Fertility and Sterility: an evaluation

A Bibliometric Analysis of Top-Cited Journal Articles in Obstetrics and Gynecology

IMPORTANCE

Citation analysis is a bibliometric method that uses citation rates to evaluate research performance. This type of analysis can identify the articles that have shaped the modern history of obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN).

OBJECTIVES

To identify and characterize top-cited OBGYN articles in the Institute for Scientific Information Web of Science's Science Citation Index Expanded and to compare top-cited OBGYN articles published in specialty OBGYN journals with those published in nonspecialty journals.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

Cross-sectional bibliometric analysis of top-cited articles that were indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded from 1980 to 2018. The Science Citation Index Expanded was queried using search terms from the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology's 2018 certifying examination topics list. The top 100 articles from all journals and the top 100 articles from OBGYN journals were evaluated for specific characteristics. Data were analyzed in March 2019.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

The articles were characterized by citation number, publication year, topic, study design, and authorship. After excluding articles that featured on both lists, top-cited articles were compared.

RESULTS

The query identified 3 767 874 articles, of which 278 846 (7.4%) were published in OBGYN journals. The top-cited article was published by Rossouw and colleagues in JAMA (2002). Top-cited articles published in nonspecialty journals were more frequently cited than those in OBGYN journals (median [interquartile range], 1738 [1490-2077] citations vs 666 [580-843] citations, respectively; P < .001) and were more likely to be randomized trials (25.0% vs 2.2%, respectively; difference, 22.8%; 95% CI, 13.5%-32.2%; P < .001). Whereas articles from nonspecialty journals focused on broad topics like osteoporosis, articles from OBGYN journal focused on topics like preeclampsia and endometriosis.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

This study found substantial differences between top-cited OBGYN articles published in nonspecialty vs OBGYN journals. These differences may reflect the different goals of the journals, which work together to ensure optimal dissemination of impactful articles.

Trends in clinical reproductive medicine research: 10 years of growth

OBJECTIVE

To study the most important metrics of publication in the field of reproductive medicine over the decade 2003-2012 to aid in discerning the clinical, social, and epidemiologic implications of this relatively new but rapidly emerging area in medical sciences.

DESIGN

Bibliometric analysis of most-cited publications from Web of Science databases.

SETTING

Not applicable.

PATIENT(S)

None.

INTERVENTION(S)

None.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S)

Most productive and frequently cited investigators, institutions, and countries and specific areas of research, scientific collaborations, and comparison of the growth of reproductive medicine research compared with other areas of medical investigation such as obstetrics and gynecology and related science categories.

RESULT(S)

We found that 90 investigators with more than 1,000 citations had jointly published 4,010 articles. A continued rise in the impact factor of reproductive medicine journals was seen. The number of publications in reproductive medicine grew more rapidly compared with other science categories. Presently 22% of highly cited articles in reproductive medicine research are published in journals belonging to science categories outside reproductive medicine. The most-cited study groups are situated in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and collaborative studies have been increasing.

CONCLUSION(S)

Reproductive medicine research and subsequent clinical development have attained scientific growth and maturity. High-quality research is increasingly being published in high-impact journals. The increase in (inter)national collaborations seems to be key to the field's success.

Top-cited articles in traumatic brain injury

A review of the top-cited articles in a scientific discipline can identify areas of research that are well established and those in need of further development, and may, as a result, inform and direct future research efforts. Our objective was to identify and characterize the top-cited articles in traumatic brain injury (TBI). We used publically available software to identify the 50 TBI articles with the most lifetime citations, and the 50 TBI articles with the highest annual citation rates. A total of 73 articles were included in this review, with 27 of the 50 papers with the highest annual citation rates common to the cohort of 50 articles with the most lifetime citations. All papers were categorized by their primary topic or focus, namely: predictor of outcome, pathology/natural history, treatment, guidelines and consensus statements, epidemiology, assessment measures, or experimental model of TBI. The mean year of publication of the articles with the most lifetime citations and highest annual citation rates was 1990 ± 14.9 years and 2003 ± 6.7 years, respectively. The 50 articles with the most lifetime citations typically studied predictors of outcome (34.0%, 17/50) and were specific to severe TBI (38.0%, 19/50). In contrast, the most common subject of papers with the highest annual citation rates was treatment of brain injury (22.0%, 11/50), and these papers most frequently investigated mild TBI (36.0%, 18/50). These findings suggest an intensified focus on mild TBI, which is perhaps a response to the dedicated attention these injuries are currently receiving in the context of sports and war, and because of their increasing incidence in developing nations. Our findings also indicate increased focus on treatment of TBI, possibly due to the limited efficacy of current interventions for brain injury. This review provides a cross-sectional summary of some of the most influential articles in TBI, and a bibliometric examination of the current status of TBI research.

Papers featured in the World Journal of Gastroenterology from 2006 to 2007

AIM: To analyze papers published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG) from 2006 to 2007. We investigated the highly cited papers for geographic distribution of the cited authors, as well as the distribution of the citing journals and year of citation.

METHODS: Papers published in WJG from 2006 to 2007 and their citations were retrieved from the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE). The papers and their citations were analyzed according to bibliometric methods, including the number of citations for a given paper, the distribution of the highly cited papers, the geographic distribution of the cited authors, and the years of citation.

RESULTS: Two thousand five hundred and six papers published in WJG from 2006 to 2007 were collected through SCIE, and 2335 of these were categorized as articles, reviews or proceedings. In 2006 and 2007, the average citation rate was 85.08% and 70.48%, respectively, and the average number of citations per paper was 4.33 and 2.51. Among the 2506 papers, 1963 were cited 8788 times by other articles. The mean number of citations per paper was 3.51. The papers with over three citations accounted for 54.72% of all those that were cited, and the total number of citations accounted for 85.38% of the total of 8788 citations. Thirteen papers were cited over 30 times and the highest number of citations for any one paper was 98. The cited authors came from 70 different countries or regions, with China, Japan and the United States being the most frequent. The highest average citation rate and number of citations per paper were for authors from Canada (96.30%, 6.89), Hungary (92.31%, 5.62), Australia (88.46%, 5.46), Germany (87.04%, 5.33), and Spain (87.50%, 5.11). The impact factor was 2.081 and the self-citation rate was 9.41% in 2008. The papers published in WJG in 2006-2007 were cited by 1597 journals.

CONCLUSION: The papers in WJG have a high number of citations, and have been cited in numerous journals by authors from various countries. The results imply that WJG has an influential academic profile in gastroenterology around the world.