Open access efforts begin to bloom: ESC Heart Failure gets full attention and first impact factor

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Medical Publishing
• Heart Failure Research

Background:

• The Heart Failure Association (HFA) established ESC Heart Failure (ESC-HF) in 2014 as the first open-access journal dedicated to heart failure.
• ESC-HF has published over 450 articles in its first five years, fostering international heart failure research.
• A transfer process from the European Journal of Heart Failure to ESC-HF was implemented.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review citation patterns of articles published in ESC Heart Failure.
• To identify characteristics of highly cited papers within the journal.
• To assess the journal's impact and reach in the field of heart failure.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of publication and submission data for ESC-HF.
• Review of citation metrics for articles published in the journal.
• Identification of paper types (e.g., reviews, original research) and their citation performance.

Main Results:

• ESC-HF received 289 submissions and published 148 articles in 2018, with an acceptance rate of 51%.
• The journal has been indexed in Scopus since 2014 and PubMed since 2015.
• ESC-HF achieved its first impact factor of 3.407 in 2018.
• Review articles and 'facts & numbers' mini-reviews were among the most cited papers, alongside well-cited original research.

Conclusions:

• ESC-HF has established itself as a significant platform for global heart failure research.
• Review articles and original research published in ESC-HF are highly cited, indicating their influence.
• The journal's indexing and impact factor demonstrate its growing importance in the cardiology community.