Letter from the Editors-in-Chief

Letter from the Editors-in-Chief

Dear readers and contributors,

Beginning with the frst issue in 2015, we would like to wish you all a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year! In this letter, we would like to provide the following facts to summarize the performance of Neural Regeneration Research (NRR)in 2014 so that you will have a better idea of what we have achieved and, more importantly, what we could work together to further advance our journal to a new level in 2015.

1) Diversity of article type

The editorial team has made signifcant contributions to soliciting more review papers and perspectives on special topics from established scientists who have recently published infuential papers in high-tier journals.

In 2014, NRR publishes 321 papers, including original articles, editorial materials (perspectives, highlights, opinions, and commentaries), reviews, letters to the editor, and corrections.

2) More international submission and publication

In 2014, the journal has attracted dramatic increase in the number of international manuscript submissions since its index in the PubMed and PubMed Center.

3) Easy access to published articles

NRR chose “open access” to share the valuable work with the entire world through its journal website and indexing systems, including Web of Science, PubMed, PubMed Central, SCOPUS, Chemical Abstracts, and Index Copernicus.

NRR is also compatible to any device. NRR iPad app offers a convenient digital platform to help professionals to access peer-reviewed scientifc information anytime and anywhere. Download the latest scientifc content on NRR now on your iPad!

4) Maximize the impact of published research

NRR is providing the opportunity of news release on “EurekAlert!”(www.eurekalert.org/) and “EurekAlert!Chinese” (bilingual website, chinese.eurekalert.org/) to outstanding authors. “EurekAlert!”is an online, global news service operated by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) - The World’s Largest General Scientific Society (www.aaas.org/). Most prestigious journals like Science, Cell, JAMA/Archives and PLoS are using “EurekAlert!” to distribute news to targeted group of over 8,000 science reporters and the public audience worldwide. We will also get you the monthly visit reports after it is posted.

5) Keep track of paper impact

Proposed in 2010, the term altmetrics are alternative scholarly impact metrics in scholarly and scientifc publishing. The research impact should not only be judged by impact factor and h-index, but also other aspects of the impact of a work, such as how many data and knowledge bases refer to it, article views, downloads, or mentions in social media and news media. NRR will notify the authors regarding their altmetrics statistics 6 months after its publication.

6) Promote and share research to readers

Types of published articles by NRR in 2014

Countries of published articles by NRR in 2014

Each month, NRR’s editors will introduce representative articles with potential impacts and broad concerns to our readers. After creating the content, the newsletter will be sent to appropriate audience which has been classifed by their research interest, such as spinal cord injury and regeneration, optic nerve injury and regeneration, stem cells and neurogenesis, functional assessments and interventions for central and peripheral nervous system diseases. We currently have more than 100,000 email addresses in our databases. We were delighted to get feedback and comments after the outreach.

7) Rapid online and print publication

NRR is recognized for our timely publication. Thanks to thousands of reviewers who have provided critical and insightful comments to all submitted manuscripts. Papers will receive a peer review decision 4 weeks after submission and will be published 3-4 weeks from the acceptance. If authors have a specifc publication deadline in mind, please contact our editorial offce for a pre-submission inquiry. This will enable us to arrange a faster peer review and an even smoother production process.

8) Multiple plagiarism checks

All papers will be checked for plagiarism twice after submission and before publication using iThenticate. It is the authors’ responsibility to understand and comply with all ethical regulations.

9) Organizing world class conference in the neural regeneration feld

On September 6-8, 2014, the 4thInternational Neural Regeneration Symposium (INRS2014) in conjunction with the 9thAsia PacificSymposium on Neural Regeneration (APSNR) and the 6thInternational Spinal Cord Injury Treatments and Trials Symposium (ISCITT) was held with great success in Nanjing, China. Over 500 participants from 9 countries have benefted from the high scientifc value of over 40 prestigious speakers’ presentation, including the pioneer and unquestionable leaders in neural regeneration Dr. Albert Aguayo and Dr. Mary Bunge.

Top 10 NRR news releasedin “EurekAlert!” 2014 (www.eurekalert.org)

Top viewed articles on NRR website (www.nrronline.org) in 2014

In the coming year, we would like to publish more review papers and perspectives on special topics from young raising scientists. We hope that NRR will be steadily growing with more authors in different regeneration-related research disciplines. Scientists who are interested in serving as a Guest Editor for a special issue with 3-5 papers on a special topic are encouraged to submit their proposals to NRR.

Finally, once again, we want to thank all the readers, contributors, reviewers, and editorial board members for your invaluable support and contributions to NRR.

Sincerely, Kwok-fai So and Xiao-ming Xu

10.4103/1673-5374.150636. http://www.nrronline.org/ So KF, Xu XM (2015) Letter from the Editors-in-Chief. Neural Regen Res 10(1):5-6.