With the introduction of themed special issues as part of its collection beginning 2021, together with local and international experts, the journal has earmarked trending in this fashion for upcoming Volumes 25 onwards. Volume 24 also boasts a record of 5 issues, comprising 78 articles featuring two inaugural special issues. Figure 1 captures these details graphically in the context of promoting the recent successes of the Journal of Rubber Research (JRR).

Fig. 1
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Infographics on achievements in 2021

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The very first special issue (SI) entitled “New challenges and methods in the experimental investigation and modelling of elastomers” was published as Issue 2, Volume 24, 2021, with guest editors Prof. Dr. Michael Johlitz of the Institute of Mechanics, Bundeswehr University Munich, Germany and Prof. Dr. Stefan Hartman from the Institute of Mechanics, Clausthal University of Technology, Germany. The second SI, entitled “Current Progresses in Rubber Technology” was published as Issue 4, Volume 24, 2021 with guest editors Dr. Manroshan Singh of MRB and Dr. Muzafar Zulkifli, esteemed Editorial Board Member of JRR, affiliated with Universiti Kuala Lumpur.

Soaring forward in its 9th decade of publication since 1929, the journal’s progression into the realm of digital publication has allowed for its target audience to effortlessly access all published content online. In addition, JRR recorded a remarkable rise in its Impact Factor ranking for 2020 in 2021, from 0.353 in 2019, to 0.667 owing to substantial growth in submitted and accepted articles as well as promising usage. The latter is particularly warranted by a 300% increase in article downloads at 17,959, a threefold increase from the previous year (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2
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Upsurge in article downloads between 2019 and 2021

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Global diversity among the journal’s pool of authors, editors, reviewers and readers contributes to the upward trend in journal metrics reported progressively, as depicted in Figs. 3, 4 and 5. The Malaysian Rubber Board looks forward to this encouraging growth as the journal anticipates the years ahead of its centennial milestone.

Fig. 3
figure 3

Geographical representation of JRR editorial board members

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Fig. 4
figure 4

Author region of origin for submitted and accepted manuscripts

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Fig. 5
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Visits by geography to the JRR website on SpringerLink

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