2022 JVDI readership survey

Our change to online-only publication of the Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation in 2022 was supported by a 2021 readership survey ¹ and by the AAVLD Executive Board. Our aims were to reduce the consumption of resources, and hence reduce the costs of production and distribution of the Journal, and in turn to decrease expenses for members. ² The AAVLD office sends members an email notification of the Table of Contents of each bi-monthly issue of JVDI—abstracts can be accessed through hotlinks in the TOC. Full articles, other than open-access articles, are embargoed and accessible only to subscribers (including AAVLD members, as a member benefit, and libraries) for 12 mo following publication; members sign-in to the AAVLD website then click through to the JVDI site to access full articles. Full-issue, cover-to-cover PDFs of JVDI are available to all subscribers—the PDFs can be scrolled through, or topics found via a word search.

To obtain AAVLD member feedback on our change to online-only publication, we surveyed members via SurveyMonkey in September 2022. My thanks to Reda Ozuna and David Zeman for organizing the survey and for collating results. Of the 867 surveys that were deliverable by email, 85 (9.8%) surveys were returned, which is a very good response.

Of the 85 respondents (not everyone answered all questions):

• ○ Q1. What is your role professionally? Faculty or professional staff (54), scientific laboratory staff (11), administration, business, or lab operations (11), other (16).

• ○ Q2. What is your primary discipline? Anatomic pathology (38), clinical pathology (2), general microbiology (15), molecular biology (6), toxicology (9), epidemiology (6), other (9).

• ○ Q3. Are you receiving email alerts from AAVLD about the table of contents of each new bi-monthly issue of JVDI? Yes (77), no (7).

• ○ Q4. Are you able to sign in to the AAVLD website to access the full-issue, cover-to-cover issue of the JVDI plus full articles? Yes (75), no (8).

• ○ Q5. Are you also receiving the optional email alerts from SAGE, the JVDI publisher, for new articles as they’re published, plus the table of contents of the new issue of JVDI? Yes (45), no (38).

• ○ Q6. Have you been reading JVDI online successfully? Yes (66), no (2); no, explain (17).

• ○ Q7. Rate your general satisfaction level with the scientific content of the JVDI, scale of 1–5. Most satisfied, scores 4 or 5 (68 of 81); neutral (11); least satisfied, scores 1 or 2 (2).

• ○ Q8. Rate your general satisfaction level with the submission and editorial process of the JVDI, scale of 1–5. Most satisfied, scores 4 or 5 (48); neutral (8); least satisfied, scores 1 or 2 (2); not applicable (24).

• ○ Q9. Comments to the Editorial Board. Comments (22), no comments (52): 10 still prefer hardcopy or the choice of hardcopy or online (at least 4 were retired; 1 was a resident), 7 prefer that JVDI is online only, 2 concerned about length of time to publication and timeliness, 1 concerned re: page charges.

For members who experience difficulty in accessing JVDI online, we offer tips on accessing the Journal in the monthly AAVLD Newsletter, online on the AAVLD website, and in person by contacting Holly Farrell, our managing editor at editoral@aavld.org.

Some background information presented at the 2022 annual meeting may address some of the concerns raised in the survey. Page charge royalties received by AAVLD from SAGE are an important source of JVDI revenue that offset member subscription fees. The average time to first decision on manuscripts continues at ~20 d, which is prompt. Our overall acceptance rate is ~35%. We have experienced delays in the peer-review process over the past 3 y as a result of the impact of COVID19 on turnaround times by both authors and reviewers. Once accepted and desk-edited, articles are published in OnlineFirst by SAGE in ≤25 d, which is rapid. Volume 33 of JVDI, calendar year 2021, was a record year for JVDI—175 articles published, 1,191 pages. Our 2021 impact factor of 1.569 continues to rank JVDI as 74 of 144 veterinary science journals. Our article mix reflects submissions and reader preferences; we publish many unique case reports plus methodologic studies, which may be of interest and use to members but have low citation ratings.

We welcome further feedback and wish you a peaceful and healthy New Year.

Grant Maxie, JVDI Editor-in-Chief
gmaxie@uoguelph.ca