Beginning with this issue, the new editor of the Archives of Internal Medicine is Philip Greenland, MD. Dr Greenland is the Harry W. Dingman Professor and Chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Professor of Medicine at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine. A graduate of Williams College and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Dr Greenland served on the faculty at the University of Rochester prior to coming to Northwestern.
His research, teaching, and clinical interests all focus on the prevention of cardiovascular disease. The author of numerous articles, book chapters, and monographs, he is the principal investigator for several prospective studies of cardiovascular and noncardiovascular risk factors.
Having served on multiple editorial boards and as a reviewer for many journals, Dr Greenland is well prepared to assume the editorship of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Dr Greenland will be the eighth Editor of the ARCHIVES since it was launched in 1908 as the first journal in the English language devoted to internal medicine.
It has been my honor and pleasure to have served as Editor of the ARCHIVES for the past 17 years (not as long as the first Editor, Joseph L. Miller, who served for 24 years!).
There have been many changes in the ARCHIVES in the past 17 years. It has become a bimonthly publication. The Table of Contents has become less cluttered, and is easier to read. Structured abstracts have been introduced, and the editorial pages have larger, clearer print and as a result are easier to read. There have been progressive improvements in the cover, culminating in the current cover featuring a photograph submitted by one of our readers or reviewers. (A great idea—unfortunately, not my idea.)
The most important changes have taken place inside the cover. There has been a progressive increase in the number of randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses, consistent with our current emphasis on evidence-based medicine. The number of articles received from authors outside the United States has increased from 10% in 1987 to 30% in 2002. The ARCHIVES has become more international, with 110 000 readers in 87 countries.
There has been a progressive increase in the number of manuscripts we receive; the increase from 1996 to 2002 was 59%. This increase has been good and bad. We are able to be more selective, but we are forced to turn down some excellent manuscripts. The acceptance rate for Original Investigations has decreased from approximately 30% in 1987 to approximately 15% in 2003.
There has been a dramatic increase in the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Science Citation Index ratings of the ARCHIVES. This is most notable in the Impact Factor, which is a measure of the frequency with which the "average article" in a journal is cited in a particular year. In 1986, the Impact Factor for the ARCHIVES was 2.03, the seventh highest among 112 internal medicine and general medical journals. In 2001, the Impact Factor for the ARCHIVES was 6.66, fifth highest among 112 internal medicine journals, which includes JAMA, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, and the Annals of Internal Medicine.
I wish Dr Greenland every success as Editor of the ARCHIVES. I am sure that the ARCHIVES will reach even greater heights under his leadership.
As for myself, I intend to spend more time on a small island in the Pacific Ocean (see cover) with the ARCHIVES reviewer (see page 7) who took the photograph that is on the cover of this issue of the ARCHIVES!
