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JAMA Surgery journal scores again with another record-setting impact factor of 13.625, maintaining its status as the top surgery journal in the world and the highest ranked surgical journal in history.


JAMA Surgery recently announced this year’s impact factor* of 13.625, an increase from last year’s score of 10.688. This is a tremendous accomplishment, as no other surgical journal has ever scored this high. The Annals of Surgery is ranked second with an impact factor of 10.130.

Melina Kibbe, MD, the Colin G. Thomas, Jr. Distinguished Professor and Chair of Surgery at the UNC School of Medicine (SOM), is the journal’s Editor-in-Chief. She has been at the helm of the journal since January 2015 when the impact factor was 4.30.

Kibbe is humbled by the news and this latest achievement. She attributes this success to a true team effort that reflects the hard work of the authors, peer reviewers, board members, editorial team, and everyone in The JAMA Network who work hard to get this publication out every month. She also thanks the readers, and importantly Howard Bauchner, MD, the Editor-in-Chief of JAMA and The JAMA Network.

“I truly believe that our commitment to publishing the highest level of surgical science has produced these remarkable results,” said Kibbe. “In addition, the creative use of social media and targeted press releases have helped extend the journal’s reach to a very wide readership.” JAMA Surgery currently reaches nearly 100,000 readers each week, and has more than 8.3 million annual article views and downloads and more than 7,500 media mentions in 2019 and 2020.

“We are very proud to have our UNC SOM Department of Surgery Chair, Dr. Melina Kibbe, lead JAMA Surgery to a record-breaking milestone. Dr. Kibbe is an innovative and dynamic leader and editor, and we applaud her and her team’s success in advancing the journal’s reputation,” said Blossom Damania, PhD, Boshamer Distinguished Professor and Vice Dean for Research.

JAMA Surgery, which began publication in 1920 and is currently celebrating 100 years in publication, is an international peer-reviewed journal. JAMA Surgery is the official publication of the Association of VA Surgeons, the Pacific Coast Surgical Association, and the Surgical Outcomes Club and is a member of The JAMA Network family of journals which includes JAMA and 11 specialty journals. The mission of JAMA Surgery is to “promote the art and science of surgery by publishing relevant peer-reviewed research to assist the surgeon in optimizing patient care” and to “serve as a forum for the discussion of issues pertinent to surgery, such as the education and training of the surgical workforce, quality improvement, and the ethics and economics of health care delivery.”

* Impact factor is an objective measure of the world’s leading journals, based on articles’ cited references, and is considered a measure of a journal’s overall performance and relevance to its field.