Looking back and looking forward

Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. —Hal Borland As the year draws to a close, a review of all of the accomplishments of the Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (JCRS) and its parent organizations, the ASCRS and the ESCRS, helps us to set the goals for the future. In 2024, the annual meetings of the ASCRS and ESCRS were held, respectively, in Boston and Barcelona, and were both well attended. The JCRS symposia on controversies in anterior segment surgery held at both meetings were again very well received, and certainly provided serious food for thought. At the ASCRS, there were lively discussions around 4 topics: capsulotomy in white intumescent cataracts, phacoemulsification alone vs phacoemulsification plus minimally invasive glaucoma surgery for early to moderate glaucoma, dropless cataract surgery to control postoperative inflammation, and ectasia risk analysis in corneal refractive surgery. At the ESCRS, 3 intraocular lens (IOL) options for presbyopia correction in the age range of 45 to 50 years were discussed: phakic IOLs, posterior chamber IOLs, and supplementary IOLs. This was followed by a discussion on whether or not we still need antibiotic eyedrops after cataract surgery and a discussion on refixation vs explantation to deal with dislocated IOLs. These 2 entire sessions are available to view on demand in the societies' respective online platforms. All JCRS issues in 2024 featured a logo with the photograph of Sir Harold Ridley celebrating the 75th year of the IOL invention. This anniversary was beautifully celebrated during the ESCRS meeting in Barcelona with a walk-in museum curated by Drs. David Spalton and Richard Packard showcasing the IOL history, from the first IOL implantation to IOL designs currently under development. JCRS will preserve this museum in an online supplement to be published in 2025. There was also a special photograph/video competition, “My IOL Moment”, which received amazing IOL-related materials from all over the world. The 2023 JCRS impact factor (IF) became available in June of this year, showing a value of 2.6, which represents a decrease from the previous year (2.8). In collaboration with the editorial staff and the publisher, one of us (S.S.) did a deep dive on possible reasons for this IF decrease and means to increase it in the future. The 2023 IF was calculated through dividing the citations in 2023 to items published in 2021 (N = 570) and 2022 (N = 533), by the number of citable items in 2021 (N = 222) and 2022 (N = 206). Considering the numerator of the equation, it was determined that the most cited articles published in 2021/2022 were related to large, prospective studies; studies involving big data and long follow-ups; multicenter studies; registry studies; large retrospective studies with long follow-ups; and review/update articles. Interestingly enough, although items such as editorials are normally not considered in the denominator of the IF calculation, if they are cited, the citation is included in the numerator. Table 1 lists some of the most cited articles and editorials positively impacting the 2023 JCRS IF. Strategies that will be adopted by JCRS, which may help boost the 2024 IF, include focusing on the types of articles that will potentially be highly cited, planning editorials that deal with hot topics, and inviting experts to write some of them. In our most recent Editorial Board meeting during the ESCRS Congress in Barcelona, creation of a new section named Ophthalmic Images has been implemented. As with the editorials, this type of manuscript is not considered a citable item; however, citations are taken into account in the IF calculation. Details of this new section will soon became available in the JCRS online submission platform. Starting in August 2024, the number of full-length articles was reduced from 13 to 10 to 11 per issue, which may also boost future IFs. Table 1. - JCRS articles and editorials published in 2021/2022 most cited in 2023 Article/editorial No. of citations Auffarth GU, Gerl M, Tsai L, Janakiraman DP, Jackson B, Alarcon A, Dick HB; Quantum Study Group. Clinical evaluation of a new monofocal IOL with enhanced intermediate function in patients with cataract. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2021;47(2):184–191 26 Holladay JT, Wilcox RR, Koch DD, Wang L. Review and recommendations for univariate statistical analysis of spherical equivalent prediction error for IOL power calculations. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2021;47(1):65–77 18 Bala C, Poyales F, Guarro M, Mesa RR, Mearza A, Varma DK, Jasti S, Lemp-Hull J. Multicountry clinical outcomes of a new nondiffractive presbyopia-correcting IOL. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2022;48(2):136–143 16 Kohnen T, Petermann K, Böhm M, Hemkeppler E, Ahmad W, Hinzelmann L, Pawlowicz K, Jandewerth T, Lwowski C. Nondiffractive wavefront-shaping extended depth-of-focus intraocular lens: visual performance and patient-reported outcomes. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2022;48(2):144–150 14 Flockerzi E, Vinciguerra R, Belin MW, Vinciguerra P, Ambrósio R Jr, Seitz B. Correlation of the Corvis Biomechanical Factor with tomographic parameters in keratoconus. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2022;48(2):215–221 14 Gupta PK, Berdahl JP, Chan CC, Rocha KM, Yeu E, Ayres B, Farid M, Lee WB, Beckman KA, Kim T, Holland EJ, Mah FS; from the ASCRS Cornea Clinical Committee. The corneal endothelium: clinical review of endothelial cell health and function. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2021;47(9):1218–1226 14 Montés-Micó R, Pastor-Pascual F, Ruiz-Mesa R, Tañá-Rivero P. Ocular biometry with swept-source optical coherence tomography. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2021;47(6):802–814 13 Tsessler M, Cohen S, Wang L, Koch DD, Zadok D, Abulafia A. Evaluating the prediction accuracy of the Hill-RBF 3.0 formula using a heteroscedastic statistical method. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2022;48(1):37–43 13 Packer KT, Vlasov A, Greenburg DL, Coggin A, Weightman JW, Beltran T, Berry-Cabán CS, Carroll RB. U.S. military implantable collamer lens surgical outcomes: 11-year retrospective review. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2022;48(6):649–656 13 Shammas HJ, Taroni L, Pellegrini M, Shammas MC, Jivrajka RV. Accuracy of newer intraocular lens power formulas in short and long eyes using sum-of-segments biometry. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2022;48(10):1113–1120 12 Fernández J, Ribeiro FJ, Rodríguez-Vallejo M, Dupps WJ Jr, Werner L, Srinivasan S, Kohnen T. Standard for collecting and reporting outcomes of IOL-based refractive surgery: update for enhanced monofocal, EDOF, and multifocal IOLs. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2022;48(11):1235–1241 13 Werner L. Flange erosion/exposure and the risk for endophthalmitis. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2021;47(9):1109–1110 7 The JCRS Online Case Reports (JCRO), the online-only companion to the JCRS, continued to thrive in 2024; we congratulate and thank JCRO Case Report Editors Filomena Ribeiro, MD, PhD, FEBO, and Craig See, MD, as well as Technique Editors Jonathan E. Moore, FRCOphth, PhD, and Shameema Sikder, MD, for their commitment to the journal. We encourage submissions to the JCRO, which offers a competitive open access fee to ASCRS/ESCRS members (waivers are also considered for any author on a case-by-case basis). The scope of the online journal continues to expand with the addition of Case Series article types, and now the move of the long-running and ever popular Consultation Section to this open, accessible format. The first JCRO Symposium took place at the ESCRS meeting, highlighting articles selected by JCRO Case Reports and Technique editors. Considering its success, this symposium will likely be permanently incorporated into the program of the in-person meetings of ASCRS and ESCRS. Every year, we cannot overstate the heartfelt gratitude we, the editors, feel toward our Editorial Board members and reviewers, particularly those who are members of the JCRS 100 Club (see page 1300), as well as our wonderful editorial staff, which includes our Managing Editor Genie Bailey, Peer Review/Publications Manager Jackie Garcia, Editorial Assistant Alison Jefferson, Social Media Editor Laura Beard, and our Wolters Kluwer liaison, Shelley Withers. Together with the authors, JCRS and JCRO are a result of the collective work and dedication of all involved in the different steps from article submission to publication. Finally, in 2024, recurrent themes in JCRS publications still involved the two important matters of representation and sustainability in health care.1–3 In this issue, Keyser et al. (page 1270) present an analysis of the waste generated from IOL packaging across a variety of brands. We all, one way or another, followed during summer an event of global proportions that put representation and sustainability front and center. The Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games are the first in history with full gender parity on the field of play; the Paralympic Games also represented a new benchmark in gender parity.4 The Olympic/Paralympic 2024 Games were also the most sustainable ever, with a target set during the planning stages to emit no more than 1.58 million tons of carbon dioxide, which represents around half the footprint of previous games.5 The Olympic cauldron consisted of a 7-meter diameter ring suspended from a 30-meter-tall helium-filled balloon. The presence of the Olympic flame was simulated through a light-emitting diode lighting system, consisting of 40 lamps illuminating a cloud of mist generated by 200 water jets.6 This revolutionary and avant garde cauldron is perhaps the most recognizable symbol of the 2024 games (Figure 1). May it continue to remind us in this holiday season, and in 2025 and beyond, of the importance to integrate representation and sustainability in health care and all aspects of human life! The future generations will thank us…Figure 1.: Olympic caldron of the Paris 2024 Olympic/Paralympic Games. Photo courtesy of Karina P. Werner; September 2024, Paris, France.Liliana Werner, MD, PhD William J. Dupps Jr, MD, PhD Thomas Kohnen, MD, PhD, FEBO Sathish Srinivasan, FRCSEd, FRCOphth, FACS