This report has two parts: (I) performance metrics about the submission, review, editorial, production, and publication process of Applied Animal Science (AAS) from January 1 through December 31, 2024, and a comparison with the previous four years (2023–2020) of publication and (II) a summary of activities and accomplishments in 2024 and anticipated activities and changes for 2025.
I) Performance information for January 1 through December 31, 2024, compared with the previous four years
Tables 1 and 2 below contain information that we have been tracking for the past seven years to monitor various metrics about the publication process and performance of AAS.
Brief Summary:
Overall performance was quite good in 2024. This was the first full year that publication was entirely by Gold Open Access (OA) via Elsevier.
Table 1. In 2024, submissions (n = 128) to AAS were about the same as the previous four years (average 129). Submissions peaked in 2020 (n = 156), which was probably associated with extra writing activity of authors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the decline in submissions after 2020 may be associated with less new research (fewer experiments conducted in 2020–2021), and thus less laboratory and data analyses and fewer new manuscript submissions. Similar trends were noted by other animal science journals. The 2024 acceptance rate (65%) of reviewed manuscripts was similar compared with the average of the previous four years (62%).
Time metrics (e.g., average time in review, average production time, total time from submission to publication) have remained relatively constant over the last five years with one exception. In 2024, the time in review dropped 36% to 71 days (2.3 months). It is not totally clear why this happened. Of course, the good answer is that authors, reviewers, and editors worked very well and faster in 2024 compared with past years. Also, it may be due in part to the pushing of Kristin Hales with all those involved for the Special Issue published in June. Those 20 articles were 25% of all articles (n = 80) published in 2024.
Average time in production was similar to the previous four years (65 days); this time figure includes all articles that were not in the Special Issue. If the Special Issue articles are included, the time in production increased to 75 days, mainly because some of the Special Issue articles were held longer than normal before publication while waiting for all accepted Special Issue articles to be ready for publication.
The total time from submission to publication (136 days) was very good compared with other years (average of 170 days for the previous four years). This occurred mainly because of the shorter time in review. This total time from submission to publication is similar to other animal science journals using a similar review, revision, and publication model. This is testament to the responsiveness and diligent work of our volunteer reviewers, science associate editors, technical editors, and journal production staff at FASS.
Total pages published (n = 853) in 2024 was substantially greater than in 2023 (n = 534), a 60% increase, and 19% greater than the average of the previous four years. This may be due to all OA publishing in 2024 compared with only 23% to 54% of articles being published OA in the previous four years. Possibly (probably) authors are somewhat less price sensitive to the number of pages published via OA compared with the page-charge model. Open access fees are the same per article, regardless of the number of pages published. The OA fees differ only for ARPAS members compared with non-ARPAS members per our publication contract with Elsevier. Additionally, the OA fees of the 20 Special Issue articles were paid with extramural funds recruited by Hales; therefore, the authors also may have written more pages and been less sensitive to publication costs.
Table 2. Profile of distribution of article types (AAS’s Science and Application Categories) remained relatively similar from 2020 through 2024. In 2024 the proportion of articles published as reviews, symposium or invited reviews, and perspectives and commentaries was 11%, similar to previous years. Over 80% for articles published in 2024, 2023, and 2022 were original research articles. Short communication articles published in 2024, 2023, and 2022 were fewer than in 2021 and 2020; it had been an editorial objective since 2018 to reduce the number of short communication and case study articles, which had become too large of a proportion of total articles published. Authors select from 1 of the 10 Science and Application Categories (Extension and Teaching; Food Science; Forages and Feeds; Genetics and Breeding; Health; Production and Management; Nutrition; Physiology; Sustainability and Integrated Systems; and, Welfare and Behavior) at the time of submission; few category changes have been made during the review and revision process in consultation with the editor in chief.
II) Summary of activities and accomplishments in 2024, and activities and changes forward into 2025
A. Activities in 2024
1. In 2024, 24 journal-related press releases were issued. They were posted to the AAS site in Elsevier’s Science Direct and on the APRAS website, and they were widely distributed to agricultural news organizations. Six press releases were about articles in the Special Issue.
2. The publication of AAS’s first Special Issue on Liver Abscesses in Cattle was published in the June issue under the leadership of Kristin Hales and Dave Beede.
3. Clarivate announced in mid-2024 AAS’s second Impact Factor of 1.4 for the publication year 2023; this was a 0.1 drop compared with 2022. The reason for this is unknown. The Impact Factor will be updated annually by Clairvate mid-year. Also, Elsevier’s current (2024) CiteScore for AAS is 3.0, an increase over the 2023 CiteScore of 2.6; the CiteScore is a similar computational rating system to the Impact Factor but takes into account more years of publication.
4. Associate editors for 2024 were Eric van Heugten (North Carolina State University; swine, non-ruminants); Kristin Hales (Texas Tech University; beef feedlot and meats); Daniel Rivera (University of Arkansas; grazing beef cattle, ruminants, forages); and David Beede (Michigan State University; dairy cattle and other topics, and article types).
5. Laura Esterman was the managing editor and FASS director of publications. Other FASS staff diligently working with AAS were Christine Horger (lead technical editor), Shauna Miller (ScholarOne Manuscripts administrator and support), Ron Keller (production), and Jess Townsend (marketing, communications, and public relations).
6. With funding approved by the ARPAS Executive Committee and the work and support of FASS personnel (Jess Townsend and Laura Esterman), AAS launched a concerted public relations and marketing campaign in May 2023; these efforts continued in 2024.
7. Related to marketing, many worldwide “Calls for Papers” were made via ARPAS social media, in each issue of the journal, and by Elsevier marketing using databases and networks to prospective animal science authors.
8. ORCIDs were published in articles, when authors provided needed information. ORCID maintains a database that keeps the publication history and unique name(s) of individual authors, if they choose to register in and maintain their data in the system. This service is facilitated and offered to authors by AAS without charge.
9. Invitations were made to selected individuals to write and submit invited reviews for AAS. Nine Reviews, Invited Reviews and Symposia, and Perspectives and Commentaries articles were published in 2023.
10. Official letters of thanks and public posting of reviewers’ names were made to journal and ARPAS web pages for all volunteer reviewers for 2024, and an official letter of thanks was sent in early 2025 to each reviewer of 2024 manuscripts.
11. An email announcement and request were sent to all ARPAS members in early 2024 asking for potential topics and authors for invited articles in 2024 to 2025. About two dozen suggestions were received and some articles resulted or are resulting from those suggestions; for instance, the Special Issue for 2025 (mentioned in the following) is an example.
B. Work and activities in 2024 and into 2025
1. A major change for AAS in 2024 and forward was the flip to completely Gold Open Access (GOA) publishing. This was widely publicized. The GOA fees to authors in 2024 were $1,850 or $1,480 if at least one author is an active member of ARPAS. This is about a 26% reduction in the OA publication fee compared with 2023 and earlier. This reduction in cost to authors was very competitive with OA fees of other animal science journals. It is hoped it will attract additional submissions. Some possible impacts of this were mentioned previously in the first part of this report. Overall, the effects seem to be positive; however, there is no way to know the number of manuscripts not submitted because AAS went to total OA publishing versus the page-charge model.
2. A significant effort in 2024 to 2025 is to publish a Special Issue on “Effects of Previous Management on Finishing Performance of Beef Cattle.” Work on this issue began in mid-2024. Associate Editor Daniel Rivera is leading this effort and inviting authors. A total of 10 invited articles have been accepted.
3. In the future, other Special Issues of AAS should be considered, or focused sections within an issue on selected timely topics (e.g., specific feedstuff utilization, production systems) may be an appropriate approach.
4. Additionally, the feasibility of bundling AAS with other animal science journals within the Elsevier portfolio may be considered. This possibility is controlled and driven by Elsevier. The potential advantage for AAS doing this would be increased visibility among authors and readers with other animal science journals with similar subject matter.
5. Continued quarterly invitations from the editor in chief to prospective experts to write and submit invited reviews to AAS are planned. Suggestions of possible topic areas are always welcome.
6. AAS plans to continue to produce press releases monthly or quarterly based on journal articles from each issue.
7. We plan to send letters of thanks to each and all reviewers in 2025 and publish the list on ARPAS web page.
8. AAS will update the Editorial Board in early 2025; it is currently seeking and inviting new members. Please provide suggestions to the editor in chief or self-nominate.
9. The change in editorial leadership for AAS was announced in December 2024 and is in effect. William Weiss now serves as editor in chief, commencing January 1, 2025. I trust ARPAS and FASS will give Weiss their full support.
10. It has been a pleasure to serve ARPAS as editor in chief of AAS for the last seven years. Most of the time it has been a very enjoyable and stimulating activity.
Respectfully submitted,
David K. Beede, Editor in Chief 2018–2024