The two international journals published by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) have been recently listed in the 2023 Journal Citation Reports (JCR) of Clarivate Analytics, a prestigious listing of international journals that shows the trustworthiness of a journal in the science and academic community.
In the JCR, the Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development (AJAD) received a 1.7 journal impact factor (JIF), while the SABRAO Journal of Breeding and Genetics had a 1.4 JIF.
AJAD is SEARCA's official international refereed journal. On the other hand, the SABRAO Journal of Breeding and Genetics is co-published by SEARCA with the Society for the Advancement of Breeding Research in Asia and Oceania (SABRAO)—it is the official publication of the society.
The JIF is a rating that indicates the average times published papers in a specific journal have been cited by other trusted journals of similar topical coverage in the two years prior to the release of the JCR. Thus, for the 2023 release, the papers evaluated were those published in 2021 and 2022.
While AJAD and SABRAO have been included for the first time in the JCR listing of 2023, they have long been accepted as journals with good standing by Clarivate Analytics (formerly under the Institute for Scientific Information or ISI, prior to being acquired by Thomson Reuters).
"SEARCA will continue to nurture intellectual and scholarly endeavors in agriculture and development, primarily in Southeast Asia and Asia as a whole," assures Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio, SEARCA director.
Dr. Gregorio adds that SEARCA publications "shall strongly reflect a regional scope to advance toward the envisioned repute as the premier source of scholarly information on Southeast Asian and Asian agriculture and development."
According to Clarivate Analytics, the 2023 release of JCR extends the JIF to all Web of Science core collection journals, including the Emerging Sources Citation Index, in which AJAD is listed.
"Expanding the JIF to all Web of Science core collection journals means that over 9,000 journals, from more than 3,000 publishers, are included for the first time," adds Clarivate.
AJAD was first published in 2004 and provides information and analysis on topics within the broad scope of agriculture and development.
Published twice a year in June and December, AJAD promotes greater awareness of the latest findings in research, state-of-the-art technologies, new methodologies, and policy concerns in agriculture and development in Asia.
It publishes articles resulting from empirical, policy-oriented, or institutional development studies, as well as articles of perspectives on agriculture and development, political economy of rural development, and agricultural innovations.
AJAD is gearing up for its 20th anniversary in 2024, with a special issue to be authored by a throng of international luminaries around the theme "The Asian Agriculture and Development in a Dynamic and Volatile Landscape of Demands, Peoples, and Risks."
The editorial board is headed by Dr. Cielito F. Habito, professor of economics at the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines and director of the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development. He is also a former cabinet member of the Philippine government, having served as Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and Director General of the National Economic and Development Authority of the Philippines.
The SABRAO Journal of Breeding and Genetics was first published in 1969. It aims to promote the international exchange of research information on plant breeding and genetics through new research findings, or ideas of a basic or practical nature, and be a medium for the exchange of ideas and news regarding members of the society.
In 2023, the SABRAO journal increased the frequency of its issues from four to six per year, considering the growing number of paper submissions accepted for publication.
