Journal of Biological Chemistry

Journal of Biological Chemistry  
Abbreviated title (ISO) J. Biol. Chem.
Discipline Biochemistry, Molecular Biology
Language English
Edited by Martha Fedor, Herbert Tabor
Publication details
Publisher American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (United States)
Publication history 1905–present
Frequency Weekly
Open access After 12 months
Impact factor
(2010)
5.328
Indexing
ISSN 0021-9258 (print)
1083-351X (web)
LCCN 06046735
CODEN JBCHA3
Links

The Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1905. Since 1925 it is published by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. It covers research in any area of biochemistry or molecular biology. The editor-in-chief is Herbert Tabor. All its articles are available free one year after publication. In press articles are available free on its website immediately after acceptance.

Contents

History

The journal was established in 1905 by John Jacob Abel and Christian Archibald Herter, who also served as the first editors; the first issue appeared in October 1905.[1] The location of the journal's editorial offices has included Cornell Medical College (until 1937), Yale University (1937–1958), Harvard University (1958–1967), and New York (from 1967).[2] The journal is currently published by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) at the ASBMB offices in Rockville, Maryland.

Editors

The following individuals have served as editors-in-chief:

Ranking and criticism of impact factor

The editors of the Journal of Biological Chemistry have criticized the modern reliance upon the impact factor for ranking journals, noting that review articles, commentaries, and retractions are included in the calculation. Further, the denominator of total articles published encourages journals to be overly selective in what they publish, and preferentially publish articles which will receive more attention and citations.[3] The journal's practice of publishing a broad cross-section of biochemistry articles has led it to suffer in impact factor, in 2006 ranking 260 of 6,164, while remaining the most highly cited journal.[4] When science journals were evaluated with a PageRank-based algorithm, however, the Journal of Biological Chemistry ranked first.[5] The 2010 impact factor of the journal is 5.328.[6]

References

  1. ^ Fruton, Joseph S. (June 7, 2002). "The First Years of the Journal of Biological Chemistry". The Journal of Biological Chemistry 277 (23): 20113–20116. doi:10.1074/jbc.R200004200. PMID 11960998. http://www.jbc.org/content/277/23/20113.full. 
  2. ^ Edsall, John T. (October 10, 1980). "The Journal of Biological Chemistry After Seventy-Five Years". The Journal of Biological Chemistry 255 (19): 8939–8951. http://www.jbc.org/content/255/19/8939.full. 
  3. ^ Hascall, Vincent C.; Hanson, Richard W. (August 20, 2007). "JBC on Journal Ranking". http://www.jbc.org/site/misc/journalranking.xhtml. "Notably, The Annual Review of Immunology had the highest Impact Factor score in 2005 with The Annual Review of Biochemistry rating second. This raises the question of whether citations in reviews should, in fact, be included in the data base used to calculate Impact Factors.... High Impact Factor journals, such as Science and Nature, publish letters, commentaries, and even retractions, all of which have citations that are included in the numerator without inclusion of their number in the denominator of the Impact Factor." 
  4. ^ Hascall, Vincent C.; Hanson, Richard W. (August 20, 2007). "JBC on Journal Ranking". http://www.jbc.org/site/misc/journalranking.xhtml. "As a result of this policy, the Journal has grown over the past 20 years in parallel with the growth of research in the biological sciences, to the point that today it is the world's largest and most cited journal. This is not, however, necessarily a good thing for the presumed status of the Journal; it may be highly cited, but in 2006 it ranked only 260 among the 6,164 scientific journals evaluated by Impact Factor metrics." 
  5. ^ Hascall, Vincent C.; Bollen, Johan; Hanson, Richard W. (July 27, 2007). "Impact Factor Page Rankled". ASBMB Today: 16–19. http://www.jbc.org/site/misc/Journal-Ranking-ASBMBToday.pdf. 
  6. ^ "Journal Citation Reports". 2010. http://admin-apps.isiknowledge.com/JCR/. 

External links