The state of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology: 2009

Article Outline

• Copyright

In the early 2000s, it became painfully apparent that the traditional format and business model for print journals, especially single specialty journals, would need drastic changes. Two primary reasons were driving this. First and foremost, the reading habits of physicians had been changing drastically. No longer did they eagerly await their journals, thumb through the table of contents, read the most relevant and interesting articles, and discuss them on rounds. This paradigm changed to searching for articles online that were relevant to particular patients or in preparing for presentations or to reading summaries on web sites that had been established for this purpose. It certainly is easier to sit and lament these changes than to try and understand and respond to them. But it really is no surprise that this evolution was occurring. The internet has affected virtually every aspect of our lives. The information explosion that is occurring in medicine makes trying to digest all of it virtually impossible, and with ready and immediate access with simple search engines the question arises of why should we. The evolving demand for a more balanced lifestyle among younger physicians creates the need for easier and less time-consuming processes. The second change that was occurring was the severe drop in advertising revenue. Manufacturers of drugs, devices, and testing products more and more are advertising directly to the consumer. In addition, because the reading habits of journal subscribers were changing, it became less appealing for companies to advertise in scientific journals, and the dollars moved to the web and other venues.

We, as editors and publishers, could not sit by and let these changes result in the demise of our venerable Journal, often called The Gray Journal, with 140 years of history. Because we observed a steady decline in subscription and advertising revenue, we could not expect to be carried indefinitely. A drastic change was needed. We moved to a format that now is well-known to our readers: a shorter summary in print and the full article online. We assist the authors in writing these summaries with professional science writers to make the process faster and less painful. Moreover, this change allowed us to publish the online version much more rapidly. We adopted a controlled subscription model (free) for all obstetricians and gynecologists in the United States and limited paid subscriptions to other specialists, international readers, and institutions.

The new format and virtual elimination of paid subscriptions for most of our readers began in January 2007. This 2-year experience now allows the Journal to take a careful look at how these changes have affected our readers, authors, and reviewers and our economic survival. Journals are now sent to over 45,000 readers, which is an increase of 350%. According to an analysis of a professional company that tracks information for commercial advertisers, our readership increased from 18% to 58% in average issue readers and from 11% to 29% in high readers. Visits to our web site to search for and/or read articles are up by more than double. The number of citations remains the highest among the scientific journals in women's health. The number of article submissions increased by 16% and 20% in the first and second years after the introduction of the new format. To maintain the consistent quality of our publications, all of our affiliated societies must now pass the same rigorous requirements for article acceptance, with the result that the acceptance rate is now similar for society articles and for regular articles that are submitted outside the society process. Our publication time decreased by 1 month for print summaries and by 3 months for the full articles online. A survey revealed that 85% of readers and 71% of authors found our changes acceptable or very acceptable. Despite this satisfaction, we continue to remain responsive to feedback. Starting with the current issue, for example, in response to requests by our readers and authors, abstracts will appear with all article summaries.

Our impact factor also increased, rising from 10th place among obstetric/gynecology journals to 7th place, and we continue to rank first in total citations of our articles among women's health journals. We also rank in the top 2% of 5684 journals in the most recent Science Citation Index. The American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology was recently selected as the only journal in women's health among the 100 most influential journals in biomedical and life science by the prestigious Special Libraries Association. From an economic standpoint, our Journal has also fared extremely well as a result of the new format and distribution model. Despite our free circulation to the vast majority of readers, our paid circulation is still at two-thirds of the 2006 level. Advertising revenue increased by 144% or nearly 2½-fold. Thus, both readership and the financial health of the Journal improved dramatically.

The Journal thanks its readers, authors, and reviewers for being willing, as we were, to be open to these changes. We appreciate your support of The Gray Journal with its mission of delivering the highest quality, most cutting edge information to our community of women's health providers and ultimately to improving patient care. We continue to be open to the suggestions of our readers and to invite your comments.