From January 2022, we have implemented the addition of a graphical summary in original articles.2 Therefore, the authors of these articles need to submit a file with a figure including illustrations and text to visually summarise the contents of the work and the most relevant findings. Once the accepted manuscripts are processed and published online, this summary will be published in the website of the journal and in the profile of the Asociación Española de Pediatría (Spanish Association of Pediatrics, AEP) in social networks, providing potential readers preliminary information to capture their interest, thereby increasing the visibility of the journal contents.

In 2021, the number of submissions—nearing 1000—plateaued after the sharp increase spurred by the pandemic in 2020,3 maintaining the increasing trend observed in preceding years, as can be seen in Fig. 1. Fig. 2 presents the distribution by type of article, which was similar to the distribution in previous years, with a slight increase in the percentage of original articles, which amounted to more than half of the total manuscripts. The overall acceptance rate continued to be around 20%, but in the case of original articles, it was of 14%, slightly greater compared to 2020 (Fig. 3). The increase in the number of accepted original articles available online but that were not assigned to an issue of the journal resulted in a delay in the mean manuscript processing time, as can be seen in Fig. 4. Due to the high percentage of rejections, we have a moral obligation to be particularly diligent in issuing the initial response to allow authors to submit their manuscripts to other journals. Therefore, we maintained optimal time frames for all other manuscript processing time intervals, as was done in previous years.

Figure 1.

Annual changes in the total number of received and accepted manuscripts in years 2013-2021.

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Figure 2.

Annual changes in the percentage of original articles, scientific letters and letters to the editor received in the 2013-2021 period.

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Figure 3.

Annual changes in the total number of received original article manuscripts and the percentage accepted in years 2013-2021.

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Figure 4.

Mean time elapsed to first response (years 2013-2021).

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The visibility of Anales de Pediatría continues its upward trend, thus contributing to its chief mission to disseminate scientific knowledge in paediatrics. The total visits increased by nearly one million, reaching a historic peak of 9.3 millions (Fig. 5). This increase is mainly due to visits to the website of Anales de Pediatría (Fig. 6) and to a lesser extent to access through Science Direct (Fig. 7). The website of the journal allows readers to find out which are the articles read most often. In the year under consideration, 2021, the most-read article, with 454 554 views, is an article of the AEP about COVID-19 titled “Documento español de consenso sobre diagnóstico, estabilización y tratamiento del síndrome inflamatorio multisistémico pediátrico vinculado a SARS-CoV-2 (SIM-PedS)” (Spanish consensus document on diagnosis, stabilisation and treatment of paediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome related to SARS-CoV-2) by García Salido et al4 on behalf of the Working Group on Paediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome Temporally Associated with SARS-Cov-2 of the Asociación Española de Pediatría (Fig. 8).

Figure 5.

Mean manuscript processing time from acceptance to publication (years 2013-2021).

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Figure 6.

Visibility of Anales de Pediatría: a) Number of visits to the site (www.analesdepediatria.org) (years 2013-2021). b) The percentage distribution by country was: Mexico 23%, Spain 21%, Argentina 9%, Colombia 9%, Peru 7%, Chile 6%, Ecuador 4%, United States 2%, Venezuela 3%, Bolivia 2%, other 14%.

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Figure 7.

Visibility of Anales de Pediatría: number of visits from Science Direct Science Direct (years 2013-2021).

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Figure 8.

Visibility of Anales de Pediatría: total number of visits (years 2013-2021).

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The current estimate of the number of citations made in 2021 is excellent, nearly doubling the 273 achieved in 2020, with a low proportion of self-citations. This, combined with the implementation of the announced changes to the calculation of the impact factor, lead us to expect an increase in the latter for 2021, which has yet to be published at the time of this writing. However, the inflation effect of these changes will result in an overall increase in the impact factor across publications, so the journal may remain in the same quartile.

The estimate obtained for 2021 using Elsevier’s Cite Score is also promising, as it shows an increase in the citations made between 2018 and 2021 (1306) compared to the preceding period (839).

Table 1 lists the 412 reviewers that collaborated with Anales de Pediatría in 2021. As we do every year, we thank them for their altruistic work, a key element in the quality of the editorial process. The comments they provide in each review contribute to improving each manuscript and help select those that best fit the journal on account of their subject matter, scientific quality and methodology.

It is inspiring to see the number of manuscripts submitted to Anales de Pediatría continue to increase each year. However, the inescapable limitations to acceptance require that the Editorial Committee, with the support of the peer reviewers, engage in a laborious and conscientious selection process. We are aware of the responsibility that we hold and also of the possibility of erring, and therefore carry out our tasks with due diligence. We hope to keep mistakes to a minimum, and offer our apologies to authors in anticipation of any errors that may occur.

The annual award Anales de Pediatría 2022 to the best article published by the journal in 2021 was given to "Abordaje de factores de riesgo de diabetes tipo 2 en adolescentes: estudio PRE-STARt Euskadi” by Alustiza et al on behalf of the PRE-STARt Group, Euskadi, An Pediatr (Barc) 2021; 95:186-196.5

The award to the article that has contributed the most to the impact factor of Anales de Pediatría in the last 2 years (2020 and 2021) was given to a scientific letter on the cutaneous manifestations of COVID 19, An Pediatr (Barc) 2020; 92:374-5.6

We offer our congratulations to the authors of these articles.

The new Board of Directors of the AEP has entrusted the management of Anales de Pediatría to this Editorial Committee and provided us support in the past few months.7 it has supported the strategies proposed to decrease the delay in the assignation of manuscripts to specific issues of the journal, and facilitated the achievement of this goal despite the economic costs involved. It also continues to support the open access to the journal, the simultaneous publication of the Spanish and English versions and the diffusion of its contents in the social media accounts of the AEP, strategies that contribute to increasing the visibility of Anales de Pediatría.

Last of all, we take this opportunity to thank all individuals that facilitate the growth of the journal by contributing their time and effort.