A decade of innovative publishing in reproductive medicine

Article Outline

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Medical journals, like their readers and contributors, evolve with time. Since publication of its first issue in August 2000, Reproductive BioMedicine Online (RBMOnline) has certainly evolved: the number of articles published per year has grown from 76 to more than 400 (Figure 1), with a commensurate increase in the number of pages; the journal gained its first impact factor in 2007 (3.206), putting it squarely alongside the other major journals in the field of Reproductive Biology; and a supplementary journal, Ethics, Biosciences and Life, has been added to the RBM stable.

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• Figure 1. 

  Articles published in RBMOnline by year. For 2000 and 2009, values are based on 6 months data and annualised.

These are major changes in the progression of a modern journal, but throughout its existence there have been core principles at the heart of RBMOnline which have resolutely not changed: a determination to publish manuscripts rapidly and responsibly; the assurance of high editorial standards and cutting-edge research; unstinting customer care both in authors’ and subscribers’ interests; as well as a commitment to publication which is independent of any commercial publishing house. Now, with the first 10-year anniversary of RBMOnline rapidly approaching, we here announce further steps in its evolution, which we hope will continue the journal’s editorial progress, maintain its reputation for speedy and responsible publishing, improve its management of manuscripts for authors, and add a new layer of professionalism to its worldwide penetration.

In Amsterdam on 30 June 2009, at the board meeting of Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. (current publisher of RBMOnline), the executive committee approved a new editorial team, with the vision, knowledge and support to steer the journal into the next phase of its development. Professor Bob Edwards, who was the driving force behind the founding of RBMOnline in 2000 and its Chief Editor since then, will take a step back from the Editor’s chair whilst remaining on the masthead and Editorial Board as Editor Emeritus. RBMOnline, like the three ESHRE journals he founded and edited between 1986 and 2000, owes everything to Bob – its place amongst the three leading journals in the field, its editorial reputation, its high impact factor, and its integrity. Bob’s place is now taken by the world-leading embryologist and a co-founder of the journal Jacques Cohen, who becomes Senior Editor. Gedis Grudzinskas, previously Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at St Bartholomew’s and the Royal London Hospitals School of Medicine and Dentistry, was confirmed as Editor. He replaces Kay Elder, our distinguished previous Editor, under whose guardianship the journal rose to new heights. The editorial team is further strengthened with the continuing support of Eric Jauniaux and Joe Leigh Simpson as Associate Editors. Joe Leigh is a Past President of the Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis International Society, of which RBMOnline remains the official journal (Figure 2).

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• Figure 2. 

  Professor Bob Edwards with some members of the Editorial team and executive committee at Duck End Farm Cambridge 2008. From left to right: Kamal Ahuja, David Martin, Maria Murphy, Fiona Bennett, Bob Edwards, Kay Elder, Joanna Doyle, Caroline Blackwell and Jacques Cohen.

The other major change confirmed by the board and officially announced here is that from January 2010 RBMOnline will be published by the world’s leading publisher of medical and scientific journals, Elsevier. This decision may surprise many readers, first because it seems to abandon our principle of independent self-publication, and second because Elsevier is also the publisher of three of the six top titles in the field of Reproductive Biology (and indeed of 40% of all papers cited in the ISI ‘Reproductive Biology’ category). Is such a liaison too close for comfort? In fact, our agreement with Elsevier means that we will retain complete editorial control and independence, whilst gaining from that company’s impressive commercial organization. Thus, Elsevier will bring to RBMOnline its considerable publishing expertise in online manuscript management, peer review support (with links to abstracting and citation services), rapid publication online and in print, marketing, subscription management and sales, and strategic development of content quality. Similarly, Elsevier’s well-established portfolio of journal titles in reproductive biology and womens’ health will ensure that a worldwide expertise will now be available to us from a local dedicated team. Otherwise, RBMOnline will remain as it was before: committed to rapid, responsible publishing and steered by an independent team of editors with complete autonomous control over content.

The association with Elsevier will also increase the journal’s subscription penetration into global markets, particularly through Elsevier’s ScienceDirect platform, which will ensure immediate worldwide dissemination of RBMOnline. Of course, RBMOnline was founded as an ‘international’ journal, and the latest analysis of authors demonstrates that manuscripts are indeed submitted from all corners of the world.

Western Europe with the UK and Scandinavia provides the biggest share of submissions (39%), but there are still major contributions from North America (12%) and South/Central America (5%). The Middle East, Turkey, and Japan and the Far East also contribute 5% of contributions each, with China now at 4%. Our association with Elsevier will hopefully extend the reach of RBMOnline, both in terms of readers and of authors.

It is also our determination that RBMOnline will not lose its reputation for publishing informative reports on hot topics, which in time will steer our progress in reproductive medicine. As early as our second issue in 2001 the late Yury Verlinsky and colleagues from the Reproductive Genetics Institute in Chicago described in a case report the simultaneous preimplantation genetic diagnosis for Fanconi anaemia and HLA typing for cord blood transplantation, and thereby raised to a new level the discussion on HLA matching. It was also in RBMOnline that some of the first trials in preimplanation genetic screening and in the vitrification of oocytes were reported. A glance at the top five papers downloaded as PDFs in 2008 shows that this tradition for publishing ground-breaking landmark reports continues:

A closer examination of the recent issues further demonstrates the scope of RBMOnline – from embryology to clinical genetics, from endocrinology to the ethics of ART. Other popular downloads have been in the specific areas of chromosome abnormality in embryos, the efficacy of GnRH antagonists, genetic haplotyping, implantation, and natural cycle IVF.

Now, with the expansion of our editorial team and a shift to a publisher with worldwide expertise, it is our hope and belief that the quality and range of articles submitted to the journal will reflect the same cutting-edge relevance, and that, as the last few years have shown, our impact factor will continue to rise along with our worldwide reputation in reproductive science and medicine.