On August 5, 2025, a confirmation letter reached the editorial office of Journal of Spine Surgery (JSS) that the journal met the selection criteria necessary to be included in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI). Articles published in JSS after 2023, beginning with 9(1), will be included in this prestigious database (Figure 1). JSS will receive its first impact factor (IF) in June 2026.
Figure 1 Formal letter from the Web of Science™ Core Collection
About the Emerging Sources Citation Index
Established in 2015 by Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters), the ESCI identifies scholarly journals demonstrating regional significance or addressing emerging research fields. Inclusion requires passing rigorous editorial evaluation and signifies potential eligibility for future inclusion in major indexes such as the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), or Arts & Humanities Citation Index (AHCI). All ESCI-indexed journals adhere to comprehensive data standards, including full-text indexing, cited reference tracking, subject categorization, and authorship verification (1).
Journal Overview
Launched in December 2015, The Journal of Spine Surgery (JSS, J Spine Surg, Print ISSN: 2414-469X; Online ISSN: 2414-4630) is an open access, peer-reviewed, quarterly journal (Dec. 2015- ), dedicated to the field of spine surgery, science and clinical outcomes. JSS is indexed in PubMed/PubMed Central in 2016 and Scopus. The primary objective of JSS is to provide critical analysis and a comprehensive overview of contemporary topics within the field of spine surgery. The second objective of the JSS is to facilitate and stimulate the discussion and sharing of pertinent clinical information amongst surgeons and physicians concerned with the surgical treatment of spinal disorders.
Milestones and Acknowledgments
With great efforts from the Editors-in-Chief, editorial board members, authors, reviewers, and the entire editorial team, JSS has published 866 articles as of August 6, 2025, including 412 Original Articles, 141 Review Articles, 154 Case Reports, 12 Surgical Techniques and etc. We herein would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all the contributors. No doubt we will continue to strive to publish high-quality articles and bring JSS to the forefront.
Reference
1. “ESCI Fact Sheet” (PDF). Clarivate.
Editorial Office
Journal of Spine Surgery