As is traditional, in this “Editor's Page”, the editorial team reviews the previous year of Revista Española de Cardiología (Rev Esp Cardiol) and reports its developments and future direction. The past October marked the fourth year of the current editorial team, which looks forward to the next stage in its activity with the same energy and enthusiasm.

In 2019, the journal achieved an impact factor (IF) of 5.078. This IF is slightly lower than that of the previous year, which, at 5.166, was a historic high for the journal.1 There are other positive data, such as the significant increase in the number of original articles received and the publication of the first volumes of REC: CardioClinics2 and REC: Interventional Cardiology.3 Although the early days of nascent journals in a highly-competitive environment such as cardiovascular research are always uncertain, we must congratulate the editors of these journals and thank the authors and reviewers who have contributed to the remarkable quality of each and every one of last year's issues. The activities of these journals are detailed in their corresponding Editor's pages.4,5

As in every year, we begin by reporting the journal activity in terms of the numbers of articles published according to type vs previous years (figure 1). The total number of manuscripts published last year was similar to that of the previous year, with 297 in 2019 vs 294 in 2018. The numbers of original articles published were the same in 2019 and 2018 (n=59), with a slight decrease in scientific letters and a slight increase in letters to the Editor. In addition, the number of reviews6–9 decreased in 2019 to make room for 2 focus series on topical issues, namely beta-blockers and anti-inflammatory therapy for the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease.10–13 As reported in previous Editor's pages,14,15 we would like to point out that review topics are usually selected toward the middle of the year in a meeting of the entire editorial team. In addition to the topics proposed by the members of the editorial team, unsolicited proposals are also considered in this meeting. Interested authors should send a summary of the topic together with a proposed outline of their review to the editorial office. The authors should also highlight their previous publications and experience in the corresponding field.

Figure 1.

Manuscripts published from 2015 to 2019.

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The previous year's high demand for publication in Rev Esp Cardiol was maintained. Specifically, 997 manuscripts were received in 2019 vs 966 in 2018 (figure 2). In parallel, the demand for publication of original articles has markedly increased, reaching a historic high of 473 such manuscripts received and thereby slightly reducing the acceptance percentage (figure 3). This decrease is in line with the editorial policy, which establishes a stable number of original articles to be published each year. Nonetheless, the team does not rule out an increase in the publication of original articles in the coming year, although with the appropriate prudence and, of course, prioritization of manuscript quality, as determined by the reviewers and editors and weighted according to originality, potential impact, timeliness, and methodological quality. We must also mention that this is the first year with data on the REC Publications transfer policy, which enables manuscripts not accepted for publication in Rev Esp Cardiol to be transferred to REC: CardioClinics or REC: Interventional Cardiology. Thus, during 2019, a possible transfer was offered to 221 original articles; of these, 26 (slightly more than 10%) were transferred to one of the other 2 journals and considered for publication. We encourage authors to consider publication of their work in these journals, either through direct submission or consideration of a transfer when it is offered.

Figure 2.

Annual changes in the total numbers of manuscripts received from 2010 to 2019.

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Figure 3.

Numbers of original articles received and acceptance rates from 2010 to 2019. *At the time of press for this issue, a decision remains to be made on 23 original articles received in 2019.

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In 2019, there was a slight decrease in the number of scientific letters published (from 96 to 92). However, the update articles of the scientific sections of the Spanish Society of Cardiology were published in this format until 2018 and have since been collected in an independent REC: CardioClinics supplement.16 Regardless, the progressive decline in the number of scientific letters published in Rev Esp Cardiol is in line with the current editorial policy and is a response to a decrease in the number of unsolicited articles of this type received, which is possibly connected to the higher rejection rate. In addition, some believe that, because scientific letters are not included in the IF calculation (that is, they are not quantified in its denominator), they can spuriously distort this index. This is one of the points alluded to in a recent publication,17 which mentions Rev Esp Cardiol and which is discussed below.

Finally, we continue to publish the section “Atrium”, valuing its ability to succinctly inform readers of the essential contents of each issue. Similarly, we continue benefiting from the contributions of Fernando A. Navarro, a member of our Advisory Board, whose lighthearted and entertaining tone shines a light on the peculiarities of scientific language in each installment of “Viaje al corazón de las palabras” (“Into the heart of terminology”).

In 2019, there were 2 developments related to the electronic format of Rev Esp Cardiol. First, midway through the year, a new design of the website was launched,18 with better structured and more visual and intuitive content. Second, in November 2019, the editorial submission system was transferred to Editorial Manager,19 which is the standard system used by our editorial team for all its journals.

With more than 6 million users in 2019, our website18 continues to be the main communication medium and one of the main worldwide references for information on cardiology in Spanish. The Rev Esp Cardiol blog20 has become a highly effective tool for authors, affording them the opportunity to explain, in a deeply personal manner, the entire research process leading to the publication of their work, as well as the main results. Our social media activity is also continually increasing. Our 15 500 Twitter21 followers and 9130 Facebook22 fans permit the dissemination of our developments to a wider and, above all, much more diverse audience. But the most important event of the year in the digital life of Rev Esp Cardiol has been the incorporation of the new journals from the REC Publications family: REC: CardioClinics and REC: Interventional Cardiology to our social media networks. These journals were launched in a largely digital format and are now beginning to meet the challenge of amassing their own communities of followers (figure 4).

Figure 4.

Changes in the activity of the websites of the 3 REC Publications journals.

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As in each year, we have analyzed the mean times required for the editorial process. The mean time from manuscript submission to the first decision was 15.4 days in 2019 (figure 5), slightly longer than that of the previous year (12.9 days), although still within an acceptable timeframe. The annual quantification of the mean times required for the editorial process is highly valuable because it enables any significant deviations to be corrected. The stable and excellent mean reviewer response times are notable (figure 6). This situation has been maintained for several years. Perhaps this year more than ever, the reviewers deserve our deepest gratitude and strongest recognition, given that many of them work with the same enthusiasm with the other 2 journals of REC Publications, without compromising their fantastic response times and high-quality evaluations. The elite reviewers of 2019 deserve special mention (table 1) and we congratulate them on the excellence of their work, as well the reviewers who work with Rev Esp Cardiol despite not belonging to our Editorial Committee or Advisory Board (table 2).

Figure 5.

Mean manuscript processing time for initial submissions between 2016 and 2019. The line corresponding to the average time from Editor assignment to reviewer invitation includes only the articles submitted for evaluation.

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Figure 6.

Changes in response times for Rev Esp Cardiol reviewers for first drafts of original articles between 2016 and 2019.

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In March 2019, a survey of various aspects was sent to all Rev Esp Cardiol reviewers. As can be seen in figure 7, the reviewers generally considered that the topics of the manuscripts evaluated matched their area of expertise, that the number of invitations was appropriate, that the time assigned was sufficient, and that it was useful to have access to the other reviewers’ assessments. However, a nonnegligible percentage of reviewers were not in favor of reviewing Images and also believed that the workshops imparted by Rev Esp Cardiol were of little value. Finally, some reviewers believed that their work was not sufficiently recognized, a concern predominantly expressed in the section of the survey allowing for suggestions. We are highly aware of this issue at Rev Esp Cardiol and recognize that granting access to the Elsevier Reviewer Recognition Platform,23 awarding training credits, and including elite reviewers in the Editorial Committee or inviting them to write editorials does not fully compensate reviewers for the effort required for manuscript review, the undoubted foundation of the success of Rev Esp Cardiol. We wish to express our thanks to all of the reviewers who responded to the survey because their answers will help us to redefine our future path.

Figure 7.

Survey responses of Rev Esp Cardiol (REC) reviewers in March 2019.

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As in each year, it is useful to comment on the latest published IF, that for 2018 (published in the 2019 edition of Journal Citation Reports [JCR]24). Two comments are necessary this year. First, as already mentioned, the stability of the IF in recent years is notable, which places Rev Esp Cardiol in a position of prominence among journals in this field. Figure 8 shows the bibliometric changes over time for Rev Esp Cardiol. The data from the 2019 edition of JCR place the journal at position 27 of a total of 136 cardiovascular publications, a slight improvement in relative terms vs the previous year, when it was placed at number 28 of a total of 128. Thus, the “bibliometric boom” era of Rev Esp Cardiol is confirmed, with the journal being situated for the second consecutive year in the first quartile of cardiovascular journals and for the sixth consecutive year in the first tertile. The second comment refers to an irregularity that had previously not affected Rev Esp Cardiol. It concerns an IF modification several months after its initial publication in JCR, which is usually in June. This year, surprisingly, the initial IF estimate published in June was subsequently modified for various journals in the cardiovascular field. In the case of Rev Esp Cardiol, the initially published IF of 5.128 was updated in October and reduced to its current level of 5.078. Although it is not a substantial change in either absolute or relative terms, another cardiovascular journals showed a more consequential modification, which even resulted in a change in publication quartile. Thus, all of this indicates that, in contrast to what we had previously believed, the initial IF estimate released midway through the year should not be considered definitive.

Figure 8.

Changes in the impact factor of Rev Esp Cardiol according to Journal Citation Reports from 2010 to 2018.

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As is tradition for the latest Editor's pages, we have analyzed the articles with the highest dissemination and scientific visibility in recent years. The publications of 2016 and 2017 influence the impact factor for 2018, whereas those published in 2017 and 2018 influence the impact factor for 2019, which will be published in JCR in 2020; those published in 2019 influence the immediacy index, a reflection of the speed of the scientific visibility of a publication. Table 3 shows this information, extracted from the Web of Science of the Institute for Scientific Information25 at the start of 2020. As always, the editorial team congratulates the authors of these articles. Finally, as in every year, we would also like to commend the authors of the publications receiving the awards conferred by the Spanish Society of Cardiology based on their scientific impact and quality (table 4).

As mentioned above, 2019 saw the publication of an article on bibliometric matters related to IF, which mentions Rev Esp Cardiol as one of the cardiovascular journals with the most IF growth and indicates that this increase is due to the level of self-citation in Rev Esp Cardiol, a factor that is additionally correlated with the number of “noncitable” elements published, such as editorials and letters.17 Nonetheless, this editorial team would like to emphasize that the IF growth achieved by Rev Esp Cardiol and verified in recent years has exclusively been due to a sustained increase in the level of external citations (not from Rev Esp Cardiol). Moreover, the number of citations that have contributed to the IF generated by articles published in the same journal has continually decreased in recent years. In this regard, although it is true that the relative number of self-citations in Rev Esp Cardiol is higher than that of the cardiovascular journals in our environment, this finding needs to be placed in context. The duality of Rev Esp Cardiol—international but also national—needs to be underlined because it may significantly influence the level of self-citation. This may be particularly impactful because Rev Esp Cardiol is the official publication of the national society of our speciality. The journal is thus much more likely to receive scientific material and editorials from Spain itself (about 70% of all published) and thereby probably more references to material in the journal itself. In addition, the editorial content (noncitable items) has grown in recent years due to authors’ increased demand for publication. Regardless, the next year will see a reduction in the number of articles with these characteristics in order to devote more space to original articles. Nonetheless, we believe that, given the inherent idiosyncrasy of Rev Esp Cardiol, the number of self-citations generated will always be somewhat higher than that of a purely international journal and, moreover, its status as the official publication of the Spanish Society of Cardiology obligates us to continue publishing editorial material with educational and institutional value.

As our readers well know, one of the traditional missions of Rev Esp Cardiol is its commitment to the use of high-quality medical language, both Spanish and English. Our editorial office maintains close contact with the team of translators and proofreaders, both for Spanish and English, to ensure a standardized style through all stages of the production, resolve doubts, standardize terminology, and reconcile corrections. The result is high-quality material in a format that makes the work clear, accurate, and accessible for the target audience. We also pride ourselves on being a reference not only for cardiologists and physicians, but also for other professionals, such as translators, medical writers, and university professors for nonmedical disciplines, who use our journal as a touchstone. We are convinced that this attention to language, which has gradually become a hallmark of Rev Esp Cardiol, is how we can remain competitive in the cardiovascular field and fulfill the needs of most of our readers, despite occasionally being a vexation for authors and reviewers in relation to the review process of the galley proofs.

This commitment of Rev Esp Cardiol to the use of the most refined medical-scientific language possible was recognized in 2019 by the MEDES 2019 Prize.54 The Spanish Society of Cardiology was awarded “Best Institution” for its promotion of the Spanish language as a language of biomedical knowledge through its official publication Rev Esp Cardiol. We must congratulate all involved, with special mention of the editorial office (particularly our indefatigable linguistic coordinator, María González Nogal), translators, and proofreaders, essential for maintaining the high quality of both the Spanish and English versions of the journal.

Rev Esp Cardiol is the official scientific publication of the Spanish Society of Cardiology and is one of its vehicles of expression. During 2019, the bibliometric level was maintained, publication demand increased—particularly that of original articles—and the commitment of the journal to the use of the highest-quality medical language possible recognized. In addition, the journals REC: CardioClinics and REC: Interventional Cardiology have completed their first years as full members of REC Publications and show a promising future.

No conflicts have been declared in relation to this article. The individual conflict of interest documents of the members of the editorial team of Rev Esp Cardiol can be consulted at https://www.revespcardiol.org/en-comite-editorial.