HIGH IMPACT FACTOR, HIGH CITE SCORE, LISTING IN MEDLINE, BUT WHAT ABOUT EFFICIENCY? PART-1

Objective: Our primary objective was to determine the journal efficiency by measuring the timelag in the acceptance and publication of scientific findings by a journal on behalf of the authors upon submission. Methods: This paper is a part of an ongoing series that is aimed to address the journal efficiency of all journals in the general medical, neurology, mental health, and public health domains. For this part, we selected the annals of Indian academy of neurology. To collect necessary efficiency parameters, we assessed the latest issue of the journal, and collected details about the dates of submission, acceptance, and publication of original research articles. All data was entered in MS-Excel and, after that, the time lag between each step was calculated by using simple mathematical formulae. Results: The journal published a total of 11 original research articles in its latest May-June 2020 issue. The average timelag from submisson to acceptance (step-1) was 40.1 (95%CI 14.6-65.5, range 2-126) days, while the timelag between article submission and its publication (step-2) was 283.3 (95%CI 173.4-393.2, range 37-522) days. The percent difference in the delay from article acceptance to its publication was 150.4% higher than for acceptance alone of the article. Conclusions: We affirm that the journal had a reasonable average timelag between article submission and its acceptance; although it varied upto 126 days. Moreover, the journal fails grossly in efficiency parameters by having a timelag of 150.4% more for final publication after acceptance, and an average delay of 283.3 (95%CI 173.4-393.2) days for publication, and took upto 522 days for publishing the accepted articles. Such unethical timelag disadvantages the authors alone, corrupts the entire publication ecosystem, and, also, brings up many questions regarding the possible repurcussions of such delays on the author’s profession, mental health, and academic returns, etc. due to journal inefficiency. We consider that it is a high time that the journals start to realize their duties and obligations towards their authors pertaining to their efficiency. Full text fully-formatted PDF text version and Speech Abstract©: academiaandEgnyteandpr@mail.euclid.int