Pediatric electronic pages: looking back and looking ahead

A review of the Journal of Pediatrics: the first 75 years

OBJECTIVE

To assess changes in the format and content of articles published in The Journal of Pediatrics to aid in understanding the current state of pediatric research and to anticipate what to expect in the coming years.

STUDY DESIGN

We conducted a retrospective review of case reports, research articles, and review articles published in volume 150 of The Journal. We noted components of study authorship, content, and design and compared these data with those in earlier volumes.

RESULTS

The numbers of authors and grants per article and the proportion of studies with international authorship have all increased. Print circulation has dropped, but The Journal is now available in electronic format. Research topics shifted, with fewer articles devoted to infectious disease and general pediatrics. An increase in articles about endocrinology reflects a surge of interest in pediatric obesity. Most articles contain original research, reporting analyses from observational studies with few clinical trials.

CONCLUSIONS

Recent trends suggest that readers of The Journal should expect more research articles with observational designs and increasing international authorship. The Journal's electronic presence will likely increase and provide greater readership globally.

Statistical literacy for readers of Pediatrics: a moving target

OBJECTIVE

Pediatric residents are expected to study research design and statistical methods to enable them to critically appraise the pediatric literature and apply the findings to patient care. However, it is not clear how best to teach these skills or even which statistical concepts are most important. An earlier study demonstrated that the statistical complexity of articles published in Pediatrics increased from 1952 to 1982. The goals of our study were to assess whether this trend has continued and to determine the statistical measures and procedures most commonly encountered in Pediatrics.

METHODS

We reviewed the print research articles published in Pediatrics, volume 115, 2005, and recorded the statistical measures and procedures reported in each article to determine how many articles used statistics or statistical procedures and what statistical procedures were encountered most commonly.

RESULTS

The proportion of articles that used any inferential statistics increased from 48% in 1982 to 89% in 2005. The mean number of inferential procedures per article increased from 2.5 in 1982 to 3.9 in 2005. The most commonly encountered statistical procedures or measures were descriptive statistics, tests of proportions, measures of risk, logistic regression, t tests, nonparametric tests, analysis of variance, multiple linear regression, sample size and power calculation, and tests of correlation. However, a reader who is familiar with only these concepts can understand the analyses used in only 47% of articles.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results confirm a trend toward the use of new and increasingly complex statistical techniques in Pediatrics. Educational efforts might most profitably focus on the principles underlying statistical analysis rather than on specific statistical tests. Authors, reviewers, and journal editors have a greater responsibility for ensuring that statistical procedures are used appropriately, as it may be increasingly unrealistic to expect readers to fully understand the statistical analyses used in journal articles.

What do academic primary care physicians want in an electronic journal?

To determine the interest of academic general internists and family physicians in specific features of electronic journal publications, we surveyed 350 physicians, 175 randomly selected from each of 2 medical societies: the Society of General Internal Medicine, and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. The response rate was 70%. Most general internists and family physicians used online journals sometimes or often. Most general internists and family physicians reported moderate to high interest in having links from original articles, reviews, or editorials to listed references (77% to 89% of internists and 65% to 81% of family physicians) and electronic medical reference texts (73% to 78% of internists and 65% to 83% of family physicians). Less than 25% of both groups reported moderate to high interest in having links to initiate dialog with other readers or to communicate comments to the author or editor. General internists were more likely than were family physicians to have moderate to high interest in having links to appendices and supportive material (e.g., 66% of general internists versus 46% of family physicians for original articles; P < .05) and less likely to have moderate to high interest in links to health-related web sites (44% of general internists versus 69% of family physicians for original articles; P < .05). We conclude that academic general internists and family physicians have strong but not identical interests in specific features of electronic publication that primary care-oriented journals should consider.

From paper to electron: how an STM journal can survive the disruptive technology of the Internet

The Internet represents a different type of technology for publishers of scientific, technical, and medical journals. It is not a technology that sustains current markets and creates new efficiencies but is, rather, a disruptive technology that could radically alter market forces, profit expectations, and business models. This paper is a translation and amplification of the research done in this area, applied to a large-circulation new science journal, Pediatrics. The findings suggest that the journal of the future will be electronic, have a less volatile cost structure, be supported more by services than by content, be less able to rely on subscription revenues, and abandon certain elements of current value networks. It also provides a possible framework for other publishers to use to evaluate their own journals relative to this disruptive technology.

Effect of an alpha(2) agonist (mivazerol) on limiting myocardial ischaemia in stable angina

A specific alpha(2) agonist, mivazerol, known to be effective in reducing myocardial ischaemia when given intravenously immediately before an exercise tolerance test, produced a significant increase in exercise duration and time to the onset of angina when given orally over a two week period to 25 patients with stable angina. A non-significant trend to reduction in electrocardiographic signs of ischaemia was also noted. The clinical relevance of this improvement now needs to be tested in larger numbers.