APJTM streamlines content coverage and submission process to better support tropical medicine research

Yan Lei, Qiao Zhang, Yin Pan

Editorial Office of Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine, Hainan Medical University, Haikou 571199, China

Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine (APJTM) is a peerreviewed open access monthly publication focusing on neglected tropical diseases and major diseases that are prevalent in the underdeveloped tropical regions. The Journal received an updated journal Impact Factor of 3.041 in the newly released 2021 Journal Citation Report, an increase of 148% over the past year. Among the 24 journals under the category of Tropical Medicine in the Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCIE), the Journal ranks 10/24 (Q2). Although journal Impact Factor has several shortcomings and limitations, it is the most widely recognized indicator of journal prestige and impact[1].

This year, its sister journal Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine (APJTB) received an Impact Factor of 1.514. Both journals are under the category of Tropical Medicine in Web of Science Core collection. Their content coverage partially overlapped, volume size and article types were similar, while libraries, researchers and developers of Abstract and Indexing tools are expecting unique title indexing due to shrinking acquisition budgets and increasing subscription costs for access to full-text databases[2,3]. Thus, we have been facing the challenge of differentiating the two journals.

Over the past two years, we tried our best to streamline the scope of APJTM to focus more on clinical research in tropical diseases while APJTB focuses on basic researches in the field in order to make the two sister journals to develop distinct contents.

Currently, APJTM mainly publishes new findings in clinical research on tropical medicine and public health in tropical and subtropical regions. The Journal particularly pays attention to tropical diseases such as malaria, dengue, tuberculosis, schistosomiasis, filariasis, and other parasitological diseases and zoonoses. Social factors in healthcare that affect the physical and psychological health and the well-being of tropical populations also fall into its scope. Its focus covers clinical researches and epidemiological investigations on major diseases that occur in tropical regions as well, for example, hypertension, cancer, and diabetes among tropical populations. The most common types of manuscripts published in APJTM vary from review, original article, case report, perspective, to short letters.

Furthermore, APJTM instituted fast-track review process to prioritize submissions that are most likely to influence clinical practice or public health. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)outbreak has threatened millions of lives and livelihoods across the globe; it posed even greater challenges to the vulnerable health and social care system of tropical countries[4,5]. Unlike other mainstream international journals that mainly publish the most current and highlevel studies of the disease in developed countries, APJTM also cares about concepts of better preventive and control measures as well as concerns of scientists from tropical countries in combating the pandemic like Nigeria, Rwanda, and Gabon. Through fast-track peer review, we published several letters and perspectives Ahead of Print as early as the beginning of February 2020. For example, letters predicting the imported cases of 2019-novel coronavirus infection in Thiland, the proposed lopinavir/ritonavir dosages for management of the disease and a perspective on updates about global cases, laboratory and epidemiological findings, etc.

Now the editorial team is more responsive to readers and authors than ever before. Although 1 500 manuscripts are submitted annually, initial decisions for all manuscripts are made in less than 5 days. Under this model, manuscripts can be exposed to wider audience to help authors gain greater influences. The editors hold webinar regularly to offer new and experienced authors tips to garnish their skills and increase their knowledge of the manuscript preparation and submission process of the Journal.

To make the submission and peer-review process simpler for authors, APJTM guarantees a rapid in-house assessment, without peer review in most cases, for manuscripts previously submitted to other journals if the authors include previous editor’s and reviewers’ comments along with their responses. We are managing to launch an updated manuscript submission platform which would facilitate submission transfer among APJTM, APJTB and One Health Bulletin, a new academic journal we started to publish in 2021 aiming to provide an forum for practitioners and researchers who manage anddeliver One Health services and disseminate important informationin One Health research[6]. Studies of interdisciplinary collaboration and communication on human, animal and environmental health will be recommended for One Health Bulletin. While pharmacological studies, molecular biological studies, physiological studies and gene studies on treatment and management for infectious disease are more suitable for APJTB. We aim to cover all aspects of tropical diseases found principally in tropics which can be especially prevalent in poorly financially resourced regions and areas.

Conflict of interest statement

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

Funding

The authors received no extramural funding for the study.

Authors’ contributions

Y.L., Q.Z. and Y.P. conceived the idea, Y.L. collected information and drafted the manuscript. Y.L., Q.Z. and Y.P. revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Bo Cui for his help, guidance, and support in publishing this manuscript.