Epilepsia editorial: Publications by country

FROM THE EDITORS Epilepsia editorial: Publications by country Epilepsia, 54(11):1849–1850, 2013 doi: 10.1111/epi.12379 As a journal representing the international community, Epilepsia has a mission to support and disseminate high quality research from all regions of the world, and the Jour- nal strives to maintain transnational balance and perspec- tive. However, it is not uncommon to receive oral comments and letters, like the one by Hu et al. in this issue, that question if Epilepsia really serves the international community or if the Journal favors one country over another with respect to published manuscripts. Such a question is not unreasonable, and as Editors it is our view that the best way to address this question is through data. Table 1 shows the number of papers submitted to and accepted by Epilepsia from 2008 to 2013 according to coun- try. Since 2008, Epilepsia has received manuscripts from 88 countries from all regions of the world. Of these, 77 were countries with International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) chapters, and 11 were countries without chapters. This represents 69% of all countries with ILAE chapters. There is a somewhat skewed distribution of submissions by country but not for number of papers accepted and accep- tance rates. The mean ( standard deviation [SD]) number of submissions by country was 60 160 (range 1–1,321), with a median of 6. Fourteen countries (16%) submitted >100 manuscripts each, which represents 79% of all sub- missions. These countries include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, The Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States, with the United States being the highest (25% of all submissions). The mean (SD) number of accepted papers by country was 20 63 (range 0–532), with a median of 1. Twenty-nine countries had 10 or more papers accepted by Epilepsia from 2008 to 2013, which was 96% of all pub- lished papers for that period. Those 29 countries represented all ILAE regions except for Africa, with the highest number from the United States (the same country with the highest number of submissions representing 30% of all accepted papers). The mean (SD) percentage of accepted paper by country was 25 28% (range 0–100%), with a median of 19%. Of countries that submitted 20 or more papers from 2008 to 2013, 22 (25%) had acceptance rates of 30% or greater. The five countries with the highest acceptance rates were Denmark (62%), New Zealand (58%), Australia (51%), United Kingdom (46%), and Hong Kong (44%). Table 1. Submissions and acceptances by country for Epilepsia 2008–2013 Country Algeria Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Bangladesh Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Bulgaria Cameroon Canada Chile China Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Ecuador Egypt Estonia Ethiopia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kenya Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Republic of Korea Kuwait Accept Submit Continued Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2013 International League Against Epilepsy