Thursday 9 July 2020

Minerals Engineering soars ahead with a record high Impact Factor

The 2019 journal Impact Factors (IF) are now available, and I am pleased that Minerals Engineering has recorded its highest ever IF, 3.795, up from 3.315 in 2018. The world's leading minerals industry journals, ranked by IF are:
Minerals Engineering  3.795
Hydrometallurgy 3.338
Mineral Processing & Extractive Metallurgy Review 2.785
Minerals 2.380
International Journal of Minerals Metallurgy & Materials 1.713
Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly 1.456
Physicochemical  Problems of Mineral Processing 1.256
Minerals and Metallurgical Processing 1.020
Impact Factor is a measure of the frequency with which the 'average article' in a journal has been cited in a particular year. The website of Minerals Engineering lists the most cited articles over the past three years, the most cited being New approaches for extracting and recovering metals from mine tailings by Falagán, C., Grail, B.M., Johnson, D.B., in Volume 106 (2017). This paper was part of a virtual special issue of papers presented at MEI's Biohydrometallurgy '16 in Falmouth.
Carmen Falagán and Barrie Johnson (right) with other members of the
Bangor University Research Group at Biohydrometallurgy '16

Authors publishing in Elsevier journals such as Minerals Engineering and Hydrometallurgy also have the added bonus of their manuscripts appearing on the world's largest on-line platform, ScienceDirect, from where papers are available for download. Last year well over 600,000 Minerals Engineering downloads were made, the highly cited Falagán et al paper having been downloaded over 19,000 times since its publication. Currently the record for the highest number of overall downloads, a whopping +47,300, is held by Feng Xie, Ting An Zhang, David Dreisinger and Fiona Doyle for their Volume 56 (2014) paper A critical review on solvent extraction of rare earths from aqueous solutions.  The most downloaded papers over the past 90 days are listed on the journal website. It is interesting to see that China accounts for around a third of all downloads from ScienceDirect.

The success of a journal is dependent on the quality and relevance of its papers, and I must thank and congratulate all the researchers who have endured the sometimes long and challenging peer-review process before final acceptance. Last year 1294 manuscripts were submitted and of these 28.7% were finally accepted, highlighting how rigorous the evaluations can be.
Having been involved with the journal since its inception 32 years ago, I am, of course, proud of how it has evolved over the years, and there are many people who I have to thank for this. I have been involved with many Elsevier Publishing Managers since 1988, the longest association being with Dean Eastbury, who will be well known to many MEI Conference delegates. It was a great pleasure to work with Dean, who is now retired in Cornwall, and it is now a pleasure to work with his successor in Oxford, Joshua Bayliss.
I am particularly indebted to the regular issue editors, Dr. Pablo Brito-Parada and Dr. Kristian Waters, and their team of six bright young assistant editors, and also to the members of the Editorial Board, a group of highly experienced professionals, who offer advice when needed. A full listing of the journal's Editorial team can be found on the website.
And last, but definitely by no means least, a massive thanks to the hundreds of researchers worldwide who give up their time to take part in the all important peer-review system, without which there would be no journal. The reviewers participate anonymously, although I do thank recent reviewers by listing them in the hard copies of each journal issue. I would like to remind all reviewers that in appreciation of your efforts, you can access your profile page online and collect your rewards, download your review certificates, and view your annual overview.

14 comments:

  1. Hearty congratulations and I am personally proud of the great strides the Journal has been making from the time it was conceived. You may be modest but you deserve credit for making it stabilise and also for making many researchers feel pride in getting their work published in this Journal; yes, an effort of this nature ,with global impact,, needs support and dedication from many who have been part of this success.
    Apart from the book authored by you, this Journal made all associated with mineral sciences realise and benefit from the wide spectrum, covering many aspects of Mineral engineering appearing after such scrutiny.
    The Journal set a benchmark for being not only popular but of high quality.
    Kudos to you and and your Team.
    Let me also add that MEI blog adds that special flavour to the Journal
    Looking forward to much brighter future on all fronts.

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  2. Certainly, I fully agree with the statement made by Prof T C Rao, but the problem with him is he always appreciates others and keeps his role and contributions behind the seen. In my opinion both of you (Dr Barry and Prof T C Rao), have been the main pillars to uphold the Mineral Engineering field globally.
    Prof Nikkam Suresh,
    Dept. of Fuel & Mineral Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad, India

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  3. Thanks for your kind comments TC and Nikkam, but I stress again that the success of the journal is a team effort involving literally hundreds of professionals

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  4. Dear Barry, I am very happy to see this. I initially saw Minerals Engineering impact factors while working under Prof. Stephen Neethling in 2012 and compared to that this has been very impressive.
    Saman Ilankoon

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  5. Great legacy, Barry, for the vision and hard work over so many years. Congratulations! Kind regards, Markus.
    M.A. Reuter, SMS group GmbH, Germany

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  6. Thanks Barry for giving people in Mineral Processing a platform to publish their scientific findings. The vision and hardwork in ensuring that the quality of work published in the journal is of high standard should be lauded by all in the field.

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  7. You have truly built up a broad based inclusive journal that covers all aspects of minerals engineering, geometallurgy, process mineralogy, pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, biohydrometallurgy, comminution, liberation, environmental engineering associated with mineral resources and recycling and urban mining. I think it is truly a fantastic achievement and testimony to your drive and commitment to the field. Thank you for everything.

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    Replies
    1. and to you Jacques for being a trusted reviewer

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  8. Congrats to all contributing to this: quality of the reviews as well as the quality of the researches.
    Daniel Amariei, COREM, Canada

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  9. Please accept my congratulations on the new achievement of Minerals Engineering Journal.
    It speaks a lot about the Editors in maintaining the high standards of the publications in a sustained manner over the years.
    Your indomitable efforts to keep the flag of mineral engineering profession flying without compromising on quality of research & publications is well appreciated.
    I am sure more laurels will come its way with you helming it.

    Regards, Dr. Arabinda Bandyopadhyay
    Chief Technologist, CDE Asia Limited, India

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  10. Dear Dr Will
    It's pleasure always to see a publication in Minerals Engineering. Secondly this is the only journal for Mineral Engineers where they get maximum attention for their work and wide circulation. After the facelift we are very proud to share our peers this Journal and say about Mineral Engineering and Mineral Processing is an important part of any Mining and Metallurgical industry.
    After so many years the impact factor has been reached a benh mark for which we as a Mineral Engineers are proud of you and your team and the journal.
    This jouranl is in fact the face of true Mineral Engineers..
    Cheers and kudos to you and your team who put their efforts to bring this Journal to this height... Wishing this will move on...
    Thanks and regards
    Rama Murthy

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  11. Congratulations Barry. People do not realize that you are a very nice person and very humble. Your nature takes you to the top. I have always followed your path.
    S Komar Kawatra, Michigan Technological University, USA

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    Replies
    1. That's very kind of you Komar. The same sentiments apply to you

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  12. Thanks to all of you for your kind comments

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