Open access efforts begin to bloom: ESC Heart Failure gets full attention and first impact factor

Abstract

In 2014, the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) founded the first open access journal focusing on heart failure, called ESC Heart Failure (ESC-HF). In the first 5 years, in ESC-HF we published more than 450 articles. Through ESC-HF, the HFA gives room for heart failure research output from around the world. A transfer process from the European Journal of Heart Failure to ESC-HF has also been installed. As a consequence, in 2018 ESC-HF received 289 submissions, and published 148 items (acceptance rate 51%). The journal is listed in Scopus since 2014 and on the PubMed website since 2015. In 2019, we received our first impact factor from ISI Web of Knowledge / Thomson-Reuters, which is 3.407 for 2018. This report reviews which papers get best cited. Not surprisingly, many of the best cited papers are reviews and facts & numbers mini reviews, but original research is also well cited.