article citations (5.46 versus 5.77). As illustrated by the
top 10 cited articles, our research articles focus on the
pathogenic mechanisms, true to our mission (Table 3).
Expansion of our scientific coverage is dramatically
illustrated in growth of the size of Brain Pathology from
its first volume (332 pages) to its most recent volume
(775 pages). With the introduction of our web site
(http://brainpathology.upmc.edu), dissemination is also
dramatically different than it was in the past. The grow-
ing availability and acceptance of files in Adobe’s
Portable Document Format (PDF) will make future dis-
semination even more efficient.
So with all of these improvements, why doesn’t the
Impact Factor show the positive changes? Well the sim-
ple answer is, the Impact Factor is not our mission. Were
the Impact Factor of central importance, we could not
satisfy our broader based mission. Were Impact Factor
our mission, we would publish fewer articles, ignore our
Impact Factor
Clinical Neurology
Pathology
Neurosciences
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
4.25
8.57
6.46
5.66
4.90
7
1
2
2
6
5
1
2
2
3
19
6
9
14
20
Table 1. Impact factor and subject rankings, 1994-1998.
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1.
Vol. 3 No. 3: Brain Tumors: Morphological Aspects and
Classification (11.7)
Figure 1. Impact factor charted, 1994-1998.
2.
3.
Vol. 4 No. 1: Focal Cerebral Ischemia (9.93)
Vol. 6 No. 3: Immunopathogenesis of Demyelinative Diseases
(9.86)
committee delves a little deeper. Of course you can take
the Pollyanna approach and assume that everything
works out in the end. Perhaps the bottom line is we have
to live with the Impact Factor, so it is time to cut to the
chase and look at the numbers.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Vol. 3 No. 1: Neuronal Proteins (7.93)
Vol. 7 No. 3: CAG Repeats in Neurodegeneration (7.50)
Vol. 6 No. 1: Muscular Dystrophies (6.63)
Vol. 7 No. 2: Pediatric Neuro-Oncology (6.42)
Vol. 4 No. 3: Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (6.40)
Vol. 6 No. 4: Cell Death in the Nervous System (6.31)
Vol. 5 No. 2: Hereditary Tumor Syndromes (5.90)
From the first year that Brain Pathology’s success
was measured by the Impact Factor as defined by ISI,
1994, the Journal had an impact factor of 4.25 and
ranked 5th amongst the 64 pathology journals. This was
simply astounding and denotes a phenomenal initial
acceptance. In the subsequent 5 years, the Journal has
maintained an impressive standing in the top biomedical
journals in Clinical Neurology, Pathology and the Neu-
rosciences in general (Table 1). Nevertheless, when one
examines longitudinal data, one needs to look at trends
and there would appear to be a disturbing trend in the
slope of the Brain Pathology’s Impact Factor (Figure 1).
Is the sky falling? Fortunately not! In fact Brain
Pathology continues its meteoric rise, fulfilling and
expanding upon its mission. The symposia that define
our Journal cover a broad range of topics and are well
written and cited in the literature with an average annu-
al citation in the first 2 years following publication of
5.77 (low of 2.1 to a high of 11.7). A quick review of the
top 10 published symposia confirms the great depth and
breadth of our scope (Table 2). The Editorial decision to
accept premier research articles has in no way diluted
our impact. In fact, average research article citations are
virtually indistinguishable from average symposium
Table 2. Top 10 symposium topics listed by article impact.
1.
K Watanabe et al: Overexpression of the EGF Receptor
and p53 Mutations are Mutually Exclusive in the Evolution
of Primary and Secondary Glioblastomas (Vol. 6 No. 3)
2.
3.
A von Diemling et al: Subsets of glioblastoma multiforme
defined by molecular genetic analysis (Vol. 3 No. 1)
I Ferrer et al: Evidence of nuclear DNA fragmentation fol
lowing hypoxia-ischemia in the infant rat brain and tran-
sient forebrain ischemia in the adult gerbil (Vol. 4 No. 2)
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
C Gratas et al: Fas Ligand Expression in Glioblastoma Cell
Lines and Primary Astrocytic Brain Tumors (Vol. 7 No. 3)
KH Plante et al: Molecular mechanisms of developmental
and tumor angiogenesis (Vol. 4 No. 3)
J Gehrmann et al: Microglial reaction in the rat cerebral
cortex induced by cortical spreading depression (Vol. 3 No. 1)
A Giese et al: Neuronal Cell Death in Scrapie-Infected
Mice Is Due to Apoptosis (Vol. 5 No. 3)
E Newcomb et al: A correlative study of p53 protein alter
ation and p53 gene mutation in glioblastoma multiforme
(Vol. 3 No. 3)
9.
F Gray et al: Neuropathology of Early HIV-1 Infection (Vol. 6 No. 1)
10.
JT Povlishock et al: Traumatically induced axonal injury:
Pathogenesis and pathobiological implications (Vol. 2 No. 1)
Table 3. Top 10 research articles listed by article impact.
C. A. Wiley and D. A. MacRae: Brain Pathology: Past, Present, and Future
191