For most of us 2020 has not been the best year we have had in our lifetime. Many world events have provided an unusual and Challenging year to say the least. It may be argued, in future years, that it was perhaps a pivotal year and tipping point for humankind.
The same can be said for the International Wound Journal. There are two major changes impacting the journal that will enhance its offering moving forward.
As the editorial team we are pleased to announce our recent impact factor of 2.825. This is significant for two reasons. Firstly, it's a major increase from the previous figure and secondly it pushes the IWJ to the number one slot for journals with a focus on wounds. We are obviously very proud of this achievement but recognise we achieved this through the hard work of our authors and readers. So, congratulations and thank you to everyone involved.
Another piece of exciting news which will continue the evolution of the IWJ into 2021 and beyond concerns its access status. For authors, publishing open access creates more permissive use and sharing of their articles, which in turn helps to increase the dissemination of their research. International Wound Journal has a global authorship and readership base, many of whom are in regions where open access publication is accelerating. We also continue to see many institutions and global funders creating open access policies and mandates for their authors. As such, we would like to ensure that we are making it easier for authors to fulfil their funders’ mandates on open access publication.
As a valued reader we want to share the very exciting news that, after careful consideration of all options available for the future development and support of International Wound Journal, we have taken the decision to convert the journal from a library/subscriber pays model to an author‐pays open access model starting with the 2021 volume. Under the new model, papers can be published in a timely manner and will be freely available over the web to all. This will greatly improve access. In doing so, International Wound Journal joins several other high impact journals in the Wiley Open Access portfolio (http://www.wileyopenaccess.com ), and will benefit from a number of advantages that this confers.
We the editors are fully supportive of this change, recognizing the great potential that it offers the International Wound Journal. We made this decision because we all want International Wound Journal to continue to publish the very best papers in the field and we believe that authors will welcome the open access model. We recognize that author fees can be a barrier, although many Universities have entered into contracts that automatically cover these, especially in Europe. In the USA the fees charged are not that dissimilar from the page charges applied by many US scientific societies as page charges. We hope that it is news you are pleased to hear. The reality is that many journals have already moved to this model and many more will follow, given the requirement of so many agencies for immediate open access. As such we are leading the way in the wound space and embracing this evolving trend early.
We want to stress that all Wiley Open Access titles are editorially independent, and this will be the case for International Wound Journal too. We as the editorial team will continue to apply the same rigorous standards of peer review and acceptance criteria we have always done, ensuring that the journal remains the high‐quality publication we have all come to value enormously.
As noted above, the great advantage is that everyone will be able to read the journal irrespective of specialty, host institution or location. The journal will be able to grow in size without the constraints of a page budget as new areas emerge and more authors want to publish in our high impact factor journal. Embracing the impending publication models emerging from funding body influence early in the process will benefit both the journal and its readers.
Given the number of papers already accepted but not yet published in an issue, any submissions that come into the journal after Tuesday August 11, 2020 will be considered under the new model. We are excited to see the journal embark on its new direction and hope that we can continue to count on you all, as readers and authors of the International Wound Journal, to submit your high‐quality research.
Here's looking forward to a very different year in 2021. As with other unusual developments in 2020 Let us be the very first to wish you a much happier New Year in 2021!