Annual Report of OAE Publishing Inc. in 2021
The year 2021 has been a milestone for OAE Publishing Inc. This past year, OAE has made breakthrough achievements by adhering to high-quality publishing in journal processing. Here, we summarize our work in 2021 for the scholars who have been supporting us.
New Journals in 2021
In 2021, OAE cooperated with more outstanding scholars and launched a total of 22 new journals, covering the fields of materials, chemistry, engineering, agronomy, and the environment (Figure 1). The Editors-in-Chief of these new journals are mainly from the United States, China, Italy, and Canada, among other countries (Figure 2). Among the 22 new journals, 15 journals published more than seven articles in 2021 and successfully obtained ISSN numbers. In total, 189 high-quality articles were published in these 22 new journals in 2021 with the joint efforts of scholars and the Editorial Office. This achievement also shows that OAE Publishing Inc. has successfully branched out from the biomedical field to other disciplines. It is worth mentioning that, in these 22 new journals, we have established cooperative relationships with 145 female scholars, further promoting the participation of female scholars in academic publishing (Figure 3).
Figure 1. The 22 journals newly launched by OAE in 2021.
Figure 2. Country distribution of the Editors-in-Chief of the new OAE journals.
Figure 3. In total, 145 female scientists joined the Editorial Boards of OAE journals in 2021.
Data in 2021
In 2021, 34 OAE journals focused on 137 hot topics in related research fields, with 1366 submissions received and 630 high-quality articles published. The authors of published articles are mainly from the USA, China, Italy, and Japan, among other countries (Figure 4). We waived the article processing charges for 630 published articles and saved the authors for a total of $1.5 million. which reduces the financial pressure on scholars and promotes scientific dissemination and innovation.
Figure 4. Country distribution of authors in 2021.
As of 31 December 2021, OAE journals gathered 1,269 Editorial Board members. They are mainly from the USA, China, Italy, and Australia, among other countries (Figure 5).
Figure 5. Country distributions of Board members of OAE journals in 2021.
To strengthen the relationship between the Editors-in-Chief and Editorial Board members and further improve the quality and standard of publishing, we held 19 online Editorial Boards meetings in 2021 (Figures 6–9). This enhances the communication among Editorial Board members who have made good suggestions and promoted the development of our journals.
Figure 6. The First Editorial Board Meeting of the Journal Ageing and Neurodegenerative Diseases.
Figure 7. The First Editorial Board Meeting of the Journal Artificial Intelligence Surgery.
Figure 8. The First Editorial Board Meeting of Intelligence & Robotics.
Figure 9. The First Editorial Board Meeting of Journal of Cancer Metastasis and Treatment in 2021.
To encourage young scholars to participate in more academic exchange activities, some OAE journals have established the Youth Editorial Board in 2021. To date, 515 outstanding young scholars have joined the Youth Editorial Board of OAE and contributed to the development of the journals (Figure 10).
Figure 10. Country distributions of Youth Board members of OAE journals in 2021.
From 2017 to 2021, by adhering to the principle of high-quality publishing, the number of article views and downloads has increased significantly (Figure 11).
Figure 11. Views and downloads of OAE publications from 2017 to 2021.
Other Contributions OAE Has Made to Academic Development
To enhance the communications between scholars during the COVID-19 pandemic, we held 25 webinars in 2021 (Figure 12), which were highly praised by scholars. Please check our journal websites for more webinars.
Figure 12. Some of the webinars organized in 2021.
To further promote innovation and development and expand the influence of OAE journals in the related fields, in 2021, we successfully cooperated with 57 academic conferences and organizations (Figure 13), including sponsoring CSEMV & EVCNA Best Lectureship Award (Figures 14 and 15), become an affiliated journal of other groups (Figure 16), etc., which encourage academic exchanges, promote our publications, and give us more visibility.
Figure 13. Some of the media partnerships of OAE journals.
Figure 14. Soft Science sponsored the Young Scientist Awards of iCANX.
Figure 15. Professor Hang Yin of Tsinghua University won the CSEMV & EVCNA Best Lectureship Award.
Figure 16. (Left) The Journal of Cardiovascular Aging is an affiliated journal of the IACS. (Right) The journal Water Emerging Contaminants & Nanoplastics is an official journal of IDAEA.
Innovations that OAE Has Made in Publication
In 2021, we upgraded our digital publishing system and developed graphical abstract and video abstract options (Figure 17), which improves the accessibility for readers.
Figure 17. Video abstracts of publications in 2021.
To disseminate the academic content rapidly, in 2021, we developed functions such as article pre-release (Figure 18), which enable articles to be published online 24 hours after being accepted.
Figure 18. Pre-release of articles online.
We have also developed the webinar function (Figure 19). This allows scholars to communicate on hot topics online, enables them to share ideas during the COVID-19 pandemic, and eventually promotes the development of related disciplines.
Figure 19. Webinar registration.
In 2021, to further improve the publication quality of journals, our Quality Control Office updated various quality control standards and documents, including Instructions on Quality Control in Academic Publishing of OAE Publishing Inc., and integrated the quality control list into the manuscript submission system to control the whole publishing process and meet the best practice standards of academic publishing through a more stringent standard process. To further strengthen our editors’ high-quality publishing awareness and publishing ethics, the Quality Control Office held various training sessions for editors, which discussed complex cases in the publishing process and determined the best solutions.
In 2021, to improve the efficiency of editorial work, we also optimized our manuscript submission system Mesas, including the integration of independent submission systems for each journal, and the Production Office can now view the publishing requirements of all journals through one account. Through the integration of the manuscript submission system, the response speed of the entire system has been improved, enabling editors to better serve scholars. At the same time, for the new journals established in 2021, according to the requirements of the Editorial Board of each journal, we have adjusted the manuscript processing process of some new journals. This makes the manuscript processing more efficient and enhances the relationship between the Editors-in-Chief and Editorial Board members.
Indexing of OAE Journals
In 2021, four OAE journals, Cancer Drug Resistance, Journal of Cancer Metastasis and Treatment, Vessel Plus, and Hepatoma Research, were successively indexed in Scopus, an important citation database, after the rigorous review by the review committee. Six OAE journals, Cancer Drug Resistance, Journal of Cancer Metastasis and Treatment, Journal of Translational Genetics and Genomics, Vessel Plus, Neuroimmunology and Neuroinflammation, and Hepatoma Research, were indexed in CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society. Eleven OAE journals were indexed by CNKI Scholar. Finally, 31 were indexed by Wanfang Data (Figure 20).
Figure 20. Database indexing of OAE journals in 2021.
Overall, 2021 has been an extraordinary year for OAE. In 2022, we pledge to continue to adhere to the principle of high-quality publishing with higher standards, serve more scholars, publish more high-quality articles, and promote the development and progress of science.
