SNM Publications Committee Report
SNM Board of Directors, January 2009
Committee Charges for 2008-2009:
· To coordinate all SNM publication activities; to continuously monitor the needs of the field and to suggest new publications; to oversee publication of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
· To evaluate the desirability of publications projects presented to the Society.
· To research and respond to publishing trends in the field of nuclear medicine. This can include book topics, book and journal publishers, new medical journals, medical journal practices and article topics, and journal peer-review practices and technologies.
· To research and respond to trends in the publishing industry. This can include print and electronic publishing technologies, and journal peer-review practices and technologies.
· To survey and respond to the SNM membership and journal readership regarding the Society's publications.
Current Working Objectives/Goals (please reference Strategic Plan):
· Educate core members about principles and concepts on molecular imaging (continual)
· Develop JNM supplement and increased articles concerning molecular imaging topics in the journal (completed one, more in development)
· Launch series of primers on molecular imaging published by JNM as supplements (launch completed; series ongoing)
· Create new/revise series of SNM patient pamphlets (removed to Fact Sheet Task Force)
Progress of Charge/Objectives/Goals to Date:
JNM
· The Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM) has once again been recognized for its exceptional quality and influence as an academic and professional resource. In the latest ranking, released in June 2008, the journal ranked in the top three percent of all imaging journals based on its impact factor, according to results from the Thomson Reuters Institute for Scientific Information's (ISI) Journal Citation Report. JNM earned an impact factor of 5.915, representing an increase of more than 18 percent from 2006 (4.986) and 26 percent from 2005 (4.684), placing it second among all 87 journals in the “radiology, nuclear medicine and medical imaging” category. JNM's rank was higher than those of other leading imaging journals, including Radiology, NeuroImage and the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, and below only one other journal, Human Brain Mapping.
· In June 2008 a new JNM supplement was completed: Molecular Imaging of Cancer: From Molecules to Humans, issue editor Sam Gambhir. The next supplement is already well into development and is slated to mail in May 2009. The topic is the “Use of FDG PET to Personalize Cancer Therapy,” guest editor Wolfgang Weber, MD.
· The committee made a recommendation to the board at the 2008 Midwinter Meeting that JNM be transitioned to a full-color publication; the board approved the recommendation and reaffirmed it in June 2008. Increased costs (and losses in revenue) for full color were incorporated into the 2009 budget, offset by new sources of revenue. The first full-color issue of the journal was printed in January 2009. The change allows the use of color for highlighting and enhancing the structure and organization of research reports, as well as strengthening the communication of research findings obtained through molecular imaging approaches. The change to full color comes at no cost to authors: all color renditions of images are now entirely free of charge to authors.
· Both JNM and JNMT debuted new Web sites updated to match with the new journal cover designs. To see the new designs, go to SNM’s Web site and click on the journal graphic.
Books
· SNM and SNMTS books are a bit slow this year thus far – sales are about 10% off.
· The most recently published books—MIRD Decay Schemes 2nd edition and the two Mas “A Patient’s Guide to Nuclear Medicine Procedures: English-Spanish” books (SNMTS)—are still selling quite well.
Additional Goals/Objectives Added for 2008-09:
· A JNM retreat for associate editors will be held in January 2009.
· A subcommittee for molecular imaging publications has been developed, comprising 4 members, and will meet for the first time at the Midwinter Meeting in Clearwater. The subcommittee will provide input to the Editorial Oversight Board for the Molecular Imaging journal and will consider development of further molecular imaging publications.
· A subcommittee will be developed and will meet to begin the search process for the next JNM editor in chief (to follow Dr. Schelbert). Dr. Larson has agreed to chair the subcommittee, and Drs. Sandler and Strauss have agreed to participate. The subcommittee timetable will begin at the 2009 Midwinter Meeting, with final selection of new editor in chief to be made in January 2010.
· Survey JNM readers.