In an editorial published in the second issue of Clínica e Investigación en Arteriosclerosis last year, we stated that it could reasonably be foreseen that our journal would be assigned an impact factor in the near future. Our statement was largely based on the considerable improvement in the reference indices of Clínica e Investigación en Arteriosclerosis in recent years. Well, the prediction came true, and the official journal of the Spanish Society of Arteriosclerosis has had an impact factor since last June. The impact factor achieved by our journal based on data from the Journal Citation Reports™ (JCR), in the Peripheral Artery Disease category, is 1.6.
Clínica e Investigación en Arteriosclerosis was assigned an impact factor for different reasons, the most important being the upward and sustained evolution in the number of citations over the last 10 years, as accredited by all the indicators (CiteScore, Journal Citation Indicator, SCImago Journal Rank, and Source-Normalized Impact per Paper). This resulted in Clínica e Investigación en Arteriosclerosis being included in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) in 2018, which was the de facto prelude to obtaining the impact factor. From that moment on, the journal undertook a series of actions to ensure maximum options. These actions included a revamped cover image, the inclusion of a subheading (La revista iberoamericana de lipidología y riesgo vascular) to highlight the journal's role as a unifying force in these fields in Latin America, the renewal of the editorial boards following criteria of scientific excellence, generational turnover and parity, and the creation of new sections, such as methodological notes.
Although all these actions have contributed, to a greater or lesser extent, to the success we enjoy today, special mention should be made of all the people who have worked hard and generously over the years to ensure that Clínica e Investigación en Arteriosclerosis has maintained an upward trend and was included in the Medline database in the first instance, and thus gained international renown. We would like to thank the different management teams of Clínica e Investigación en Arteriosclerosis, the professionals of the Elsevier publishing house, all the researchers who have published their studies in the journal, even when other options might have been more attractive to give visibility to their work, and these same people who with their work as reviewers have contributed to the improved quality of the articles. We would also like to thank the various boards of the Spanish Society of Arteriosclerosis for their tireless efforts in encouraging the publication of studies originating within the Society.
A journal with an impact factor of 1.6 will undoubtedly attract more and better papers, which will increase the number of citations, an essential factor for moving up a quartile. Placing Clínica e Investigación en Arteriosclerosis in quartile 2 of its category is the new challenge and a realistic medium-term objective, which will give the Spanish Society of Arteriosclerosis an official journal with a scientific level on a par with the research conducted within it, and which is well deserved.