STS News, Summer 2016 -- STS members and subscribers to The Annals of Thoracic Surgery are loyal readers. A new survey found that 85% of respondents read The Annals at least once per month, and nearly all respondents (97%) said the journal keeps them up-to-date with the latest advances in the field.
“There are many changes taking place for The Annals, and this survey was an important step in learning what the readership thinks is valuable,” said Editor G. Alexander Patterson, MD, FRCS(C). “I was impressed with the response rate, which indicates good engagement with the journal. These survey results will give us a baseline against which to evaluate our new initiatives.”
Elsevier Inc., which has published The Annals since 1989, distributed a 36-question online survey to 6,750 members and subscribers last fall. The overall response rate was 17% (1,158), with 40% of respondents residing outside of the United States.
“The results tell us that The Annals is successfully serving its readers and the medical communities. We assumed this to be true, but now we have the data to prove it,” said Andrew Berin, Publishing Director at Elsevier. “For example, fully 90% of those surveyed find the ‘How To Do It’ feature very useful or useful. This percentage rises to 96% when asked about original research published in The Annals. That’s powerful.”
"The results tell us that The Annals is successfully serving its readers and the medical communities."
Digital Resources Expanding
While the majority of subscribers (53%) primarily read the journal in print form, use of digital media is popular. Close to half (46%) of readers reported visiting the journal’s website (www.annalsthoracicsurgery.org) at least monthly, while more than one-third (35%) have accessed The Annals through its mobile app. Available on both iOS and Android platforms, the app allows users to create reading lists, add notes, and save articles for offline viewing. The app also includes interactive figures, tables, multimedia presentations, and supplementary content.
The Annals recently added enhanced multimedia content, including video interviews with authors and editorial board members. That content will expand as more authors include supplemental content, specifically videos, with their submissions.
The journal also started tracking how online communities engage with the content.
“All of the discussions people are having about certain articles—whether in the popular press, blogs, or social media—are now tracked and measured on Annals article homepages. This is but one additional means of measuring the impact of research,” Berin said.
New Submission Site Available
In April, the journal launched a new manuscript submission site: www.editorialmanager.com/annals. Early feedback has been very positive.
“Authors will experience a more intuitive submission process, and editors and reviewers will have a streamlined yet powerful system for peer review,” said Kavitha Reinhold, Managing Editor of The Annals.
Users of the previous manuscript system do not need to create another account; login information was carried over to the new manuscript tracking system. For more information on submitting a manuscript to The Annals, visit www.annalsthoracicsurgery.org/content/authorinfo.