The 2019 Journal Citation Reports (JCR) has just been released. The latest update includes a total of 11877 journals across 236 disciplines, 81 countries, and 5 continents. We are happy to announce that the new 2018 journal impact factor (IF) for Polish Archives of Internal Medicine (Pol Arch Intern Med) is 2.882, and it has increased again as compared with the previous years (Figure 1). Therefore, for the first time, Pol Arch Intern Med becomes the highest‑ranked Polish biomedical journal in the JCR (Table 1). We are also proud that we have been able to strengthen our position (rank 34/160) in the highest Journal Impact Factor Quartile (Q1) in the category of “Medicine, General & Internal” journals.¹ In our opinion, this is the best proof of the potential of internal medicine in Poland.

The IF was developed in 1975 by the Institute for Scientific Information as a measure designed to assess the average impact of papers published in a given journal and, by extension, the relative importance of a journal within its field. The IF is calculated as the number of citations in an index year (2018) to articles published in that journal during the preceding 2 years (2016–2017), divided by the number of qualifying articles (so called citable items) published during the relevant 2‑year period. Of note, such calculation includes only citations in the journals listed in the JCR, but not those in the increasing number of predatory journals, which will essentially publish anything for a fee. The IF has some caveats, such as that it is a short‑time measure or that it reflects more the impact of a journal than an individual paper.¹ There are new metrics that are being introduced, including Eigenfactor (similar to IF but incorporates the impact of the citing journal) or article‑level metrics (which measure references to an article in social media, policy reports, etc). Despite all these concerns, the IF is important not only for the editors and the publisher but also for our authors and readers.

The editors of the Pol Arch Intern Med would like to express their gratitude to all the authors and reviewers who have substantially contributed to increasing the journal’s standards of excellence. A major contribution to the 2018 IF of the Pol Arch Intern Med has been made again by publishing several original and review papers that covered various topics across the field of internal medicine. The most highly cited articles in 2018 that were published in the years 2016‑2017 are listed in Table 2. It is important for the editorial board that most items that contributed to our 2018 IF are original articles, which has now been shown to be a continuous trend in the Pol Arch Intern Med.

We would like to acknowledge the excellent work of our reviewers. Without their critical attitude and hard work, it would not be possible to select the best papers for publication. The most active reviewers in 2018 are listed in Table 3. We would never have been able to continuously increase the journal’s position without the authors whose citations contributed significantly to our IF (Table 4). We encourage all authors and readers to cite the articles from the Pol Arch Intern Med whenever relevant.

As part of the continuous strive for improving the quality of our journal, we are constantly introducing new activities and functionalities (Figure 2). Our Facebook profile, edited by Zbigniew Heleniak MD, PhD, is constantly updated with news, offers Clinical Case Challenges, and has more than 500 followers. Being at the forefront of innovation among Polish biomedical journals, we are soon launching new tools: article‑level metrics by Altmetric as well as Reviewer Connect and Reviewer Recognition by Publons.

Article‑level metrics (also known as “alternative metrics” or “altmetricts”) are complementary to the traditional, citation‑based tools and provide authors with a more comprehensive record of engagement with scholarly work, particularly that which takes place beyond the academy amongst a broader audience. This includes mentions in social media such as Twitter or Facebook, citations on Wikipedia, expert recommendations, public policy documents, discussions on research blogs, mainstream media coverage, and bookmarks on reference managers like Mendeley.

Publons was built as a tool to help researchers get recognition for their often hidden peer‑review contributions. Together with Publons, we wish to turn the efforts of our reviewers into a measurable research output. With this tool, academics can use their review and editorial record as evidence of their standing and influence in their field.

We cordially invite you to submit your high‑quality research to our journal. We will do our best to proceed with a quick peer‑review process (the current average time from submission to the first decision is 2 days, and from submission to the first reviews, 21 days) and to disseminate your research findings as soon as the paper is published.