The Department of
Radiation Oncology
Should I submit my paper to Medical
Physics?
Jeffrey F. Williamson, Ph.D.
Virginia Commonwealth University
Medical Physics, Editor-in-Chief
Outline
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Core values and mission
Review process
Journal performance statistics
Papers we want and don’t want
Editorial vision
– Revised editorial model
– Proposed initiatives
New Editorial Model
• With growth of journal, Editor’s responsibility
has evolved into a full-time position
• Starting January, 2014, a new model
– Jeff Williamson, Editor-in-Chief (50%)
– Mitch Goodsitt, Imaging Physics Editor (25%)
– Shiva Das, Therapy Physics Editor (25%)
• Under Bill Hendee’s and Colin Orton’s
leadership, Medical Physics has become the
pre-eminent international journal in our field
• New Initiatives
– Redesigning review process
– Data mining and reconsideration of topic scope
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Vision and Mission Statement
• Bill Hendee (2005): “ …to continue the Journal’s
tradition of publishing the very best science that
propels our discipline forward and improves our
contribution to patient care.”
• The discipline is broad: “…application of physics
concepts and methods to diagnosis and treatment of
disease”
– Medical imaging applications: pyscho-physics, system
design, image reconstruction/restoration
» X-rays, US, MR, RF, etc. for anatomy, elasticity, electrical impedance,
molecular state, physiology, etc.
– Therapy: equipment optimization, planning, tracking,
dosimetry, outcome modeling, biology, response imaging
» RT, IG surgery, RF/US oblation and thermal therapy
– Basic research:
» Segmentation, registration, feature extraction, voxel labeling
» Imaging and dosimetry
» Physiology, biology, statistics
Types of articles
• Research Article: report of original experimental
or theoretical research
– 10 pages nominal limit. Page charges for excess
pages
• Technical Note (4 pages)
• Medical Physics Letter (3 pages)
– Rapid review: highly novel, high impact development
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Technical Report
Review article
Vision 20/20 article
Point/Counterpoint
Correspondence and editorials
Review Process: general
• Single-blind review system
– Referees know who authors are
– Associate editor (AE) and referees (Ref) are
anonymous to authors
– Author communication limited to Editor (Ed) or Journal
Manager
• Decision categories
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Accept: No revision needed
Conditionally Accept: minor revision -Ed/AE review only
Conditionally Accept: Major revision –full peer review
Editorial decision deferred: Major revision with full peer review
Reject: not suitable for Med Phys: Refer to another journal
Outright rejection
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Review Process: 2-3 cycles
1. Ms. Received: EIC Selects editor (ED)
2. ED preliminary review
a. Rejects paper (15%)
b. Recruits associate Editor (AE)
3. AE manages review
a. Solicits reviews from at least 2 referees
b. Makes recommendation to ED
4. Editorial Decision
a. ED reviews Ref and AE reviews
b. Makes decision and communicates to
Author
c. EIC signs off on ED decision
Review outcomes and issues
• Historical acceptance rate: 50%
– Plan to increase selectivity, reducing acceptance rate
to 40%-45%
– We are moving to a 9 point impact score (1=
outstanding; 9 = terrible)
» Weed out technically correct but overly incremental papers
» Decide on potentially high impact but premature/technically
flawed papers
– Starting in 2014, 75% of papers were managed by
inhouse (Editorial Board or Board of Assoc Editors)
AEs vs. 2/3 Guest AEs as in past
• Culture
– We work with authors to improve their Ms.
– Typically, 2 to 3 review cycles
– Median time: submission to first decision: 42 days
Why increase selectivity?
Medical Physics Manuscripts (by year of receipt) and Manuscripts published (by volume)
2006-2013; 2014 pro-rated as of June 30, 2014
• Growth is
unsustainable
• Increase focus on
1600
1400
Number of Manuscripts
1200
1000
– Best science
– Widely read guidance,
review, and opinion
800
600
400
200
0
Manuscripts Received
Manuscripts Published
2006
788
400
2007
864
474
2008
841
535
2009
985
538
2010
1182
650
2011
1144
681
2012
1388
674
2013
1480
752
2014
1520
600
Year
Manuscripts Received
Manuscripts Published
• Use WG3 data to help us
focus on what our
audience reads and cites
– Discourage orphan
papers that are rarely
cite
8700
Total Number of Article Pages Published (by Volume)
2005 to 2013; 2014 pro-rated as of
June 30, 2014
7700
7600
7137
6700
5878
5700
5256
4700
4234
3700
6273
6500
5183
4309
3358
2700
1700
700
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
(Vol 32) (Vol 33) (Vol 34) (Vol 35) (Vol 36) (Vol 37) (Vol 38) (Vol 39) (Vol 40) (Vol 41)
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Journal Impact Factors
• MP is holding its own
• Developing performance
metric more appropriate
to our field
JIF (Y ) 
Total cites in Year Y of articles in Y-1 and Y-2
No. articles published in Y-1 and Y-2
Medical Physics: Core Mission
• Maintain Medical Physics as the preeminent forum
for electronic exchange of cutting edge medical
physics science
• To identify and publish the best contributions in
– Basic science developments with potential for improving
patient care
– clinical translation and validation of previous basic
science innovations
– High impact clinical physics innovations addressing a
significant clinical problem of broad interest
• Features of publishable articles
– Novelty and/or high potential clinical/scientific impact
– Generalizable scientific data or conclusion
– Addresses unsolved problems of concern to our
readership
Heavily represented Med Phys Research Areas
• Image processing/analysis
– Segmentation, feature extraction, registration
• X-ray CT, CBCT, PET physics
– Reconstruction, performance assessment, dose
reduction, artifact mitigation, detector
– Phase-contrast imaging
• Radiation therapy
– 2D/3D dosimetry, Monte Carlo planning, plan
optimization, IMPT, motion management
• Breast imaging: new modalities, CAD
• Basic research: elastography, electrical
impedance, fractal analysis
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Engineering,
Biology, and
other basic
science
‘Modern MP’:
multi-disc
Disciplinary Domains, MP Readership,
and Shifting Markets
‘Traditional MP’:
Dosimetry, QA,
Linear Systems
• Physics/Engineeringdriven MP work
Medical
Physics driven
Therapy/ Imaging
research
JACMP
– MP highly competitive
– center of mass (COM) shifting
towards imaging
– COM moving from MP to
Eng/Comp Sci?
• Clinical translation and
validation
– MD’s are key investigators
– Involves testing on patient
data or Phase I/II trial
• Viable traditional MP areas
Physician-driven
clinical research
– New planning
/delivery/imaging Technology
– Psychophysics, image
assessment
– Dosimetry/MC
Articles we don’t encourage
• Educational articles and teaching innovations
• Peripheral/outside medical physics
– Engineering technology, e.g., image processing,
without clear translational or clinical application
content
– Clinical studies without clear technical/MP content
• Limited novelty/impact
– Clinical physics/QA/technical of narrow scope
– Duplication of existing studies
– No new generalizable data or novel technology
– Excessively incremental “salami” publications
– Premature/underdeveloped
• Poorly written articles
Recent structural changes
• Board of Associate Editors: 75 AEs
– More recognition for contributions
– More uniform performance and policy implementation
– EB + BAE manages 75% of 2014 articles
• Smaller more active Editorial Board
– Advise editorial team, formulate policy, serve as AEs
– Design/Implement initiatives via Working Groups
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WG1:
WG2:
WG3:
WG4:
Review process efficiency, quality, selectivity
accessibility, readability, and interactivity
Data mining and evaluation of Journal quality
Outreach: Non-MP scientific/ clinical communities
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Conclusion
• Medical physics is rapidly changing
– More multidisciplinary
– New submission rapidly increasing especially from
from Europe and Asia
– Need to improve selectivity
• Use data mining to help guide policy making
and process improvement
– Quantify performance
– Better understand readership and authorship needs
– Opportunity to refine our understanding of medical
physics research
• Improve Journal impact and quality while
nurturing positive aspects of MP culture
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