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Bioinformatics vol. 21 issue 1 © Oxford University Press 2005; all rights reserved.
INCREASING THE IMPACT OF BIOINFORMATICS
The year 2004 has been very successful for Bioinformatics. The journal's latest impact factor from the Institute for Scientific Information has increased from 4.615 to 6.701. This is quite an exceptional increase reflecting the increasing standard of work in the journal as well as the increasing stature of the field. Early in 2004, we implemented a new system for Advance online access which allows scientists to access research in Bioinformatics as rapidly as possible.
The number of manuscripts submitted to the journal continues to grow. In 2003 we received 1300 submissions while in 2004 we received over 1800 submissions. That we have coped with this large increase is testament to the dedication and hard work of our team of Associate Editors, referees and the Editorial Office. To cope with future growth we are adapting our editorial structure and processes.
From 2005 the journal will appear 24 times per year rather than the 18 issues per year previously. This will allow us to publish more of the high quality research and applications that are being submitted to us each day. However, the increase in submissions has outstripped the increase in journal pages. This means that our acceptance rate is decreasing to 
20%.
We are in the process of appointing new Associate Editors to replace those who have stepped down and to increase our coverage of new areas. We would like to thank Gert Vriend, Debbie Marks and Fritz Roth for their invaluable contribution to the journal. We are also in the process of expanding the membership of our Editorial Board.
In 2005, we will be introducing a new scheme of categories for papers. During the submission process authors will be asked to choose which category their paper belongs to. This will improve the assignment of manuscripts to editors as well as helping us to formulate a clear definition of the scope of the journal within each category, thus improving organization, in terms of layout and editorial process.
Open Access is a topic that is very important to many of our authors and readers. Along this line, we as Editors, and Oxford University Press as a not-for-profit academic publisher, are very much in favour of the principle of making scientific publications freely available. For a well-established journal, as Bioinformatics is now, it is also important to preserve the reputation and financial security of the journal to which authors, referees, editors and readers have contributed over the many years. During 2005 we will learn a great deal from the experience of our sister journal, Nucleic Acids Research, which is introducing a full Open Access model. We are also seeking the opinions of our authors and readers through a survey exploring publication models. We will be sure to base our decision on whether to move forward with an Open Access initiative on the response from our readers, authors and their institutions. So please let us know your views. If we are encouraged by the journal's community to experiment with Open Access, and with a carefully studied new business model in place, we see Open Access as a real opportunity for the journal in the near future.
This significant collection of changes will make 2005 an important year for the journal. Our new cover design reflects this spirit of change which will make our journal, and the bioinformatics field, more open to science.
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