New Year’s greeting and overview of World Journal of Virology in 2021

Abstract

The 2020 year-end wrap-up session of Baishideng Publishing Group was held on December 31, 2020. All staff attended this session. We shared our key results area and made a business plan regarding the journal management. World Journal of Virology (WJV) is now abstracted and indexed in PubMed and PubMed Central. It received 23 manuscripts and published 9 papers which included 6 articles reporting coronavirus 19 in 2020. On the other hand, we made major strategies for WJV’s development in 2021. At present, WJV only has 28 Editorial Board members and cannot receive many manuscripts. We must redouble our efforts to invite more highly influential scientists to join our Editorial Board member and write high-quality manuscripts.

Key Words: World Journal of Virology; Publication; Editorial board; Virology

Core Tip: At the 2020 year-end wrap-up session of Baishideng Publishing Group, we made a report on the work of World Journal of Virology (WJV) in 2020 and made a business plan regarding the development of WJV.

INTRODUCTION

World Journal of Virology (WJV) is a high-quality, online, open-access, single-blind peer-reviewed journal published by the Baishideng Publishing Group (BPG). WJV accepts both solicited and unsolicited manuscripts. Articles published in WJV are high-quality, basic and clinical, influential research articles by established academic authors as well as new researchers. The paramount objective of WJV is to showcase and promote distinguished research in the field of virology, to help advance development of this field. The types of articles published in WJV include Editorial, Opinion Review, Frontier, Review, Minireview, Basic Study, Clinical Research, Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, Evidence-based Medicine, Field of Vision, Clinical Guidelines, Letter to the Editor, and Case Report[1].

REVIEW OF OUR WORK IN 2020

Submissions and publishing articles

In 2020, we received 23 submissions from around the world. The Science Editor Development Department made the first decisions for 18 manuscripts, and edited and made the second decisions for 11 manuscripts, and rejected 2 manuscripts (8.7%, 2/23). The Production Department published 9 articles (39.1%, 9/23) (Figure 1).

Figure 1 World Journal of Virology 2020 manuscript processing. The numbers of manuscripts processed from submission through publication.

Among these 9 articles, 6 were published on the theme of the coronavirus 19 (COVID-19), 4 were invited manuscripts (44.4%, 4/9), 5 were unsolicited manuscripts (55.6%, 5/9), and 1 original article (11.1%, 1/9), 7 review articles (77.8%, 7/9), 1 other type article (11.1%, 1/9) (Figure 2A). The articles came from 6 countries and regions, including 3 articles from Chinese authors (33.3%, 3/9), 2 American authors (22.2%, 2/9), 1 Italian author (11.1%, 1/9), 1 Irish author (11.1%, 1/9), 1 South African author (11.1%, 1/9), and 1 author from Saudi Arabia (11.1%, 1/9) (Figure 2B).

Figure 2 Bibliographic data for articles published by the World Journal of Virology in 2020. A: Article types; B: Authors’ countries.

Invited manuscripts

In 2020, WJV accepted a total of 97 manuscript titles, including 74 for review articles (76.3%, 74/97), 21 for original articles (21.7%, 21/97), and 2 for editorials (2.1%, 2/97) (Figure 3). Among them, 9 (9.3%) manuscripts have been submitted online, and 4 (4.1%) manuscripts were submitted after the deadline. Eighty-four (86.6%) manuscripts have not been submitted yet.

Figure 3 Titles of invited manuscripts submitted for the various types of articles for consideration of publication in 2021 by the World Journal of Virology.

Review statistics

In 2020, WJV invited peer reviewers and editorial board members to review manuscripts 664 times. Of these invitations, 100 were accepted (15.1%, 100/664), 78 were rejected (11.70%, 78/664), 486 did not receive a response (73.2%, 486/664). Of the 100 accepted invitations, 31 peer review comments were submitted on time (31.0%, 31/100), 67 failed to submit peer review comments on time (67.0%, 67/100), and 2 have not yet submitted peer review comments.

Editorial Board members

In 2020, the WJV Editorial Board consisted of 28 members[2]. In addition, 4 scientists applied for the Editorial Board and are awaiting evaluation. WJV Editorial Board members are from 17 countries and regions, including 6 from the United States (21.4%), 4 from Italy (14.3%), 3 from Ireland (10.7%), 2 from Egypt (7.1%), and 13 from various countries and regions (46.4%) (Figure 4). Seventeen Editorial Board members (60.7%) have completed a peer review on a manuscript, and nine members (32.1%) have not yet completed a peer review on a manuscript.

Figure 4 World Journal of Virology Editorial Board members are from 17 countries or regions.

CONCLUSION

The BPG appreciates the continuous support and submissions from authors and the dedicated efforts and expertise by our invited reviewers, many who are also serving on the Editorial Board.

Despite the challenges caused by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, scientists made great progress in the field of virology during 2020. We would appreciate the consideration of WJV for virology submissions. In 2021, we will continue to apply current publishing standards and take stronger steps to grow the Editorial Board and attract more high-quality submissions.