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Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS logoLink to Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS
. 2023 Mar;62(2):109–115.

The AALAS Journals: 2022 in Review

Linda A Toth, Susan R Compton, Ravi J Tolwani, John D Farrar, Alison M Brown
PMCID: PMC10078931  PMID: 37061749

The November 2022 issue of the Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (JAALAS) volume 61 and the December 2022 issue of Comparative Medicine (CM) volume 72 mark the end of another year for the AALAS journals. As always, we thank our talented and conscientious support team: graphic artists Brenda Johnson and Zara Garza, scientific editors Amy Frazier and Ashley Vaughn, and editorial production coordinator, Alison Brown. This team continues to sustain a timely flow of professionally presented information through the entire process from manuscript submission to publication. We also thank members of the Editorial Review Board (ERB) for their support in providing timely thorough reviews and solid feedback and suggestions to improve the journals.

Publication statistics for the journals remain relatively steady (Tables 1 and 2). Acceptance rates in 2022 were 40% for CM and 67% for JAALAS, similar to those of previous years. The intervals between submission and the first and final decisions on manuscripts were 4 and 6 wk, respectively, for CM and 5 and 10 wk, respectively, for JAALAS. These represent a considerable reduction in review time for both journals as compared with 2021, perhaps because of less interference from COVID-related factors for both authors and reviewers. The processing times from acceptance and submission to online publication were approximately 13 and 19 wk for CM and 13 and 22 wk for JAALAS. These durations are considerably shorter than they were in 2021, probably due at least in part to our new workflow in which articles undergo tooling, editing, and online publication as soon as possible after acceptance, rather than our previous practice of delaying that process until preparation of the issue to which the article was assigned. Articles are now assigned to issues in order of completed preparation.

Table 1:

Annual statistics for Comparative Medicine

Year of Publication
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2202
Total submissions 167 136 155 140 129 142 119 117 112 128
International submissions 88 67 85 59 73 71 58 71 64 79
Rejected 72 75 71 54 62 65 61 77 62 71
Withdrawn 6 1 1 3 3 1 0 1 1 0
Transferred to JAALAS 23 13 14 12 15 14 9 6 4 5
Total R-W-T 101 89 88 69 80 80 70 84 65 76
Accepted manuscripts 64 45 72 53 58 52 59 27 46 48
Total accepted and rejected 136 120 143 107 120 117 120 104 108 119
Acceptance rate 47% 38% 50% 50% 48% 44% 49% 26% 43% 40%
Manuscripts printed 60 58 59 62 60 57 54 55 45 41
Total pages printed 548 516 552 512 540 502 578 550 520 420
Manuscript pages printed 542 506 545 502 447 435 521 487 482 388
Submission to 1st decision (wk) 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Submission to final decision (wk) 6 7 7 8 8 7 7 6 8 6
Acceptance to online (wk) NA NA NA NA NA NA 23 24 10 13
Submission to online (wk) NA NA NA NA NA NA 29 30 18 19
Impact factor (2 y) NA 0.74 1.00 0.83 0.59 0.70 1.07 0.98 1.57 NA
Impact factor (5 y) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 1.35 1.59 NA

Table 2:

Annual statistics for JAALAS

Year of Publication
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2202
Total submissions 179 186 187 162 163 44 170 160 135 120
International submissions 74 74 81 60 64 62 70 55 59 49
Rejected 80 62 62 60 50 43 60 54 36 27
Withdrawn 3 4 5 0 3 1 2 2 3 3
Transferred to CM 17 25 31 6 19 23 17 25 25 25
Total R-W-T 100 91 98 96 72 67 79 81 64 56
Accepted manuscripts 80 92 75 75 77 84 74 90 67 54
Total accepted and rejected 160 154 137 135 127 127 134 144 103 81
Acceptance rate 50% 60% 55% 56% 61% 66% 55% 62% 65% 67%
Manuscripts printed 70 75 82 90 82 68 76 78 81 66
Total pages printed 816 742 820 844 807 737 828 749 708 601
Manuscript pages printed 465 512 581 590 581 517 559 618 650 544
Submission to 1st decision (wk) 4 5 5 5 5 5 4 6 6 5
Submission to final decision (wk) 8 11 8 9 10 9 8 13 14 10
Acceptance to online (wk) NA NA NA NA NA NA 24 20 20 13
Submission to online (wk) NA NA NA NA NA NA 32 33 34 23
Impact factor ( 2 yr) NA 1.12 0.91 1/20 1.22 1.02 1.24 1.23 1.71 NA
Impact factor (5 yr) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 2.07 1.81 NA

Although we are trying to further reduce the submission-to-online interval in 2023, some delays are in the hands of authors, who may take considerable time to make corrections or require a second round of editing due to unanswered queries. We therefore ask for and indeed depend on timely responses from editors, reviewers and authors to speed the review and publication processes. However, our calculated average intervals for all 4 measures (submission to first decision, submission to second decision, acceptance to online, and submission to online) are undoubtedly skewed upward due outliers (authors and reviewers who do not respond in a timely manner). The data needed to confirm this possibility is not readily available in our databases and would be difficult for us to obtain.

This year is the first in which both journals had both 2- and 5-y impact factors (IF) that were greater than 1. The 2021 2- and 5-y impact factors were, respectively, 1.57 and 1.59 for CM and 1.71 and 1.81 for JAALAS. The 2022 IF are not yet available, but now we can look toward 2 as a goal. IF is calculated as the ratio of the total number of citations a journal receives in a given year, divided by the total number of citable items published in the 2 previous years, or, for the 5-y IF, divided by the total number of citable items published in the previous 5 y. So, for example, if a journal has 1,000 citations in 2000 and published a total of 50 articles per year in each of the preceding 5 years, the 2-y IF would be 1,000÷100 (10) and the 5-y IF would be 1,000÷250, or 4. In general, the 2-y IF indicates immediacy of interest, and the 5-y IF indicates duration of interest. Beginning in 2022, citable items will include online content, even if that content has not yet been formally published. This change will probably reduce future impact factors by increasing the denominator of the calculation (number of citable articles) to a greater degree than numerator (number of citations) due to the interval between online publication and preparation of articles citing that work.

Important items in the journals each year are guidelines, position statements, and recommendations developed by AALAS-member professional organizations. Publication of these documents in the journals supports their distribution to a large number of individuals and offers the additional advantage of easy downloading through Ingenta. The Overview articles and issues are also highlights every year (Table 3). In 2022 we published 4 overviews in JAALAS and 2 in CM. Overviews are valued highly and often cited by readers. We urge readers to consider writing and submitting these important articles, as they perform the valuable function of summarizing what is known about a topic in a concise and critical manner. We suggest that those of you who have presented oral overviews of various topics at AALAS national meetings consider converting your presentation into a published overview, as Associate Editor Sue Compton did for her AALAS presentation on PCR and RT-PCR in diagnosis and health monitoring. Doing this rewards speakers for the time invested in preparing the presentation and preserves the information for individuals who were unable to attend or who would like to refer back to the information and perhaps cite it.

Table 3:

Overviews published in 2022

JAALAS, volume 62 Authors Pages
Social buffering as a tool for improving rodent welfare Denomme, Mason 5–14
Toward global harmonization of training and certification of specialists in laboratory animal veterinary medicine Hedenqvist, Baumans, Hanai, Yano, Yeom, Cheong, Song, Devan, Shakthi, Klein, Bailey 15–20
Rodent thermoregulation: Considerations for tail-cuff blood pressure measurements Bigiarelli 406–411
A review of long-acting parenteral analgesics for mice and rats Huss, Pacharinsak 599–602
Comparative Medicine, volume 72
Mouse models of osteoarthritis: A summary of models and outcomes assessment Drevet, Favier, Brun, Gavazzi, Lardy 3–13
An update on the biologic effects of fenbendazole Cray, Altman 215–219

We encourage readers to volunteer as guest editors for special topic issues. This responsibility primarily involves soliciting contributors and involvement in the review process to the extent desired, with Alison Brown and the Associate Editors participation. Alison also manages the flow of submissions through the publication process.

Important additions to the literature would be meta-analyses of similar studies on debated or unresolved topics. JAALAS and CM would welcome submission of Cochrane-type structured reviews of key areas of interest to our readers. Topics could include bedding evaluation, treatment for mouse dermatitis, alopecia in nonhuman primates, use of CO2 for euthanasia, trio and pair breeding success, analgesic dosage regimens, cage size, effects of housing density on rodent well-being, effective enrichment devices and other similar topics.

In 2022 CM had 314,812 retrievals (HTML full text views/article PDF downloads) from PMC, and JAALAS had 807,250 (Figure 1). Articles with the highest numbers of downloads are shown in Tables 4 and 5. The high number of downloaded articles for the 2 journals truly underscores the value of AALAS publications. Articles from both journals are downloaded hundreds of thousands of times each year, and many articles have been downloaded thousands of times a year for many years after the publication date. These data show that even though the journal impact factors are modest, the articles are used by the community we serve and are durable in terms of content. Readers might note that some of the publications that are still widely cited and downloaded were published as long ago as 2001. Although some of these are original research, others are overviews. The long interval since some of these were published suggests that updated reviews would be valuable, should any readers be inclined to take on this task.

Figure 1.


Figure 1.

Cite and download figures.

Table 4.

JAALAS Articles with highest number of downloads in 2022

Article Live in PMC Total downloads each year
2019 2020 2021 2022
Gao, Dang & Watson. 2008. Unexpected antitumorigenic effect of fenbendazole when combined with supplementary vitamins. 47:37–40. 6/12/2009 137,397 101,538 88,309 71,126
Turner, Brabb, Pekow & Vasbinder. 2011. Administration of substances to laboratory animals: routes of administration and factors to consider. 50:600–613. 3/1/2012 43,891 46,910 5,7243 63,526
Shomer, Allen-Worthington, Hickman, Jonnalagadda, Newsome, Slate, Valentine, Williams & Wilkinson. 2020. Review of rodent euthanasia methods. 59:242–253. 11/1/2020 ** ** ** 8,306
Tannenbaum & Bennett. 2015 Russell and Burch’s 3Rs Then and now: The need for clarity in definition and purpose. 54:120–132, 9/1/2015 ** ** ** 8,207
Laferriere & Pang. 2020. Review of intraperitoneal injection of sodium pentobarbital as a method of euthanasia in laboratory rodents. 59:254–263 11/1/2020 ** ** ** 7,816
Turner, Pekow, Vasbinder & Brabb. 2011. Administration of substances to laboratory animals: equipment considerations, vehicle selection, and solute preparation. 50:614–627. 3/1/2012 8,721 9,782 8,487 7,567
Lelovas, Kostomitsopoulos & Xanthos. 2014. A comparative anatomic and physiologic overview of the porcine heart. 53:432–438 3/1/2015 ** ** 4,924 7,377
Redelsperger, Taldone, Riedel, Lepherd, Lipman & Wolf. 2014. Stability of doxycycline in feed and water and minimal effective doses in tetracycline-inducible systems. 55:467–474 1/1/2016 ** ** 4,914 5,725
Ray, Johnston, Verhulst, Trammell & Toth. 2010. Identification of markers for imminent death in mice used in longevity and aging research. 49:282–288. 11/1/2010 ** 11,859 8,042 5,253
Duran-Struuck & Dysko. 2009. Principles of bone marrow transplantation (BMT): Providing optimal veterinary and husbandry care to irradiated mice in BMT studies. 48:11–22. 7/1/2009 8,758 7,655 6,294 5,159
*

Data collected from PubMed Central

**

Not on top 10 downloaded list for indicated year

Table 5.

Comparative Medicine Articles with highest number of downloads in 2022

Article Live in PMC Total downloads each year
2019 2020 2021 2022
Novak & Meyer. 2009. Alopecia: possible causes and treatments, particularly in captive nonhuman primates. 59:18–26. 8/1/2009 6,724 10,766 14,972 15,919
O’Connell, Mikkola, Stepanek, Vernet, Hall, Sun, Yildirim, Staropoli, Lee & Brown. 2015. Practical murine hematopathology: a comparative review and implications for research. 65:96–113. 10/1/2015 8,472 13,109 13,465 14,478
Wafer, Whitney & Jensen. 2015. Fish lice (Argulus japonicus) in goldfish (Carassius auratus). 65:93–95. 10/1/2015 5,675 7,444 13,263 7,929
Graham, Janecek, Kittredge, Hering & Schuurman. 2011. The streptozotocin-induced diabetic nude mouse model: differences between animals from different sources. 61:356–360. 2/1/2012 10,941 11,035 10,308 7,710
Foley, Kendall & Turner. 2019. Clinical management of pain in rodents. 69:468–489 12/10/2019 ** ** ** 5,418
Lynch, Nicholson, Dance, Morgan & Foley. 2010. Animal models of substance abuse and addiction: implications for science, animal welfare, and society. 60:177–188. 12/1/2010 7,544 8,052 8,670 5,148
Toth & Bhargava. 2013. Animal models of sleep disorders. 63:91–104. 10/1/2013 3,939 4,336 4,768 4,734
Hankenson, Marx, Gordon & David. 2018. Effects of rodent thermoregulation on animal models in the research environment. 61:339–345 6/1/2019 5,332 7,410 5,618 4,445
Tatarov, Panda, Petkov, Kolappaswamy, Thompson, Kavirayani, Lipsky, Elson, Davis, Martin & DeTolla. 2011. Effect of magnetic fields on tumor growth and viability. 61:339–345 2/1/2012 ** ** ** 4,400
Collins, Reuter, Rush & Villano. 2017. Viral vector biosafety in laboratory animal research. 67:215–221. 12/1/2017 ** ** 4,471 3,975
*

Data collected from PubMed Central

**

Not on top 10 downloaded list for indicated year

The number of citations from both journals also remains relatively consistent from year to year (Figure 1). The top 10 lists of cited and downloaded articles have several new additions this year (Tables 6 through 10). The general lack of overlap between the top-10 cited and downloaded lists suggests that different audiences are using these publications, some with focus on publishing new research (the cited articles) and others on information (the downloaded articles).

Table 6.

JAALAS Articles with highest cumulative number of citations since publication

Article Publication year Total cumulative number of citations as of
January, 2020 February, 2021 January, 2022 January, 2023
Turner, Brabb, Pekow, Vasbinder. Administration of substances to laboratory animals: Routes of administration and factors to consider. 50:600–613. 2011 264 366 479 547
Portfors. Types and functions of ultrasonic vocalizations in laboratory rats and mice. 46:28–34. 2007 311 349 387 418
Tannenbaum, Bennett. Russell and Burch's 3Rs then and now: the need for clarity in definition and purpose. 54:120–132. 2015 98 141 206 250
Matsumiya, Sorge, Sotocinal, Tabaka, Wieskopf, Zaloum, King, Mogil. Using the mouse grimace scale to reevaluate the efficacy of postoperative analgesics in laboratory mice. 51:42–49. 2012 96 118 138 154
Lelovas, Kostomitsopoulos, Xanthos. A comparative anatomic and physiologic overview of the porcine heart. 52:432–438. 2014 ** ** ** 151
Hess, Rohr, Dufour, Gaskill, Pajor, Garner. C57BL/6J mice given more naturalistic nesting materials build better nests. 47:25–31. 2008 88 105 126 141
Heffner, Heffner. Hearing ranges of laboratory animals. 46:20–22. 2007 83 105 125 141
Duran-Struuck, Dysko. Principles of bone marrow transplantation (BMT): Providing optimal veterinary and husbandry care to irradiated mice in BMT studies. 48:11–22 2009 85 95 117 120
Guillen. FELASA Guidelines and Recommendations. 51:311–321. 2012 ** ** 92 113
*

Data collected from Web of Science

**

Not on top 10 downloaded list for indicated year

Table 7.

Comparative Medicine Articles with highest cumulative number of citations since publication

Article Publication year Total cumulative number of citations as of
January, 2020 February, 2021 January, 2022 January, 2023
Cray, Zaias, Altman. Acute phase response in animals: A review. 59:517–526. 2009 401 461 520 582
Lelovas, Xanthos, Thomas, Lyritis, Dontas. The laboratory rat as an animal model for osteoporosis research. 58:424–430. 2008 282 313 347 366
Mansfield. Marmoset models commonly used in biomedical research. 53:383–392. 2003 209 229 245 259
Abbott, Barnett, Colman, Yamamoto, Schultz-Darken. Aspects of common marmoset basic biology and life history important for biomedical research. 53:339–350. 2003 166 191 209 224
Martini, Fini, Giavaresi, Giardino. Sheep model in orthopedic research: A literature review. 51:292–299. 2001 123 135 153 172
Callicott, Womack. Real-time PCR for measurement of mouse telomeres. 56:17–22. 2006 131 143 157 169
Yang, Deng, Tong, Liu, Zhang, Zhu, Gao, Huang, Liu, Ma, Xu, Ding, Deng, Qin. Mice transgenic for human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 provide a model for SARS coronavirus infection. 57:450–459 2007 ** ** 143 165
Nemzek, Hugunin, Opp. Modeling sepsis in the laboratory: Merging sound science with animal well-being. 58:120–128. 2008 115 128 147 164
Dyson, Alloosh, Vuchetich, Mokelke, Sturek. Components of metabolic syndrome and coronary artery disease in female Ossabaw swine fed excess atherogenic diet. 56:35–45. 2006 139 152 209 157
Hufeldt, Nielsen, Vogensen, Midtvedt, Hansen. Variation in the gut microbiota of laboratory mice Is related to both genetic and environmental factors. 60:336–347. 2010 ** 123 143 152
*

Data collected from Web of Science

**

Not on top 10 downloaded list for indicated year

Table 8.

JAALAS Articles with highest number of citations in 2022

Article Publication year Number of citations in
2019 2020 2021 2022
Turner, Brabb, Pekow, Vasbinder. Administration of substances to laboratory animals: Routes of administration and factors to consider. 50:600–613. 2011 78 105 96 76
Tannenbaum, Bennett. Russell and Burch's 3Rs then and now: The need for clarity in definition and purpose. 54:120–132. 2015 35 43 61 44
Lelovas, Kostomitsopoulos, Xanthos. A comparative anatomic and physiologic overview of the porcine heart. 53:432–438 2014 21 ** 24 34
Wilson, Bunte, Carty. Evaluation of rapid cooling and tricainemethanesulfonate (MS222) as methods of euthanasia in zebrafish (Danio rerio). 48:785–789. 2009 28 23 23 32
Portfors. Types and functions of ultrasonic vocalizations in laboratory rats and mice. 46:28–34. 2007 49 33 37 31
Guillen. FELASA guidelines and recommendations. 51:311–321. 2012 19 18 18 20
Heffner, Heffner. Hearing ranges of laboratory animals. 46:20–22. 2007 25 19 17 19
Collymore, Tolwani, Lieggi, Rasmussen. Efficacy and safety of 5 anesthetics in adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). 53:198–203. 2014 ** ** ** 18
Hess, Rohr, Dufour, Gaskill, Pajor, Garner. C57BL/6J mice given more naturalistic nesting materials build better nests. 47:25–31. 2008 17 16 17 17
Conroy, Papenfuss, Parker, Hahn. Use of tricaine methanesulfonate (MS222) for euthanasia of reptiles. 48: 28–32. 2009 ** ** ** 17
*

Data collected from Scopus

**

Not on top 10 list for indicated year

Table 9.

Comparative Medicine Articles with highest number of citations in 2022*

Article Publication year Number of citations in
2019 2020 2021 2022
Cray, Zaias, Altman. Acute phase response in animals: A review. 59:517–526. 2009 59 62 61 67
O’Connell, Mikkola, Stepanek, Vernet, Hall, Sun, Yildirim, Staropoli, Lee, Brown. Practical murine hematopathology: A comparative review and implications for research. 65:96–113. 2015 18 26 34 44
Yang, Deng, Tong, Liu, Zhang, Zhu, Gao, Huang, Liu, Ma, Xu, Ding, Deng, Qin. Mice transgenic for human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 provide a model for SARS coronavirus infection. 5:450–459 2007 ** 76 51 27
Lelovas, Xanthos, Thoma, Lyritis, Dontas. The laboratory rat as an animal model for osteoporosis research. 58:424–430. 2008 29 22 23 21
Hankenson, Marx, Gordon, David. Effects of rodent thermoregulation on animal models in the research environment. 68:425–438 2018 ** ** ** 21
Turner, Pang, Lofgren. A review of pain assessment methods in laboratory rodents. 69:451–467. 2019 ** ** ** 21
Martini, Fini, Giavaresi, Giardino. Sheep models in orthopedic research: a literature review. 51:292–299. 2001 ** ** 18 19
Graham, Janecek, Kittredge, Hering, Schuurman. The streptozotocin-induced diabetic nude mouse model: Differences between animals from different sources.51:292–299. 2000 17 19 20 19
Toth, Bhargava. Animal models of sleep disorders.63:91–104. 2013 ** ** ** 17
Abbott, Barnett, Colman, Yamamoto, Schultz-Darken. Aspects of common marmoset basic biology and life history important for biomedical research. 53:339–350. 2003 25 16 16 16
*

Data collected from Scopus

**

Not on top 10 list for indicated year


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