between the Editor and the journal owner. This step was carried out in the hopes of starting a tradition. However, during the first days of their new appointment, the editorial team faced a publishing house change. In the meantime, in November 2016, we were informed that the journal was accepted to be indexed in PubMed/MedLine. Thus, one more of our goals was realized. Professor Koçak always believed that institutions must have a memory. Sultan Bayezid II complex of Edirne, founded in 1488, is the first example of a centrally planned medical center and is considered to be the forerunner of modern hospitals (8). Thus, the roots of medical education in the city date back to the foundation day of the school in Bayezid II complex. Starting from the third issue of 2017, Professor Koçak announced the new cover of the journal with the words “Balkan Medical Journal, symbolizing its historical heritage with the silhouette of Bayezid II Şifahanesi on its new logo and name during this new period, constitutes a visual memory of the transition of tradition to the future by a bold and innovative interpretation of tiling colors” (9). Figure 10 shows the first and the current covers of the journal. One of the first things Professor Koçak did was to restructure the Editorial Board with the establishment of the Deputy Editors, the Editor-at-Large, and the Honorary Editor. Another innovation was the inclusion of brief reports and special section articles as new types of articles to be published. In the last quarter of 2017, Professor Koçak and Professor Karadağ (Web Editor) announced a new and improved website that will provide better service to readers, reviewers, and authors (10). Undoubtedly, this dynamic website will contribute to the visibility and recognition of the journal. Soon after, the articles and content of the journal became visible on social media. The Balkan Medical Journal has now completed 38 years of publication and is well recognized by the international health community. By doing the right thing, especially applying high ethical standards, the Balkan Medical Journal now adheres to the internationally accepted criteria of modern medical journalism and has taken the well-deserved place in the Balkan region and in the world (11). Table 4 summarizes our struggle over the last 13 years on the way to its aim of becoming a high impact journal.

0 comments Cited 8 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Balkan Medical Journal and Legal Regulation

Mustafa Inan, Hakan Erbaş, Zafer Kocak … (2019)

Balkan Medical Journal, the official university/academic journal of Trakya University Faculty of Medicine, is under the ownership of the deanery of the faculty and aims to propagate the current medical scientific knowledge in the Balkan region. The rectorate of Trakya University logistically supports the journal. On the other hand, the editor-in-chief is scientifically independent and cannot be pressurized or manipulated in any way regarding the scientific contents and operation of the journal. Nonetheless, the editor-in-chief has obligations toward the journal owner and editorial board. His/her editorial independence, rights, and responsibilities are aptly described and documented by the international scientific publishing communities. These include the editor’s responsibilities, autonomy, and accountability of the journal’s scientific content (1,2,3,4,5). Besides the editor-in-chief, the other editorial team members (managing, deputy, or assistant editors or any other editorial board member), the publisher, and the owner of a journal also have responsibilities, rights, and duties, which should all be documented in the journal legal regulation. Implementation of journal legal regulation will guarantee independent and responsible management of the journal, protect the editorial freedom, and ensure the team’s transparency at work. Since its establishment, the Balkan Medical Journal has aimed to select and publish distinctive, original articles in general medicine to contribute to universal scientific knowledge and to share its experience through educational activities for authors, reviewers, and editors (6). Despite the editor-in-chief and members of the editorial board getting replaced after their tenures, the Balkan Medical Journal’s management has always believed that the fulfillment of its mission depends on the fundamental conditions of ethical values, respect, institutional attitude, and teamwork (7). The effort to maintain the editorial freedom has posed distinct challenges arising from regional dynamics in the Balkan region, as in any part of the world (7,8,9,10). Becoming an official member of important international publishing organizations, such as International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), the Council of Science Editors (CSE), and the European Association of Science Editors (EASE), in addition to being formally recognized by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), were all important milestones that have enabled Balkan Medical Journal to develop, maintain, and guarantee its editorial freedom (10). A careful review of the literature reveals that the Balkan region has taken permanent steps towards institutionalization with the successful publication practices of journals. Croatian Medical Journal stands out as the most significant journal in this regard. A paper by Marusic et al. (11) in 2005 demonstrates that the Croatians have combined the dynamics of four universities in their country to create a journal of national value and have shared their developmental experiences. Undoubtedly, the significant cornerstone in the success attained by the Croatians is the journal’s legal regulation, which documents consensus. For a journal to be successful in the international arena, reasonably organized managerial processes are required. Clear definitions of work packages, workflows, duties and responsibilities, and assignment and dismissal criteria are essential for the transparency of managerial processes. The journal’s owner, editor-in-chief, editorial board, publisher, and authors effectively communicating with each other within the framework of rules will prevent chaotic and destructive conflicts that may harm the reputation and its mission. Furthermore, the inscription of such rules promotes scientific autonomy of the editor and prevents misuse of editorial freedom thereby resulting in the continuous success of a journal. The efforts to establish a legal regulation, an agreement between the owner and the editor, and an ombudsman began approximately five years ago for Balkan Medical Journal. A draft text of legal regulation was submitted for discussion to the editorial board at that time. Intensive efforts have been carried out to achieve a certain degree of maturity. Since no other university/academic general medicine journal in Turkey is also indexed in internationally published SCI-E and Medline, it took time for all stakeholders to draft a consensus document. Thanks to the previous editor-in-chief of Balkan Medical Journal and the current vice-rector of Trakya University responsible for scientific journals (Cem Uzun), who has encouraged all editors of Trakya University journal to establish legal regulations, we have a transparent scientific publishing atmosphere to discuss, write, and own individual legal regulation for each journal. Throughout this process, the journal’s management has endeavored to consult the opinions of the journal’s owner and the university legal regulation committee to establish a legal regulation for the journal that is ethical, practical, sustainable, and conforms to the national laws and international scientific values. We believe the journal legal regulation, finalized in January 2019 and presented below, serves as a role model for all scientific circles and the Balkans and will contribute to the advancement of institutional scientific publications of medicine in the region. Nonetheless, this legal regulation is open to being updated and improved whenever needed, as our other policies. The journal’s editorial board extends its gratitude to all current and past employees, the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Medicine of Trakya University, and to the current rectorate of Trakya University for their valuable contributions and encouragement to building the development of the journal legal regulation to protect editorial freedom and provide successful journal management of all Trakya University scientific journals.

0 comments Cited 5 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Editor Responsibility and Scientific Integrity During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Zafer Kocak, Cem Uzun (2020)

The COVID-19 outbreak has led to a speedy publication of many academic articles about the new coronavirus. Scientists and editors are under immense pressure to share their findings quickly because of the pandemic. These circumstances are bound to affect the scientific integrity adversely if the publishing activities do not comply with the universal standards and guidelines. The Reuters’ analysis of three preprint servers BioRxiv, MedRxiv, and ChemRxiv on February 19 pointed out that “at least 153 studies have been posted or published, including epidemiological documents, genetic analyses, and clinical reports that have examined every aspect of the disease since the outbreak began” (1). However, during the 2003 SARS epidemic, even half this number of studies on SARS issue took over a year to be published. Another analysis showed us that in just 2.5 months, more than 3000 articles about COVID-19 were accepted by journals (2). For example, a study by Indian scientists reported “mysterious” similarities between the new coronavirus and HIV. The study was criticized by scientists around the world and hence it was quickly withdrawn (3). There was another clinical study on the treatment of COVID-19 infections with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin that was accepted through a one-day peer review process (4). More retracted or withdrawn articles on COVID-19 can be found on the "retracted watch" website (5). Therefore, it is alarming to observe some editorial practices that ignore the ethical principles and this will affect the scientific integrity of the papers published during this period. Recently, European Association of Science Editors (EASE) made a statement about quality standards in publishing (6). EASE encourages anyone involved in the collection and publication of pandemic data to comply with the ethical guidelines and follow standard reporting guidelines, such as CONSORT for clinical trials, STROBE for epidemiological studies, and SAGER guidelines. From the first week of February, we started receiving manuscripts about COVID-19. By the way, it was really strange to realize that we have not received any articles about corona virus in recent years.As the editorial staff, we decided to check our attitude toward COVID-19 articles. In the period February 2020-March 2020, a total of 18 studies on COVID-19 were submitted to our journal (Table 1). Almost half of these studies were from China. In total, 16% of these articles were original articles, and all of them were rejected after editorial review. Four (22%) out of the total 18 studies were accepted. The median times for acceptance and rejection were 3.5 and 9 days, respectively. Compared to the prepandemic period, we observed a significant reduction in the time required for acceptance and rejection. For the year of 2019, the average acceptance and rejection times were 85 and 21 days, respectively. One of the factors that led to this significantly shortened article acceptance time was that these articles were evaluated not through peer review processes, but were reviewed by the editorial board that includes experts in the field of the submitted manuscripts. Another factor was the desire to quickly provide trustful data about the pandemic to the scientific world. In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic has been showing us how important it is to edit and distribute accurate data via scientific journals. All the publishing staff has a responsibility and should take enormous efforts to provide quick but correct information, which can be guaranteed only by following the international publishing standards.

0 comments Cited 4 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Balkan Med J

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Balkan Med J

Journal ID (publisher-id): BMJ

Title: Balkan Medical Journal

Publisher: Galenos Publishing

ISSN (Print): 2146-3123

ISSN (Electronic): 2146-3131

Publication date (Print): September 2020

Publication date (Electronic): 11 August 2020

Volume: 37

Issue: 5

Pages: 234-235

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Radiation Oncology, Trakya University School of Medicine, Edirne, Turkey

Author notes

Author information

Zafer Koçak https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1918-7795

Article

Publisher ID: 39971

DOI: 10.4274/balkanmedj.galenos.2020.2020.5.001

PMC ID: 7424183

PubMed ID: 32777879

SO-VID: 3866878e-f20c-4aa1-8d38-a776b7b0deb3

License:

The Balkan Medical Journal published by Galenos Publishing House.

History

Comments

Comment on this article

scite_

Cited by 3

See all cited by

Most referenced authors 11

See all reference authors

The Impact Factor of Balkan Medical Journal Continues to Rise

Read this article at

Abstract

Related collections

Novel Coronavirus Disease COVID-19

Most cited references 9

History of Balkan Medical Journal: Road to High-Impact Journal

Balkan Medical Journal and Legal Regulation

Editor Responsibility and Scientific Integrity During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Author and article information

Journal

Affiliations

Author notes

Author information

Article

History

Categories

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 223

Cited by 3

Most referenced authors 11