2025 in Review

The 26th volume of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (PCCM) closes with some significant achievements in our first year as an online-only digital journal. 2025 JOURNAL IMPACT FACTOR OF 4.5 (using 2022/2023 Literature Cited in 2024) For the third consecutive year, PCCM has maintained its Clarivate Web of Science journal impact factor above 4.0, now at 4.5, which means that the journal continues to be classed as “Good” (i.e., impact factor above 3.0). PCCM is ranked 12th of 62 journals in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) category of Critical Care, and 9th of 191 journals in the SCIE category of Pediatrics. The Journal’s process metrics for acceptance rate (approximately 20%), median time to final disposition (approximately 3 months) remain consistent with the performance reported in 2023 and 2024 (1,2). (Further details are available on request.) HIGHLIGHTS IN JOURNAL CONTENT As of October 2025, the are six articles in PCCM (four in volume 25 and two in volume 26) that have gained 10 or more citations in the Web of Science database for 2025, which places them in an “Excellent” category. Two of these articles were about the 2024 Phoenix Sepsis Score Criteria (3,4). Two articles were position papers: one about data science and analytics research (5) and the other about research in family-centered care (6). As an introductory guide to reading other highlighted content in PCCM, consider starting with the articles mentioned in the 2025 series of my Editor’s Notes (7−12). This material can be accessed from the Journal website using the “Collections” drop-down menu. Each Editor’s Note article cites material that follows the same theme across several issues. Because the Journal is now wholly in a digital format, my hope is that the Editor’s Notes help readers to make connections between reports that address similar research themes, topics, and questions, month to month. Therefore, in 2025 the themes that our authors and researchers have covered include: “What do we know about pediatric sepsis scoring post-Phoenix?” (7); “What is the new research in pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome since the 2023 consensus conference?” (8); “Respiratory support for bronchiolitis management in the PICU: what we now know and what we want to know” (9); “Post-PICU outcome: what we now know about chronology of PICU survivorship and general health recovery” (10); “What is the new research in pediatric critical illness-related delirium since the 2022 clinical practice guidelines” (11); and, “What do we now know about pediatric chronic and complex critical illness?” (12). NEW JOURNAL MATERIAL: THE “PCCM CONFERENCE REPORT & EXPERT PANEL” SECTION In January 2025, we introduced a new section in the Journal called “PCCM Conference Report & Expert Panel”. The material in this section is mainly descriptive, and the purpose is to inform readers about collaborative works in progress by national, regional, or specialist subgroups on research related to critical illness in pediatric patients. This year we have heard from the following research and educational groups: in January, the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Paediatric Study Group (13); in February, the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) Pediatric Sepsis Definition Taskforce (3); in March, the Ventilation Liberation for Kids (VentLib4Kids) Investigators (14); in April, the BrighT STAR (Testing Stewardship for Antibiotic Reduction) respiratory collaborative (15); in June, the SCCM Contestation of Pediatric Brain Death Task Force (16); in July, the PICU Data Collaborative (17); in August, the Pediatric Palliative Care Subcompetencies for pediatric critical care medicine fellowship trainees group (18); in October, the Pediatric Outcomes Studies after PICU (POST-PICU) investigators (19); and in November, the Neurocritical Care Entrustable Professionals Activities for pediatric critical care medicine education and professional development group (20). In summary, taking all the above together–our metrics, content, and mission to support research and educational groups–the PCCM community continues to thrive, and we are thankful to our authors, reviewers, and editors for a successful 2025. Next year we enter volume 27, and we look forward to newer content for PCCM readers.