Abstract
Acta Informatica Medica journal (www.actainformmed.org), as Biomedical Informatics journal, during past 30 years of existing played important role in distribution of knowledge and experience within this scientific field, by publishing contributions of the biomedical experts from worlwide and spreading of Biomedical informatics knowledge and experiences in scientific and academic community. Acta Informatica Medica journal has been founded in the year 1993 by Izet Masic and Zoran Ridjanovic, as official journal of Bosnian-Herzegovinan Society of Medical Informatics (BHSMI). In the year 2019 Acta Informatica Medica has been accepted as official journal of the European Federation for Medical Informatics (www.efmi.org), besides 3 other journals: International Journal of Medical Informatics, Methods of Information in Medicine and European Journal of Biomedical Informatics. Journal Acta Informatica Medica is abstracted and indexed in 30 on-line data bases, including Pubmed, Pubmed Central, Scopus, Embase, Hinari, etc. The journal follows the Guidelines and recommendations of ICJME, COPE, EASE, WAME, etc. as well as the recommendations of the “Sarajevo Declaration on Integrity and Visibility of Scholarly Journals”, accepted by 17 Editors of biomedical journals at “SWEP 2018” Conference held in Sarajevo and printed in the countries in South-Eastern Europe. The journal supports presentations at conferences held in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The abstract papers presented at “The Mediterranean Seminar on Science Writing, Editing and Publishing“ – “SWEP 2016”, “SWEP 2018”; “SWEP 2020” and “SWEP 2021”, also found its place in the journal, by which we met our goal of promoting science and scientific publication at the area of Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries in the region. Acta Informatica Medica has been ranked: Highest Impact Factor for 2011–2022 was 1.496 and Lowest Impact Factor for 2011–2022 was 0.59. During the year 2021 in Acta Informatica Medica journal was published 46 papers. From total amount published papers, 67,39% was original papers, where it was more published original papers in the journal than in the year 2020. Acta Informatica Medica has value of important metrics (last updated on November 16, 2021): Impact Score - 1.50, h-Index - 20, Rank - 15980, SJR - 0.267.
Keywords: Acta Informatica Medica, BHSMI, AMNuBiH, EFMI
1. BACKGROUND
Acta Informatica Medica (www.actainformmed.org) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal which publish original articles, professional articles, reviews, viewpoints, and case studies, short communications and the Letters to editors (1-4). Acta covering issues in Biomedical and Medical/Health informatics, published by the Academy of Medical Sciences of Bosnia and Herzegovina (www.amn.ba) Journal is registered in National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzgovina in Sarajevo City with ISSN (Online): 1986-5988, and ISSN (Print): 0353-8109. An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is a unique code of 8 digits. It is used for the recognition of journals, newspapers, periodicals, and magazines in all kind of forms, be it print-media or electronic.
Issues are published quarterly: in March, June, September, and December. In case when Editorial Board received enough papers during one year, it is possible to print additional issue as special issue of supplement.
Figure 2. Editorial team of Acta Informatica Medica in 1994 (Izet Masic, Amra Redzepovic, Ljubomir Kravec).
Specific scope of interests of the journal relates to System and System analysis, Medical documentation, Electronic health records, Clinical Decision Making, Artificial intelligence, Expert systems, Science editing, E-learning in medicine, On-line biomedical databases, Information and Communication technologies, Health information systems, Science editing and publishing. Evidence-based articles reflecting progress of Medical informatics in Balkan and Mediterranean countries are prioritized (1, 2). Acta Informatica Medica journal has been founded in the year 1993 by Izet Masic and Zoran Ridjanovic, as official journal of Bosnian-Herzegovinan Society of Medical Informatics (BHSMI). The first Editorial Board perform: Irfan Zulic, Mustafa Kulenovic, Kenan Arnautovic, Besim Prnjavorac, Nedzad Mehic, Haris Pandza, Marijan Dover, Ljubomir Kravec, Amra Redzepovic, Mediha Zalihic) (Figures 1-4) (1).
Figure 1. Founder Editors of Acta Informatica Medica journal in 1993 - Izet Masic and Zoran Ridjanovic.
Figure 4. His Excelency, Ambasador of Austria, Franz Bogen, who supported us in 1994. Photo made at Office of prof. Masic, during wartime in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995).
In the year 2019 Acta Informatica Medica journal has been accepted as official journal of the European Federation for Medical Informatics (www.efmi.org), besides 3 other journals: International Journal of Medical Informatics, Methods of Information in Medicine and European Journal of Biomedical Informatics. Journal Acta Informatica Medica is abstracted and indexed in 30 on-line data bases, including Pubmed, Pubmed Central, Scopus, Embase, Hinari, etc. The website of the journal (www.actainformmed.org) is refreshed in 2018, revised by Editorial Board and new members were included (regularly updated). The authors of the published articles in 2021 issues are from 22 countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Germany, Grece, Iraq, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Republic Kosovo, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, USA, and Vietnam). Acceptance rate in 2021 was 42.3% (Table 1).
Table 1. Acceptance rate of Acta Informatica Medica in the period 2012-2020.
| Year | Rate (%) |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 43.0 |
| 2013 | 47.0 |
| 2014 | 39.0 |
| 2015 | 37.0 |
| 2016 | 37.3 |
| 2017 | 28.7 |
| 2018 | 32.7 |
| 2019 | 37,8 |
| 2020 | 42,3 |
Figure 3. Editor-in-Chief Izet Masic promoted Acta Informatica Medica journal (”Ratna izdanja - War’s editions” in 1994) at Book’s Exibition in Sarajevo, 1994.
The journal in its function and everyday work is following the recommendations and guidelines of ICJME, COPE, EASE, WAME, etc. as well as the recommendations of “Sarajevo Declaration on Integrity and Visibility of Scholarly Journals”, accepted by 17 Editors of biomedical journals which are printed in the countries in South-Eastern Europe at “SWEP 2018” Conference held in Sarajevo (5-9).
The journal supports, and had its presentations at conferences held in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The abstract papers presented at “The Mediterranean Seminar on Science Writing, Editing and Publishing“ – “SWEP 2016”, “SWEP 2018”; “SWEP 2020” and “SWEP 2021”, also found its place in the journal, by which we met our goal of promoting science and scientific publication at the area of Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries in the region, and in the Mediterranean countries (9).
Acta Informatica Medica is one of the six biomedical journals from Bosnia and Herzegovina deposited in databases Pubmed (in addition to the Bosnian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences, Medical Archives, Materia Socio-Medica, Medicinski Glasnik (Zenica), Acta Medica Academica), and Scopus (besides the Bosnian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences, Medical Archives, Acta Medica Academica, Medicinski Glasnik, Acta Medica Saliniana, Folia Medica and Journal of Health Studies) (3). The purpose of the journal is to continue the publishing of both–its online and print edition, four times a year. The journal in its function and everyday work is Importance of Acta Informatica Medica journal in spreading of Biomedical informatics knowledge and experiences in scientific and academic community. The journal began with the practice to publish the articles of PhD students free of charge, and in that manner opened to this population, and began with the practice of populating biomedical information technology, both in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the region. The journal opened to PhD students, and they embrace it through the official letter to the Editor, presenting their goals and problems. The tendency for the future is to preserve the Open Access model, while enabling funding through the subscription and purchase of printed publications.
Figure 6. Cover page of the first issue of Acta Informatica Medica in 1993 (1).
Table 3. Acta Informatica Medica Impact Score 2020.
| Year | Impact Score (IS) |
|---|---|
| 2021/2022 | Coming Soon |
| 2020 | 1.50 |
| 2019 | 0.72 |
| 2018 | 0.86 |
| 2017 | 0.70 |
| 2016 | 0.84 |
| 2015 | 0.59 |
| 2014 | 0.76 |
2. INFOMETRICS OF THE JOURNAL IN THE PAST
Acta Informatica Medica is a journal covering the technologies/fields/categories related to Medicine (miscellaneous) (Q3). It is published by Avicena Publishing in Sarajevo. SCImago Journal Rank is an indicator, which measures the scientific influence of journals (10-12). It considers the number of citations received by a journal and the importance of the journals from where these citations come.
SJR acts as an alternative to the Journal Impact Factor (or an average number of citations received in last 2 years). This journal has an h-index of 20. The best quartile for this journal is Q3. According infometric statistics for the last ten years - 2013-2022, we can stated great improvement: Scimagojr.com Index H (for 2017) for Acta Informatica Medica was 12, while scimagojr.com index (SJR) was 0.275 (2). On the aforementioned page, the total number of citations from the journal Acta Informatica Medica was 187 (it should be noted that the number is only from the journals that are covered by Scopus). Self-citation (the number of citations from a journal citing article to articles published by the same journal) was 7.
For the period 2013-2017, the Google Scholar h5 index was 17 and the h5 median was the 28. For the year 2020, the overall rank of Acta Informatica Medica is 15980. According to SCImago Journal Rank (SJR), this journal is ranked 0.267 (Figures 9 and 10). Journal Impact IF Ranking: In the Medicine (all) research field, the Quartile of Acta Informatica Medica is Q2. Acta Informatica Medica has been ranked: Highest Impact Factor for 2011–2022 was 1.496 and Lowest Impact Factor for 2011–2022 was 0.59 (11).
Figure 9. Current value of SCIMAGO INDEX (12).
Figure 10. Current value of SCIMAGO INDEX (12).
During the year 2021 in Acta Informatica Medica journal was published 46 papers. From total amount published papers, 67,39% was original papers, where it was more published original papers in the journal than in the year 2020. In the year 2021 in Acta was published: 1 editorial, 31 original paper, 1 professional paper, 1 systematic review, 5 reviews, 2 case reoports, 1 dilemma, 1 the letter to editor, 2 obituaries, 1 newsletter. (Table 2 and Figure 5).
Table 2. Highly Cited Articles in Acta Informatica Medica Journal during period from 1993 Until 2020 (Top Five - High Impact Research Articles).
| Publication Title | Author Listing |
|---|---|
| 17th International Conference on Informatics, Management and Technology in Health Care, Athens, Greece, 5-7 July, 2019 | Izet Masic |
| A Fuzzy Expert System to Predict the Risk of Postpartum Hemorrhage | Yussriya Hanaa Doomah · Song-Yuan Xu · Li-Xia Cao · Sheng-Lian Liang · Gloria Francisca Nuer-Allornuvor · Xiao-Yan Ying |
| A Review of Machine Learning Approaches in Assisted Reproductive Technologies | Behnaz Raef · Reza Ferdousi |
| Adoption of Hospital Information System Among Nurses: a Technology Acceptance Model Approach | Hosein Barzekar · Farzad Ebrahimzadeh · Jake Luo · Mahtab Karami · Zahra Robati · Parvin Goodarzi |
| An Assessment of Health Information Systems Through the Perspective of Computer Engineering Students and Medical Students | Esra Sevimli · Elif Naz Altingoz · Nur Şisman Kitapci · Okan Cem Kitapci · Leyla Koksal · Meral Yay · Pınar Kilic Aksu · Gonca Mumcu |
Figure 5. Distribution of articles according to type in the year 2020.
Acta Informatica Medica journal has next Important Metrics values for 2021 (last updated on November 16, 2021): Impact Score is 1.50, h-Index is 20, Rank is 15980, SJR is 0.267 (Figures 9-10). The impact score shown here is equivalent to the average number of times documents published in a journal/conference in the past two years have been cited in the current year (i.e., Cites / Doc. (2 years)). It is based on Scopus data and can be a little higher or different compared to the impact factor (IF) produced by Journal Citation Report of Thomson Reuters metrics.
The impact score (IS) 2020 of Acta Informatica Medica is 1.50, which is computed in 2021 as per its definition (Figures 9 and 10). Acta Informatica Medica IS is increased by a factor of 0.78 and approximate percentage change is 108.33% when compared to preceding year 2019, which shows a rising trend. The impact score (IS), also denoted as Journal impact score (JIS), of an academic journal is a measure of the yearly average number of citations to recent articles published in that journal. Acta Informatica Medica has an h-index of 20. It means 20 articles of this journal have more than 20 number of citations. The h-index is a way of measuring the productivity and citation impact of the publications. The h-index is defined as the maximum value of h such that the given journal/author has published h papers that have each been cited at least h number of times (10-12).
Presented facts above are based on Scopus data - Acta Informatica Medica journal coverage history is as following: 2012-2020. Also, on Figures 7 and 8 are shown Impressum of the journal with a few cover pages published in the past and one of ilustrative contents regarding EFMI 45th anniversary in 2021 (13-15).
Figure 7. Impressum of Acta Informatica Medica journal a few years ago, with cover pages of different issues (3).
Figure 8. One of the ilustrative texts published in the journal Acta Informatica Medica during last year regarding 45th anniversary of EFMI (13).
3. ACTA INFORMATICA MEDICA JOURNAL STATISTICS
Journal statistics is calculated for the period of online presence on journal platform ejmanager and scopemed/bibliomed (5, 10-12). During the past Acta Informatica Medica journal was printed more tham 70 isues. Unitl Decembr 2021 via eJManager platform was 1,743 submitted articles. This number represents total of number of submitted articles. During the Acta’s online presence – currently six years–there have more than 1,700 submitted articles from authors all of around the world. Out of this number was 772 published articles. Acta Informatica Medica maintain usual peer-review process for selecting publishing articles. During online presence our meticulous selecting process leads to choosing more than 700 articles for publishing in last six years. Until now 389,923 total downloads. Total downloads includes statistics from our journal publishing platform ejmanager. It includes articles that are downloaded and read during the last six years of our online presence on current platform.
4. CONCLUSION
Acta Informatica Medica journal, as Biomedical Informatics journal, during past 30 years of existing played important role in distribution of knowledge and experiences within this scientific field, by publishing contributions of the biomedical experts from worlwide. This scientific journal, during the past 30 years of existing, played great role in spreading of Medical informatics knowledge and experience within scientific and academic community.
Authors contribution:
Author contributed in all steps of the preparation of this Editorial, including final proofreading.
Conflicts of Interest:
The author declare no conflicts of interest.
Financial support and sponsorship:
None.
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