Editor’s note September 2014

Dear reader,

Recently, the Impact Factors (IFs) for 2013 were released by the ISI Web of Knowledge. The impact factor for the International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging decreased slightly from 2.648 in 2012 to 2.322 in 2013. The journal is listed 60/125 within the Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems category and 40/121 within the Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging category. That means that we are in a respectable range and rank within the second quartile of both ISI categories. The 2013 IF-calculation was based on the following data:

The number of citations increased as well as the number of accepted manuscripts, which means that both the numerator and the denominator increased in the IF-calculation, but the denominator increased by just slightly more.

If we look at further statistics of the Journal, then we see that the number of manuscripts submitted continue to increase every year with a 15 % increase from the first half year of 2013 to first half year of 2014. Our rejection rate remains roughly at 70 %, so that we are able to select the best papers submitted, and will continue to publish more manuscripts. Fortunately, we see a continuing increase in the number of scientists willing to review for our journal; at this point in time we can select from a pool of over 2,900 reviewers, which is quite impressive. Likewise, the number of downloads continue to increase every year with respectable numbers, meaning that we have a big readership. Also, the readership of our Journal is about equally divided among Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, meaning that we truly are a global Journal.

At this occasion, I would like to share with you the Top 10 cited articles published in 2011–2012 for the IF year 2013:

Article	Author(s)	Pub. date	Total citations	Citations 2013
Iterative reconstruction in image space (IRIS) in cardiac computed tomography: initial experience	M. S. Bittencourt, B. Schmidt, M. Seltmann, G. Muschiol, D. Ropers, W. G. Daniel, S. Achenbach	October 2011	51	18
Iterative reconstruction for coronary CT angiography: finding its way	J. Leipsic, B. G. Heilbron, C. Hague	March 2012	19	11
Aortic root dimension changes during systole and diastole: evaluation with ECG-gated multidetector row computed tomography	L. M. de Heer, R. P. J. Budde, W. P. Th. M. Mali, A. M. de Vos, L. A. van Herwerden, J. Kluin	December 2011	18	8
IVUS-based imaging modalities for tissue characterization: similarities and differences	H. M. Garcìa-Garcìa, B. D. Gogas, P. W. Serruys, N. Bruining	February 2011	15	8
Use of 100 kV versus 120 kV in cardiac dual source computed tomography: effect on radiation dose and image quality	R. Blankstein, M. A. Bolen, R. Pale, M. K. Murphy, A. B. Shah, H. G. Bezerra, A. Sarwar, I. S. Rogers, U. Hoffmann, S. Abbara, R. C. Cury, T. J. Brady	April 2011	13	8
Prognostic value of absence or presence of coronary artery disease determined by 64-slice computed tomography coronary angiography A systematic review and meta-analysis	J. Abdulla, C. Asferg, K. F. Kofoed	March 2011	25	7
Fusion of 3D QCA and IVUS/OCT	S. Tu, N. R. Holm, G. Koning, Z. Huang, J. H. C. Reiber	February 2011	20	7
The absence of coronary artery calcification does not rule out the presence of significant coronary artery disease in Asian patients with acute chest pain	Y. E. Yoon, S.-A. Chang, S.-II Choi, E.-J. Chun, Y.-S. Cho, T.-J. Youn, W.-Y. Chung, I.-H. Chae, D.-J. Choi, H.-J. Chang	February 2012	14	7
Evaluation of postmortem MDCT and MDCT-angiography for the investigation of sudden cardiac death related to atherosclerotic coronary artery disease	K. Michaud, S. Grabherr, F. Doenz, P. Mangin	October 2012	13	7
Evaluation of longitudinal and radial left ventricular function by two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography in a large cohort of normal probands	N. Reckefuss, T. Butz, D. Horstkotte, L. Faber	April 2011	13	7
The presence, characterization and prognosis of coronary plaques among patients with zero coronary calcium scores	S. Uretsky, A. Rozanski, P. Singh, A. Supariwala, P. Atluri, S. Bangalore, T. W. Pappas, E. A. Fisher, M. R. Peters	July 2011	11	7

Finally, I would like to thank all authors who have contributed to the Journal in these ISI years 2011 and 2012, and look forward to receiving more excellent submissions for the future. And, of course, any suggestions are always welcome to help us to increase the IF.

Kind regards,

Johan (Hans) H.C. Reiber, PhD, FESC, FACC