Editorial Jovan Miljković 1 ✉ , Anja Šterbenc 2 1 Acta Dermatovenerologica Alpina, Pannonica et Adriatica, Editor-in-Chief. 2 Acta Dermatovenerologica Alpina, Pannonica et Adriatica, Technical Editor. 75 2023;32:75 doi: 10.15570/actaapa.2023.15 Obtaining an official impact factor (IF) for a journal has become a quest of significance in the world of academic publishing. Al- though it does carry a certain prestige, the journey toward secur- ing an IF is riddled with challenges, requiring a copious amount of patience and persistence. Here, we briefly describe our pursuit of an official IF since our humble beginnings in 1992 to the of- ficial inclusion of Acta Dermatovenerologica Alpina, Pannonica et Adriatica (Acta Dermatovenerol APA) in the 2023 release of Journal Citation Reports. Our more than 30-year struggle to obtain an IF was marked by challenges and obstacles, and this is described in detail in a pre- viously published editorial (1). We came closest to believing we would be granted an IF in 2016, when our journal was indexed in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI). Launched in 2015, ESCI was initially described as an index of new or established journals in niche areas that are growing in impact. Although the publishers were initially told that journals selected for ESCI would likely receive an IF within a few years, only a very small percent- age of journals passed the impact criteria, regardless of size, loca- tion, or publisher, and most journals continued to be covered in ESCI. Acta Dermatovenerol APA was no exception to this, and we remained in IF “purgatory” for years (2). Acta Dermatovenerol APA attained its first IF this year. With an IF of 1.2 for 2022, Acta Dermatovenerol APA currently ranks 10/47 among Slovenian journals. Thus, we are proud to say that our diligent work has finally paid off because this is an enormous benefit for our journal, further improving its credibility, visibility, and peer recognition. Because publishing in a Slovenian journal with an IF > 1 would be an excellent opportunity for promoting research in Slovenia, our next aim is to apply for a change of the criteria for awarding faculty ranks and PhDs in our country. Unfortunately, the current criteria for doctoral students at the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Medicine only acknowledge publication of an original research article in a journal indexed by SCIE or SSCI with an IF greater than 1 to complete their program. Because journals indexed in ESCI now have an official IF and have passed rigorous Web of Science quality criteria, we sincerely hope that the responsible bodies, universities, and faculty rank com- mittees will swiftly respond to this change and adapt their scoring criteria accordingly. Obtaining an IF is not only a new milestone for Acta Derma- tovenerol APA, but also a great encouragement for our editorial team and all our readers and contributors. We sincerely thank everyone that has devoted their time and effort to help our journal achieve an official IF. Our main mission now is to procure a suf- ficient number of high-quality articles to support and sustain this long-awaited achievement. Acta Dermatovenerologica Alpina, Pannonica et Adriatica Acta Dermatovenerol APA Thirty years of Acta Dermatovenerologica Alpina Pannonica et Adriatica: from the journal’s beginnings to an impact factor ✉ Corresponding author: miljkovicj@icloud.com References 1. Miljković J, Šterbenc A. Obtaining an impact factor: mission impossible for Acta Dermatovenerologica Alpina, Pannonica et Adriatica. Acta Dermatovenerol Alp Pannonica Adriat. 2021;30:127–28. 2. Cochran A. The end of journal impact factor purgatory (and numbers to the thou- sandths) [Internet]. The Scholarly Kitchen, 2022 [cited 2023 Sep 15]. Available from: https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2022/07/26/the-end-of-journal-im- pact-factor-purgatory-and-numbers-to-the-thousandths/#comments. 3. Quaderi N. Announcing changes to the 2023 Journal Citation Reports [Internet]. Clarivate, 2022 [cited 2023 Sep 15]. Available from: https:/ /clarivate.com/blog/ clarivate-announces-changes-to-the-2023-journal-citation-reports-release/.