Abstract
Dear readers and contributors of Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders,
We now celebrate the tenth anniversary of the journal; thank you for your support and interest! The journal started with the aim of bringing the therapeutically relevant findings to the neurological community at an early stage. Over this past decade, the journal has developed into a widely acknowledged and established publication platform for therapeutic and translational findings. We also cover early-phase studies as well as failed phase III studies in neurological diseases, since it is critical to understand why well-founded pathophysiological concepts and hypotheses failed in real-life settings.
The success of the journal is always linked to the people behind the curtain. Special thanks go to our new professional editor, Hemi Malkki from SAGE, who joined us from Nature Reviews Neurology and has brought many stimulating, novel ideas and approaches to further contribute to the journal’s growth and quality. Our academic editorial team consists of international renowned experts who cover the fastest-developing fields of neurology: multiple sclerosis, stroke, Parkinson’s disease and neurodegeneration, as well as epilepsy and neuromuscular disease.
In addition to having permanent associate editors in these fields, we have begun to feature guest-editor-curated Special Collections that focus on topics where particularly rapid progress has been made. In 2018, we published our first two Special Collections, with a specific focus on immunology of stroke (http://journals.sagepub.com/topic/collections-tan/tan-1/tan) and practice-changing developments in neuro-oncology (https://journals.sagepub.com/topic/collections-tan/tan-2/tan). With these Special Collections, we have, for the first time, opened the journal to basic scientific findings, while simultaneously maintaining a highly selective approach to include only highest-impact research.
Other recent developments in the journal include transitioning to full gold open access, meaning all the articles are free to read and download without registration online on PubMed and the journal website. This has led to high visibility, reaching one million annual full article views. Moreover, being gold open access means the journal complies with open access funder mandates.
Nowadays, academics and journal editors alike face the public attempt to measure the impact of science by journal impact factors and citation rates. In terms of journal impact factor, we can be proud of Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders (Figure 1) after it became PubMed-listed and open access: the journal currently ranks 28 out of 197 in clinical neurology, making it the highest ranking full-scope open access neurology journal. The most highly cited articles published over the past decade came from multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and neurodegeneration.
Development of Therapeutic Alternatives in Neurological Disorders impact factor.
To further develop the journal, we are open not only to original research articles, but also reviews and meta-analyses; we also consider outstanding case studies. In addition, we are particularly interested in phase IV trials, where the tolerability and therapeutic value of novel medication comes on the test bench. Even after well designed and excellently conducted phase III studies, setbacks can happen when new therapeutics are brought to the clinic, exemplified by the tragic and unexpected side effects leading to withdrawal of the monoclonal antibody daclizumab in spring 2018.
How will the journal develop in the near future? In the summer of 2018, SAGE started to collect the DOIs for any preprint versions of articles authors are submitting to SAGE journals. A preprint is an online-only, pre-peer-reviewed version of a manuscript that is made openly available by posting to a preprint server. Collecting the DOIs for any preprint versions ensures the original preprint version and the peer-reviewed version published in Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders are linked, and will facilitate rapid dissemination of research findings and transparency in research. We have also partnered with Publons (https://publons.com) to ensure our peer reviewers can get public credit for their work.
Moreover, we will continue highlighting novel developments in neurology in our Special Collections. Among them will be our 2018 Special Collection on Advances in Neuroimaging (http://journals.sagepub.com/page/tan/special-collection/advances-in-neuroimaging), which will cover topics such as MRI, which is indispensable in multiple sclerosis and stroke research and treatment, and functional PET, which may help identify earlier stages of neurodegenerative diseases. The lessons learnt from neuroimmunology, namely, the importance of treating multiple sclerosis early and optimally, may also apply to neurodegeneration: elimination of the pathogenic proteins and metabolic products before irreversible damage occurs might bring hope for patients with these currently incurable diseases.
We also hope to address all relevant aspects of neurology in the future, and to receive your continued interest in the journal!
Ralf Gold and the editorial team