544088 research-article2014

JAGXXX10.1177/0733464814544088Journal of Applied GerontologyGaugler

Editorial

2014 Year in Review

Journal of Applied Gerontology 2014, Vol. 33(8) 919­–922 © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0733464814555626 jag.sagepub.com

This past year was an exciting one for the Journal of Applied Gerontology (JAG), and as Editor, I wanted to take this opportunity to provide some highlights. Before I do so, I would like to thank the many individuals who have spent much time and effort in making JAG a wonderful journal. I would like to thank the outgoing Managing Editor, Bethany Gerdin, BSN, who is beginning a new faculty position in the School of Nursing at Bethel University. Her tremendous work in managing JAG was invaluable to everyone associated with the journal. Ashley Lyle, a master of nursing student at the University of Minnesota, has assumed the Managing Editor position, and I am excited to work with a person of her skills and enthusiasm! The 37-person Editorial Board continues to play the key role in maintaining the quality and direction of JAG. Critical oversight is provided by the dedicated Publications Committee of the Southern Gerontological Society (chaired by Dr. Connie Coogle) and the wonderful SAGE team (headed by Lauren Schroeder). Finally, I would like to thank the leaders and membership of the Southern Gerontological Society for their ongoing support of JAG.

Empirical Updates Impact Factor I am excited (and somewhat surprised) to report that our impact factor increased from last year; we have improved from .700 to .923. While this increase is a testament to the diligent work and effort of everyone involved with JAG, a concern that I have is that with the increase in issues per year, our impact factor may drop next year. Also, the reporting of impact factors has changed, so that the impact factor reported in 2014 is considered the official 2013 impact score; the 2013 impact score is based on citations from articles published in 2011 to 2012. This means that some of the increase in exposure JAG has enjoyed due to the PubMed/MEDLINE listing of articles since 2013 may not fully influence the impact factor until 2016 or so. Nonetheless, we are happy with the increase in impact factor this year (JAG also jumped three spots in the rankings of gerontology journals).

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Acceptance Rate Our acceptance rate in 2014 of original submissions was 22.2% as of September 2014. I believe this is appropriate for JAG, as our goal is to maintain an acceptance rate in the low 20% range. This acceptance rate is a testament to the Editorial Board and the many reviewers who are integral in maintaining the high quality of submissions.

Creating Issues by Theme Although reducing our backlog of OnlineFirst articles is an ongoing focus of the JAG editorial team, we also have flexibility to assemble issues on key topics that have received considerable positive feedback from readers. In the past year, JAG issues have focused on engaging and partnering with diverse older adults, workforce retention in long-term care, and community-based long-term care among others. In addition to the very positive reception received from readers, the thematic issues (which are introduced by editorials from me that are freely accessible) have garnered some preliminary attention from media. Although the media report was not published as of this writing, it is hoped that the ongoing use of themes for certain issues of JAG will continue to enhance the presentation and reputation of the journal.

Number of Submissions The number of submissions to the journal has increased quite markedly this year. JAG received 188 new submissions in 2010, 221 in 2011, 281 in 2012, and 246 in 2013. We are on pace to far exceed the number of submissions in 2013; as of 9/20/14, we have already received 230 submissions, which means we may receive over 300 submissions for 2014! Although it is impossible to know for sure, I am inclined to believe that the recent PubMed/MEDLINE listing may have driven this increase in submissions.

Increase in Online Usage The number of articles accessed and downloaded from the JAG website has increased considerably when compared with last year. For example, for all of 2013, users downloaded 68,698 full texts of articles, and there were 461,477 total online accesses of articles. As of June in 2014, users have already downloaded 44,844 full texts of articles, and there were 276,707 total accesses. Thus, we could project that in 2014, JAG users will have downloaded over 85,000 full texts of articles and accessed 550,000 articles in total.

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New Initiatives and Developments Book Reviews Beginning in the first issue of 2015 (Volume 34), we will publish book reviews once again. I have received a number of books, and several Editorial Board and Publications Committee members have kindly agreed to complete reviews for JAG. If you are interested in completing a book review for the journal, please contact me, and I will happily provide you with more details.

Editor’s Choice Articles Visitors to the JAG web page will notice an Editor’s Choice Collection (http:// jag.sagepub.com/cgi/collection). I update this collection approximately once every 4 to 6 months, and several articles in the collection are opened for public access. To date, these articles have enjoyed considerable usage; Fields, Anderson, and Dabelko-Schoeny (2014) has had 3,005 total accesses; Lavin and Park (2014) enjoyed 970 total accesses; and Fortinsky, Madigan, Sheehan, Tullai-McGuinness, and Kleppinger (2014) had 787 total accesses as of June 2014. I plan to update the Editor’s Choice Collection again by the end of 2014; we hope it will serve as yet another tool to help expand readers’ access to the many excellent JAG articles published throughout the year.

JAG Published Articles Are Now Fully Listed on MEDLINE/PubMed Although this is not entirely new, I wanted to reiterate that JAG articles published for part of and all of 2014 are now listed on PubMed and MEDLINE. We believe that the great exposure PubMed and MEDLINE allows for JAG’s excellent research will continue to drive up article citations and downloads!

What Can You Do to Help? This is the same request that I made last year, but as we continue to work together to make JAG a great publication, please remember to assist us in the following ways: Please make sure that your university or college library has a current subscription to JAG! In addition to citing recent articles published in JAG from the past 2 years, do consider using JAG articles in your classes. Please note: Instead of simply providing students with the .pdf of a given article, direct them to the journal website itself to download an article (this helps drive online access of articles which is an indicator of JAG’s reach). If you host a blog, citing and cross-linking to recent JAG articles and

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discussing their findings or relevance would be great! Also, if by chance you edit or are interested in editing Wikipedia entries in a topical area of interest, please do consider including JAG articles in this important work. If you have other ideas, do share them with Ashley Lyle or me (email: [email protected])! Here is to a great 2014 for JAG, and I am confident that this journal’s success will continue based on the great efforts of the Editorial Board, SAGE, the Southern Gerontological Society, and readers such as you in 2015. All of us at JAG thank you! Joseph E. Gaugler, PhD Editor, Journal of Applied Gerontology University of Minnesota References Fields, N. L., Anderson, K. A., & Dabelko-Schoeny, H. (2014). The effectiveness of adult day services for older adults: A review of the literature from 2000 to 2011. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 33, 130-163. doi:10.1177/0733464812443308 Fortinsky, R. H., Madigan, E. A., Sheehan, T. J., Tullai-McGuinness, S., & Kleppinger, A. (2014). Risk factors for hospitalization in a national sample of Medicare home health care patients. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 33, 474493. doi:10.1177/0733464812454007 Lavin, R., & Park, J. (2014). A characterization of pain in racially and ethnically diverse older adults: A review of the literature. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 33, 258-290. doi:10.1177/0733464812459372

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2014 year in review.

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