This is the first issue of 2020, the end of a decade or the beginning, depending on how one counts. Nonetheless, it is an appropriate time to reflect back on how the journal has changed over the past 10 years. The biggest change has been the switch from Allen Press to Cambridge University Press as our publisher in 2016. The editorial board has tried to keep up with publishing trends this past decade. Notable changes have included the move to a digital-only presence, the addition of more color to published articles, and the implementation of plant name notation reflecting the international nature of the journal. Weed Science continues to be one of the premier journals in the discipline and in the agronomic sciences. The editorial board and the staff strive to improve the efficiency of the publication process and improve the scope of the journal. Weed Science seeks to publish more reviews and symposium articles.

For the 12 months preceding September 1, 2019, 221 manuscripts were submitted to Weed Science compared with 231 in the previous 12-month period. Of the manuscripts submitted, 37% were accepted compared with 39% the previous year. The time from submission to first decision was 38.1 days this past year compared with 38.5 days for the previous year. The time from submission to first decision has been reduced by 40% since 2010 (Figure 1). To illustrate how the 38.1 days of the review process break out, I have included a flow diagram showing the time for each step in the editorial process (Figure 2). We continually strive to improve turnaround time during reviews as well as after manuscript acceptance.

Figure 1.

This figure shows time from submission to first decision (d). Data from Editorial Manager.

Figure 2.

Workflow showing average time (d) for each step of the editorial process from submission through review and revision to appearance in a released issue. Data from Editorial Manager.

The impact factor for Weed Science was 2.00 in 2019, down slightly from the 2.004 mark this past year. The 5-year impact factor also declined from 2.351 to 2.301. Over the past 10 years, the single-year and 5-year impact factors have been positive (Figure 3).

Figure 3.

The single-year and 5-year impact factors for Weed Science from 2010 to 2019. Data from Journal Citation Reports.

It has been interesting to see how submissions have changed over the past 10 years (Figure 4). In 2010, 42% of submissions came from the United States and 53% were from North America. This past year, submissions from the United States and China were almost at parity (32% vs. 31%). Two-thirds of submissions to Weed Science are from international researchers.

Figure 4.

The percentage of invited reviewers who accept, decline, or are uninvited (no response within 4 days of invitation).

For the year preceding September 1, 2019, the journal depended on 267 unique reviewers. Each year, approximately 800 to 900 reviewers are invited to review manuscripts for Weed Science. Figure 5 shows values for the percentages who accept, decline, or are uninvited (no response within 4 days). The excellent reputation of the journal would not be possible without the cutting-edge research submitted by authors and the diligent work of the editorial board and the hundreds of referred reviews that are submitted annually. I wish to thank the members of the editorial board and reviewers for their efforts this past year.

Figure 5.

Maps of distribution of country of submission in (A) 2010 and (C) 2019 and pie charts showing distribution of submissions from regions of the world in (B) 2010 and (D) 2019 (values are percent).

Editorial Board 2019

• Muthukumar V. Bagavathiannan

• Ian Burke

• Carlene Chase

• Bhagirath Chauhan

• Sharon Clay

• Franck E. Dayan

• Timothy L. Grey

• Marie Jasieniuk

• Prashant Jha

• Mathila Jugulam

• Ramon Leon

• Sara Martin

• Vijay Nandula

• Chris Preston

• Dean Riechers

• Hilary Sandler

• Steven Seefeldt

• Patrick J. Tranel

• Te-Ming Paul Tseng

• Martin M. Williams II

• Chenxi Wu

Weed Science Reviewers October 1, 2018–September 30, 2019

• Albert Tetteh Adjesiwor

• Markus Albert

• James V. Anderson

• Lars W. J. Anderson

• Andre Andres

• Jeffrey L. Atkinson

• Albert O. Ayeni

• Elham Badalzadeh

• Lianyang Bai

• Sanjeev K. Bangarwa

• Barbara Baraibar

• Suma Basak

• Nicholas Tuschak Basinger

• Carol Baskin

• Travis Bean

• Hugh J. Beckie

• Roland Beffa

• Kimberly D. Belfry

• Chris Benedict

• Lori K. Benoit

• Thierry Eric Besancon

• Christian Bohren

• Raven Bough

• Lynn P. Brandenberger

• Whitney Brim-DeForest

• John Broster

• Caio Augusto Brunharo

• Jessica R. Bugg

• John Tyler Buol

• Nilda R. Burgos

• Charles W. Cahoon

• Zhe Cao

• Caio Antonio Carbonari

• Federico Casale

• Jesus M. Castillo

• Andrea Cavalieri

• Buddhika Sampath Chamara

• Rakesh S. Chandran

• Guillermo Ruben Chantre

• Sushila Chaudhari

• Michael J. Christoffers

• Zhang Chuanjie

• Mark Andrew Czarnota

• Caleb D. Dalley

• Henri Darmency

• Malay Das

• Antonio DiTommaso

• Peter J. Dittmar

• Jonathan Castel Djietror

• Liyao Dong

• Stephen Duke

• Robert Edwards

• Ryan James Edwards

• Yan-ming Fang

• Brandon Fast

• Rodrigo Figueroa

• Michael L. Flessner

• Nicholas Fradgley

• Todd A. Gaines

• Zahoor A. Ganie

• Travis W. Gannon

• John F. Gaskin

• Charles M. Geddes

• Hossein Ghanizadeh

• Javid Gherekhloo

• Sambuddha Ghosal

• Darci Giacomini

• Gurjeet S. Gill

• Rakesh Kumar Godara

• Danica Goggin

• Robin Gomez

• Jared J. Goplen

• Greta Gramig

• Michael Gribskov

• Jose Guerrero Casado

• Dustin Haines

• Devin Hammer

• Stuart Patrick Hardegree

• Nick T. Harre

• Timothy Brian Harrington

• Robert G. Hartzler

• Gerald Matthew Henry

• Jerri Lynn Henry

• Erin C. Hill

• David P. Horvath

• Jordi Izquierdo

• Randa Jabbour

• David H. Johnson

• Christopher Johnston

• Mithila Jugulam

• Do-Soon Kim

• Jennifer Kimball

• Kirsten Kirsten Tørresen

• Nicholas E. Korres

• Hansjoerg Kraehmer

• Robert J. Kremer

• Greg Kruger

• Vipan Kumar

• Martin Laforest

• Sarah Lancaster

• Dandan Li

• Steve Li

• Matt Liebman

• Iñigo Loureiro

• Carolyn J. Lowry

• Drew J. Lyon

• Rong Ma

• Mayank S. Malik

• Carol A. Mallory-Smith

• Buddhi Marambe

• Joseph H. Massey

• Glenn Matlack

• Lambert B. McCarty

• Joseph Scott McElroy

• Alexander Menegat

• Mohsen B. Mesgaran

• Stephen L. Meyers

• Lindsey Milbrath

• M. Ryan Miller

• Marcelo L. Moretti

• Brent Murphy

• Paul Neve

• Scott Jay Nissen

• Dennis Calvin Odero

• Rubem S. Oliveira Jr.

• Emmanuel Omondi

• O. Adewale Osipitan

• Aaron Patton

• William Louis Patzoldt

• Ronald Edward Peachey

• Thomas Peters

• Andrew Jennings Price

• Rita Pupalienė

• Sheng Qiang

• Sandeep Singh Rana

• Dawn Refsell

• Emilie E. Regnier

• Karen A. Renner

• Daniel B. Reynolds

• Dilpreet Singh Riar

• Patrick Rich

• Sonia Rios

• Christopher Rouse

• Joyful Tatenda Rugare

• Steven Maina Runo

• Elvira Sahuquillo

• Laura Scarabel

• Brian J. Schutte

• Lauren M. Schwartz-Lazaro

• Scott A. Senseman

• Rose Sepesy

• Shaun Michael Sharpe

• Anil Shrestha

• Marie-Josee Simard

• Vijay Singh

• Reid J. Smeda

• Nader Soltani

• Gayle J. Somerville

• B. K. Song

• Yao-Bin Song

• Lynn Sosnoskie

• Josef Soukup

• Douglas J. Spaunhorst

• Shandrea Stallworth

• Patrick Steel

• Tracy M. Sterling

• David E. Stoltenberg

• Harry John Strek

• Nithya Subramanian

• Hudson Kagueyama Takano

• François J. Tardif

• John Teasdale

• N. Teimouri

• Nishanth Tharayil

• Breanne Tidemann

• Joel Torra Farré

• Gray Turnage

• John M. Wallace

• Michael Walsh

• Jin Xin Wang

• Minmin Wang

• Sarah Ward

• Shouhui Wei

• Sheryl Wells

• Rodrigo Werle

• James H. Westwood

• Scott Neil White

• Christian J. Willenborg

• Margaret Worthington

• Hanwen Wu

• Hao Wu

• R. Joseph Wuerffel

• Marcos Ezequiel Yanniccari

• Melinda Yerka

• Bryan G. Young

• Stephen L. Young