JGLD has got its first impact factor.

Four years after changing the journal name in order to adapt to its international development (formerly it was called the Romanian Journal of Gastroenterology) and two years after their last message to the readers, announcing the indexing of the journal by ISI/Thomson Reuters [1], the Editors believe it is time for a new message. And they have a good reason for this: the Journal of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases (JGLD) has received its first Impact Factor. Evidently, every editor wants his journal to be known by the entire medical community. Aware that the most prestigious database is ISI Thomson Reuters, Philadelphia, PA, USA, every editor would like his/her journal indexed by them. In addition, every author would like to have his manuscript published in an ISI indexed journal. To be indexed is important, but this is not sufficient: the journal should have an Impact Factor and it should be high. As the universally accepted index for evaluating the success of a biomedical journal, the Impact Factor can be used to compare related specialist journals [2]. With an Impact Factor of 1.265 for the year 2009, the JGLD ranks 51 among 65 journals in the Subjects’ category Gastroenterology & Hepatology [3]. This might not be impressive, but as a first Impact Factor, it is promising. Table I shows the position of the JGLD on the list of 29 journals of gastroenterology, as it has been published by the major website of the specialty, www.gastrohep.com. The establishment of a scientific Romanian journal was considered to be one of several important measures by which the task of developing gastroenterology in Romania as a scientific field could be accomplished. The JGLD was initiated in 1992 as an English-written journal [4]. We were aware at that time that publications in the English language are more readily considered by internal or external academic eDItorIaLs