Marking a milestone. REC: Interventional Cardiology assigned its first impact factor

Abstract

At the time of drafting this Editor’s page, we were thrilled to learn that REC: Interventional Cardiology has received its very first impact factor (IF) of 1.4 in the latest edition of the Journal Citation Reports.1 This is outstanding news and the assigned IF greatly exceeds our expectations. Like many other editors before us, we have previously mentioned on past Editor’s pages the excessive and almost obsessive reliance of the current medical publication world on IF.2-6 Everything seems to revolve around this highly coveted metric, which is made public by all medical journals without exception, especially when it increases. The manuscripts published in the different sections of REC: Interventional Cardiology have significantly impacted the interventional cardiology community in Spain and abroad. Indeed, some of our articles have received numerous citations in top international journals. Likewise, consensus documents drafted by the Interventional Cardiology Association of the Spanish Society of Cardiology (ACI-SEC) have achieved significant dissemination and impact. However, despite the obvious negative aspects of IF, the truth is that it has become the most widely recognized and accepted metric to estimate the value, visibility, and impact of scientific publications. Therefore, if there is anything we would like to highlight in this Editor’s page, it...