Report to IAU Commission 7
2009-2012
The
mean impact factor calculated by the Institute
for Scientific Information and published in the Journal Citation
Reports was 1.663 in the triennium, with an exceptional high of 1.818
in 2009. The JCR impact factor
is defined by the number of citations, in a given year, to papers published in the journal in the two
previous calendar years and has significant statistical fluctuations.
ISI is also publoishing, since 2007, a 5-yr impact factor. The mean
5-yr factor of CMDA reached 1.397 in the triennium, with a maximum of
1.515 in 2010. The analysis of previous years shows that all multiple-year impact factors of CMDA are being held above 1.2 since 2008.
After
the successful thematic special issue on "Spin-Orbit Dynamics"
published with A.Celletti as guest editor in 2008, two more, on
"Extrasolar Planetary Syustems" and "Resonance in N-body Systems", were
published in 2011 and 2012 with C.Beaugé and R.Dvorak as guest editors,
respectively. Selected papers from conferences were also published in
2009 and 2010 with papers previously submitted to the 7th Humboldt, 40th DDA, Astrocon V and CELMEC V.
Following the new orientation fixed by Springer, these were the last issues of this kind published in Celestial Mechanics
and Dynamical Astronomy. Priority is now given to thematic issues and some more are planned for 2012 and 2013.
50 percent of the submitted papers are published. The average times between the submission of one (accepted) paper and the final decision is being kept within 6 months. Some extremely long times are still recorded, but they generally correspond to papers demanding time-consuming thorough revisions. The journal is being published by Springer rigorously according with the schedule and CMDA is currently reaching, through electronic and hardcopy subscriptions, more than 7,000 institutions. A few recent papers are being offered by Springer on a free-access basis, but it is important that authors use the rights allowed by current copyright rules to make available preprints of their articles on the web. The old issues (before 1997) are available for free download through the NASA-ADS site, but Springer will not extend this allowance to more recent issues.
Editor-in-chief