July 2024

Message from the Editor-in-Chief

In 2020, Reproductive Medicine and Biology (RMB) received an impact factor (IF) for the first time. Its IF continues to indicate steady performance and is 2.7 according to latest data. In the second quartile (Q2) of journals in obstetrics and gynecology, RMB has one of the highest IFs. We are aiming to make RMB—hailing from Asia—a top journal, on par with Q1 journals like Fertility and Sterility from the United States and Human Reproduction from Europe.

RMB was inaugurated in 2002 as the official journal of the Japan Society for Reproductive Medicine, the Japan Society of Fertilization and Implantation, and the Japan Society of Andrology. In 2016, the Asian Society of Endometriosis and Adenomyosis joined, and in 2020, the Japan Society for Ova Research joined. The number of papers submitted to RMB continues to grow, and today, over 60 high-quality invited reviews and original articles appear on RMB every year. From Volume 21 (2022), RMB has become an annual journal and accepted papers can be accessed online anytime. All papers that have been published in RMB since the inaugural issue in 2002 can be found on PubMed. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/3326/

In addition, we have been publishing Virtual Issues since 2022. These special issues focus on latest hot topics, featuring relevant papers that were published in previous RMB volumes. New topics are added to existing Virtual Issues where appropriate while new papers are added under existing topics in them as well. Go to the RMB page on Wiley Online Library and click the "BROWSE" tab. Select "Virtual Issues" and you will find these special issues. Please check them out for latest insight.

With more than 400,000 cycles of treatment using assisted reproductive technology (ART) provided per year, Japan has been the world's largest nation in terms of reproductive medicine for a while now. Nevertheless, the demand for evidence-based treatment with better quality is increasing following the publication of the Assisted Reproductive Technology Guidelines 2021 and the expansion of coverage by national healthcare schemes to assisted reproductive treatment from 2022. Furthermore, expectation for research outcomes that can lead to the development of new testing and treatment methods is growing more than ever. We would greatly appreciate your continued support to further develop RMB into a globally renowned international journal in reproductive medicine and technology, which researchers and clinicians both in and outside of Japan can make the most of as a platform to present findings from basic and clinical studies.

Akira Iwase
Editorial board member of Japan Society for Reproductive Medicine and Editor-in-Chief of RMB