As we conclude another year, it is with great pleasure that we celebrate a major milestone—the Journal’s sixth year of continuous publication. This year has been particularly significant as we achieved indexing in both PubMed and Scopus, alongside our existing presence in the Web of Science Emerging Sources Citation Index. These additions not only underscore the quality and impact of the research we publish but also reflect the trust that the academic community places in our journal as a platform for advancing medical knowledge in infectious diseases and clinical microbiology.
As I have done every year, by taking this opportunity, I would like to share some figures from IDCM. So far, during this past year, we have received a total of 170 submissions, an 88% increase compared to 2023. We rejected 69% of those submissions, and the desk (rapid) rejection rate by editors without sending them out for a peer review was 42%. However, please make sure that these numbers are not misinterpreted regarding the quality of the submitted papers; rather, they should be related to the rigorous review by both our editors and reviewers.
As a journal with a proven maturity, we plan some changes during the year ahead: Considering the rapid increase in submissions, we shall discuss the possibility with the Society of more frequent publishing (i.e. every other month; in total, six issues per year). We will be accepting review articles only by invitation. We will only accept single case reports if they report very rare or not-reported-before types of cases and with an educational rationale. However, case series on less-known topics coupled with an extensive literature review are welcome.
Last but not least, we sincerely thank our reviewers whose tireless efforts helped us to reach the achivements described above. You will find a full list of them at the end of this Issue.
I wish you all a healthy and prosperous New Year.