In previous Editor's Messages, I have discussed Neurosurgery Publications' role in representing the subspecialty at large and, through the rigors of peer review, publishing sound science that enlightens our understanding and advances our practice. In this Editor's Message, I would like to spend some time discussing the other end of the publication spectrum, specifically the various channels through which our published content is made accessible to the reader. Access to journals is traditionally through a sponsoring society membership or sold through the subscription model which, similar to common retail subscriptions one may have to the Wall Street Journal for example, involves paying a set price for a set term in a particular format (print, digital, or both). Many of those reading this piece now likely have access to Neurosurgery Publications journals through a digital institutional subscription. Institutions will typically purchase subscriptions to several titles within a discipline as a collection, granting access in turn to its students and staff. Our current publisher, Wolters Kluwer, offers institutional subscriptions in both print and digital formats the latter of which is fulfilled through Ovid, a medical research platform that includes over 6000 eBooks and 1400 journals in disciplines including medicine and nursing.1 Individual subscriptions are also available for those who wish to purchase access directly in either a print and digital bundle or digital-only format. Individual subscriptions are rather uncommon in medical publishing because of the prevalence of institutional access and cost. In addition to the subscription models mentioned above, of course, the other major avenue for accessing Neurosurgery Publications is through Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) membership. Depending on one's membership tier (Active, International, Resident, etc), access to Neurosurgery and Operative Neurosurgery is either complimentary and built into membership or available at a discounted price. Those accessing the journals through CNS membership are able to do so seamlessly through single sign on using their CNS member credentials. Beyond journal access, choosing CNS membership includes an array of benefits including member-only pricing on open access Article Processing Charges (APCs) in Neurosurgery Practice (née Neurosurgery Open).2 Currently, CNS members receive a 20% discount on the APCs and are able to claim this discount by entering their CNS Member ID during the submission process. Current APCs in Neurosurgery Practice are $2060 ($1648 for members) for full-length articles and $1030 ($824 for members) for all other articles. Although perhaps not a traditional form of “access” that may come immediately to mind, open access is a publication model that has seen significant growth largely driven by funder mandates and initiatives such as Plan S.3 The goal here is to make science as widely accessible as possible beyond the constraints of a subscription paywall. Neurosurgery Practice mentioned above is the official gold open access journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. Neurosurgery and Operative Neurosurgery offer hybrid open access options as well. Because these journals offer both traditional publication by copyright assignment and open access by creative commons licenses, they are referred to as hybrid journals. All 3 journals offer the CC BY and CC BY-NC-ND open access license.4 Helpful definitions of these license types can be found at https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/. The US government has mandated free open access (no cost and no embargo) for all articles related to federally sponsored research starting December 31, 2025. This mandate is in current discussion. Beyond the question of “access,” it is interesting to consider “use” and more specifically how we are able to measure this important metric. I have always believed that an article is to be both read and used. Perhaps the most simplistic form of “use” is when an article is cited in another research report. In the past decade, there have been articles published related to bibliometric science, with the goal of understanding trends in neurosurgery practice and research. Articles cited frequently (1 term is the “citation classic” with more than 500 citations) have focused on the science that may appear to be impactful on the work of others. One can track the citation of a work through a number of websites and services including Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Altmetrics. Other forms of use akin to article citation, although informal and less difficult to measure, are such instances as when another investigator might copy and paste elements of one's article into a slide presentation. At a very basic level, we can use the number of subscribers to gauge the number of readers; however, this does not provide as much insight as one may imagine. For instance, although we may send x number of print issues to x number of print subscribers, we have no way of knowing how many of those subscribers open the journal and, for those who do, which articles they choose to read. In the digital space, however, we are able to track article views (HTML page views) and PDF downloads. These metrics are a strong indicator of access, and we review these data from time to time to measure the engagement of a particular article or series of articles. Purchase of articles a la carte and article reprints can also be tracked and used as another indicator of access. In 2013, former Editor-in-Chief Dr Nelson Oyesiku put in place an initiative for attracting potentially high-impact research called the High Impact Manuscript Service (HIMS), and I am happy to say we recently relaunched this initiative in Neurosurgery. Manuscripts that are selected for this service receive several benefits including expedited review and waived open access fees. Those interested can learn more about this initiative here: https://journals.lww.com/neurosurgery/Pages/High-Impact-Manuscript-Service.aspx. As a suite of journals, Neurosurgery Publications is committed to and has a vested interest in ensuring our content is widely accessible. Through the benefits of CNS membership and subscriptions offered through our publisher, Wolters Kluwer, there are several options available. In addition, for those who wish to make their articles more widely accessible or are required to do so through funding mandates, our journals offer open access options. As Editor-in-Chief, I encourage you all to review these options and join us in the pages of Neurosurgery Publications. Douglas Kondziolka, MD, MSc Editor-in-Chief, Neurosurgery Publications New York, New York, USA
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