 ccording
to a recent analysis for in-cites, the journal Atmospheric
Chemistry & Physics has entered the top 50% of journals
in the field of Geosciences in the ISI
Essential
Science Indicators
Web product (see New
Entrants). The journal’s record in this field includes
440 papers cited a total of 983 times to date. Published by
the Copernicus Society, Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics
is
an international and interactive science journal of the
European Geosciences Union. In the interview below, Chief
Executive Editor Dr. Ulrich Pöschl discusses the journal’s
history, goals, and citation record.
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Did you expect the Atmospheric
Chemistry & Physics to become highly cited, or is this
surprising to you?
When my colleagues and I launched Atmospheric Chemistry &
Physics (ACP) and its discussion forum Atmospheric Chemistry
& Physics Discussions (ACPD) in 2001, we hoped and expected
that our new approach to scientific publishing (interactive open
access journal concept as described below and detailed on the
journal website*), would enable efficient
scientific exchange, attract top-quality papers, and thus ultimately
lead to high citation rates. Otherwise we would not have launched a
new journal.
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“The interactive open access journal concept of
ACP has been designed to foster scientific discussion, maximize the effectiveness and transparency of scientific quality assurance, enable rapid publication of new scientific results, and
make scientific publications freely accessible.”
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Nevertheless, we were very pleased to see that ISI started to
index our publications very soon after the journal launched, that
the journal impact factor of ACP very quickly reached a value among
the traditional top journals of our field, and that it still
continues to increase.
How would you account for the increased citation rate of ACP?
The high and increasing citation rates of ACP are certainly due
to multiple reasons, most of which are related to the advantages of
its interactive open access journal concept (freely accessible
two-stage publications with public peer review and interactive
discussion as detailed on the journal website*). We think that the
following aspects are most important:
- free internet accessibility of all articles (open access
publishing);
- rapid dissemination of novel scientific results as discussion
papers on the ACPD website (minimum time from submission to
publication on the order of one week);
- public documentation of the review process (quality assurance)
and availability of complementary information in fully citable
interactive comments from the referees, authors, and other
interested scientists, which have not been publicly available in
traditional scientific journals; and
- top quality and information density of the final papers
published in ACP after revision and peer review completion in
view of the interactive public discussion, including referee
comments like in the traditional closed peer review process plus
the input from other interested scientists.
Was there a change in policy or editorial direction that might account
for this?
The interactive open access journal concept of ACP has been
designed to foster scientific discussion, maximize the effectiveness
and transparency of scientific quality assurance, enable rapid
publication of new scientific results, and make scientific
publications freely accessible. It has been developed by scientists
for scientists, making full use of the opportunities provided by the
internet and modern information technologies (advances of computer
network hardware and software).
From the very beginning, the development of the interactive open
access journal concept and infrastructure of ACP was based on the
input, different views, and constructive discussion of top
scientists from a wide range of different disciplines across the
journal scope (including the Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen), on the
dynamics of an interdisciplinary scientific society (European
Geosciences Union [EGU]*), and on the technological competence of an
innovative scientific service provider and publisher (Copernicus
Society*).
At present, the technical infrastructure of the journal (website,
electronic editorial support office, production office, etc.) is
undergoing continued optimization. Due to the thorough discussion
and preparation of the underlying intellectual and technical
concepts, however, the innovative two-stage publication process with
public peer review and interactive discussion worked very well from
the beginning, and no major modifications were required.
What historical factors have contributed to the success of ACP?
The traditional ways of scientific publishing and peer review do
not live up to the needs of efficient communication and quality
assurance in today’s rapidly developing and highly diverse world
of science. Thus research and teaching are increasingly inhibited by
a lack of scientific information density, accessibility, and
reliability, and there are many good reasons for the increasing
number, strength, and public recognition of initiatives and
declarations aiming at worldwide open access to scientific
publications (economic, educational, and scientific aspects).
Some of the most important advantages of free online availability
of scientific information are the opportunities for enhanced
scientific quality assurance, which are unfortunately often
neglected in discussions and reports about open access publishing*.
Scientific publishing generally faces a dilemma between two
important and conflicting needs to which the traditional ways of
journal publishing and peer review do not and cannot live up: rapid
publication and dissemination vs. thorough review and discussion of
new results and ideas.
Rapid publication is required for efficient exchange of new
findings, and it is widely pursued in current scientific publishing.
Most successful scientific journals in physics, chemistry, and life
sciences push for very short peer review times (2-4 weeks), and
short papers with a lack of detailed information and scientific
rigor are often treated preferentially. The legitimate quest for
rapid exchange and the unfortunate trends and ambitions for ever
shorter peer review, reduced article lengths, and high publication
numbers entail that the scientific information market is flooded by
journal articles, preprints, and proceedings with little or no
quality control. Thorough review and discussion are essential for
the detection and minimization of flawed and useless research
activities and results, but under the given conditions they are hard
to achieve and tend to be neglected.
Solutions for the dilemma of rapid scientific exchange vs.
thorough quality assurance require a two-stage (or multi-stage)
publication process, and efficient quality assurance in today’s
highly diverse world of science requires interactive forms of peer
review and public discussion. Therefore, the most promising, if not
the only practicable way to substantially improve mainstream
scientific publishing and quality assurance on a short to medium
time scale (years to decade) is the implementation of a two-stage
publication process with interactive peer review and public
discussion in scientific journals. To our knowledge, ACP has been
the first journal in the field of natural sciences to follow this
approach.
Have there been specific developments in the fields served by ACP
that may have contributed?
With respect to scientific publishing, the recent developments in
the fields of atmospheric research and geosciences have been
essentially the same as in other fields of natural sciences. The
increasing demands for free accessibility and improved quality
assurance of scientific publications has not been met by existing
traditional journals, and have thus fuelled the foundation of
innovative open access publishing initiatives.
What, in your view, is this journal’s main significance or
contribution in the field of Geosciences?
To our knowledge, ACP has been the first major open access
journal in the field of geosciences, and it certainly has been the
first journal with two-stage publications, public peer review, and
interactive discussion. The achievements of ACP, including
publication and citation statistics as well as the feedback from
colleagues around the world, show that the opportunities and
advantages of open access, public peer review, and interactive
discussion are very much appreciated by authors, referees, and the
scientific community. The ISI Journal Citation Report 2004 confirms
that only three years after its launch, ACP was already firmly
established among the top journals in the fields of environment and
geosciences*.
EGU has adopted the interactive open access journal concept of
ACP for all future publication activities. Over the past couple of
years, three new sister journals have been launched (Biogeosciences,
Climate of the Past, Ocean Science) and one traditional journal
has been adapted to the new publishing approach (Hydrology and
Earth System Sciences). Further EGU interactive open access
journals are in preparation (Geology, Geodesy, etc)*.
We hope that the other EGU interactive open access journals will
also soon be indexed by ISI.
How do you see your field(s) evolving in the next few years?
We expect that more and more journals and scientific publishers
will provide open access to their publications. Moreover, we hope
and expect that besides EGU also other publishers in the geosciences
will adopt the interactive open access journal concept or similar
ways of two- or multi-stage publishing with public peer review and
interactive discussion.
What role do you see for your journal?
We hope and expect that ACP and its interactive open access
journal concept will continue to serve as a role model for the
improvement of scientific communication and quality assurance by
open access publishing with public peer review and interactive
discussion. Multiple scientific societies and commercial publishers
in related and different fields of science, including biology,
engineering, and economics, have expressed interest in adopting the
interactive open access publishing concept.
Overall, ACP and the other EGU interactive open access journals
demonstrate that:
(1) scientific societies indeed can and do take a lead in open
access publishing with innovative techniques of manuscript
processing and quality assurance;
(2)open access publishing indeed allows to enhance scientific
quality assurance by interactive forms of review and discussion open
to the whole scientific community;
(3)high quality open access journals indeed can be financed by
modest service charges levied from the authors (sustainability of
"author pays" business model for open access publishing);
and
(4) two-stage (or multi-stage) publication processes with public
peer review and interactive discussion indeed allow to foster
scientific discussion; enhance the effectiveness and transparency of
scientific quality assurance; and achieve rapid publication
and dissemination of new scientific results.
Based on the experiences of ACP and the other EGU interactive
open access journals and other innovative and successful open access
publishing initiatives, the following measures are proposed to pave
the way for substantial large-scale improvement of scholarly
communication and scientific quality assurance:
(1) support open access publishing by transformation of
subscription charge funds into open access service charge funds to
create a more dynamic and innovative market for the exchange of
scientific information;
(2) promote the implementation of two-stage (or multi-stage)
publication processes with interactive forms of peer review and
public discussion as new standards of scientific publishing and
quality assurance; and
(3) exploit the full potential of open access and interactive
public discussion to develop new and improved tools and
(statistical) indicators for the assessment of the impact and
quality of scientific publications.
Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics
Ulrich Pöschl, Chief Executive Editor
European Geosciences Union and Copernicus Society, publishers
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| Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics'
most-cited paper with 30 cites to date: |
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Austin J et
al., "UNCERTAINTIES AND ASSESSMENTS OF CHEMISTRY-CLIMATE MODELS OF THE STRATOSPHERE,"
(ATMOS CHEM PHYS 3: 1-27 JAN 9 2003).
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Source:
ISI
Essential Science Indicators |
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cites
