HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:
Guest Access | Sign In via User Name/Password

This Article Full Text (PDF) Free Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My Personal Article Archive Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Block, A. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Block, A. J.

CHEST at the New Millennium

Dr. Block is Editor-in-Chief, CHEST, and Eméritus Professor of Medicine, University of Florida.

Correspondence to: A. Jay Block, MD, FCCP, Seagle Building, Suite 408, 408 W. University Ave, Gainesville, FL 32601

As we enter the 21st century, some reflection is warranted on the condition of the journal. Although CHEST has never suffered from any serious maladies, on reflection it does appear to me that the journal is now healthier than ever. I will enumerate the areas of fitness and let you calculate the Karnofsky score.

We now receive an average of 170 manuscripts per month, about 2,000 per year. This rate is as high as in any year in the history of the journal. What has changed is the nature of the manuscripts. In the past, the large number of case reports and letters inflated the total number of received manuscripts. This is no longer the case. The vast majority of submitted manuscripts are now clinical investigations. My interpretation of this change is that the submitted science has improved.

In addition, we have a healthy backlog of accepted manuscripts in all departments. Reviews, critical care, surgery, cardiology, etc, are all well represented. Despite this plethora of submitted manuscripts and the healthy backlogs, the time to publication after the manuscript is accepted has steadily fallen and now averages 5 months. This solid list of manuscripts reflects the efforts of an active and vigorous editorial board.

Before 1998, CHEST had never received more than one million dollars in advertising revenue. In both 1998 and 1999, such revenue will top one million dollars. The result is that the journal has been consistently profitable for the past 9 years. This profitability has allowed us to publish without page charges or fees for reviewing manuscripts. Neither charge to authors is contemplated in the near future.

Finally, the journal will be online with full text by the first of the year 2000. Not only will you be able to read, reproduce, import, and download material from the journal, but we will have an Interactive Letters section also. You may submit your letter, and it will be read by a member of the editorial board. If warranted, it will be immediately posted on the journal website. If anyone, including the author of the mentioned manuscript, wishes to reply, a similar sequence will occur and the reply will be posted also.

The only area of concern that I can find at the moment is the unchanging circulation of the journal. Although we have had no significant declines in subscribers, the number has not risen either. Whether this reflects a constant level of membership in the American College of Chest Physicians, the availability of partial publication of the journal online, or the reduction in the rates of training new chest physicians is not clear to me now. In any case, the circulation of CHEST is now greater than any other currently published respiratory journal.

In most areas, the journal is quite healthy. Some preventive medicine may be warranted in the area of circulation, but mainly CHEST is fit and trim. We are definitely prepared for the new millennium, as are our Macintosh computers.

This Article Full Text (PDF) Free Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My Personal Article Archive Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Block, A. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Block, A. J.