The success of Agronomy for Sustainable Development: from IF 0.566 rank 29/53 to IF 2.9 rank 4/75

EA SAR CICAP CT scientifiqueInternational audienceScientific journals are facing an increasing competition directly impacting publishers and editorial boards. In addition, access to scientific information and reading patterns have deeply changed. From 2003 the journal Agronomy for Sustainable Development (ASD) has adapted its editorial policy to this highly competitive and moving environment in order to stand out and improve its impact (1). The scope, language and title of the journal were modified. A preselection step was introduced, several calls for reviews were made and spin-off books were published (2). Particular attention was given to abstracts, titles, colour figures and photos. A sister book series named Sustainable Agriculture Reviews (3) was created to recycle articles rejected by ASD, thus decreasing authors disappointment. As a result, ASD impact factor increased from 0.566 rank 29/53 in 2003 to 2.9 rank 4/75 in 2010. ASD also achieved the highest percent increase in total citations in the field of Agricultural Sciences early 2010 according to Essential Science Indicators data from Thomson Reuters (4). Here we list editorial changes responsible for the increase of the impact factor and category rank. 1) doi: 10.1051/agro:2008054 2) doi: 10.1007/978-90-481-2666-8, doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-0394-0 3) http://www.springer.com/series/8380 4) http://sciencewatch.com/inter/jou/2010/10novAgrSusDev