The 50 Most-cited Articles in Orthopaedic Surgery From Mainland China

Background

Citation analysis has been widely used to evaluate the impact of articles in medical and surgical specialties. Although China is the most populous country in the world, and although more than 50,000 orthopaedic surgeons practice there, to our knowledge no formal citation analysis of Chinese orthopaedic articles has been performed.

Questions/purposes

We identified the 50 most-cited orthopaedic articles from mainland China and evaluated these articles in terms of their language of publication, source journals, and topics.

Methods

Science Citation Index Expanded was searched in July 31, 2014 for citations of articles published in 70 selected journals since the inception of the database. The 50 most-cited orthopaedic articles originating in mainland China were identified. Basic information, including title, authors, year of publication, article type, journal in which the work was published, city, institution, number of citations, decade published, and topic or subspecialty of the research were recorded.

Results

The number of citations for the top 50 papers ranged from 181 to 31 (mean, 52). These articles were published between 1981 and 2010. The decade of 2000 to 2009 was the most prolific, with 36 of the top 50 articles published during this time. All articles were written in English and they were published in a total of 16 journals. The journal Spine published the largest number of articles (12), followed by Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research^® (seven). The journal Lancet had the highest impact factor (39.207 for 2013) among any of the journals that published articles we identified. The top 50 articles originated mainly from Beijing (16) and Shanghai (12), with basic research being the focus of the majority (27 of 50; 54%); the remaining were clinical studies. Bone was the most-investigated topic in basic research; the spine was the most-common topic among the identified clinical studies.

Conclusions

The 50 most-cited articles that we identified should be considered influential, although a large gap remains between mainland China and the global orthopaedic community in terms of citations per article. Nevertheless, insofar as the most-recent decade of our survey generated the most articles in this top-50 list, we would characterize mainland China’s effect on musculoskeletal research as increasing, and as funding increases to programs in mainland China, we anticipate this trend will continue in the future.     

Editorial Peer Reviewers as Shepherds,Rather Than Gatekeepers

The journals of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research [JBMR] and its sister journal JBMR Plus) recognize peer review, whether pre- or post-publication, as an essential guard of scientific integrity and rigor that shapes academic discourse in our field. In this Perspective, we present a vision and philosophy of peer review in a rapidly changing publishing landscape. We emphasize the importance of journal peer reviewers as active players in shaping collegial behavior in the musculoskeletal research community and provide information about benefits and resources available for reviewers and reviewers-in-training. Publishing is becoming increasingly transparent, bringing benefits to authors, to reviewers, and to the scientific community at large. We discuss new initiatives such as transparent peer review and preprint servers, the ways they are changing scientific publishing, and how JBMR is responding to broaden the impact of musculoskeletal research. We emphasize the need to change any perception of peer reviewers as gatekeepers to viewing them as shepherds, who partner with authors and editors in the publishing endeavor. Promoting access, transparency, and collegiality in the way we assess science in our community will elevate its quality, clarify its communication, and increase its societal impact. © 2021 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).     

Scientific publications in anesthesiology journals from East Asia: a 10-year survey of the literature

The scientific publications in anesthesiology research from East Asian authors have not been reported yet. The present study was designed to analyze the contribution of articles from East Asia to anesthesiology research. Articles published in 17 journals in anesthesiology originating from Japan, China, and South Korea from 2000 to 2009 were retrieved from the PubMed database and Web of Science. From 2000 to 2009, there were 3,076 articles published from East Asia. During this period, there were a notable decrease in publications from Japan and modest increases in publications from both China and South Korea. The average 5-year impact factor of the published articles was similar among the three regions, and China had the highest average number of citations to each article. Anesthesia & Analgesia published more articles than any other journal from all three regions. Our analysis showed that Japan was the most productive region in East Asia, but there was a notable decrease in publications from Japan in 2000–2009. The impact factor of the articles suggests similar levels of scholarship. Anesthesia & Analgesia was the most popular journal in East Asia.     

The 100 most cited spine articles

Purpose

Spine-related research has evolved dramatically during the last century. Significant contributions have been made by thousands of authors. A citation rank list has historically been used within a particular field to measure the importance of an article. The purpose of this article is to report on the 100 most cited articles in the field of spine.

Methods

Science Citation Index Expanded was searched for citations in 27 different journals (as of 30 November 2010) chosen based on the relevance for all cited spine publications. The top 100 most cited articles were identified. Important information such as journal, date, country of origin, author, subspecialty, and level of evidence (for clinical research) were compiled.

Results

The top 100 publications ranged from 1,695 to 240 citations. Fifty-three articles were of the lumbar, 17 were of the thoracolumbar, and 15 of the cervical spine. Eighty-one of the articles were clinical and 19 were basic science in nature. Level of evidence varied for the clinical papers, however, was most commonly level IV (34 of 81 articles). Notably, the 1990–1999 decade was the most productive period with 43 of the top 100 articles published during this time.

Conclusions

Identification of the most cited articles within the field of spine recognizes some of the most important contributions in the peer-reviewed literature. Current investigators may utilize the aspects of their work to guide and direct future spine-related research.     

The Top 100 Cited Articles on Plantar Fasciitis: A Bibliometric Analysis

Plantar fasciitis is a common musculoskeletal complaint seen in clinical practice. The objective of this study was to perform a bibliometric analysis of the top 100 articles published on the topic of plantar fasciitis. The Web of Science platform was used to search for articles on plantar fasciitis published between 1975 and 2021. Articles were subsequently ranked from the most to least cited. The top 100 studies were analyzed and their characteristics described. A total of 1859 articles were identified. The most cited article was “A retrospective case-control injuries analysis of 2002 running” published by Taunton JE et al in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2002. This article had a total of 910 citations. The mean number of citations per article in the top 100 was 139.95 (range 83-910). The majority of articles were published between the years 2000 to 2009 (n = 56). The USA had the highest number of publications (n = 55), while ‘Foot and Ankle International’ was the journal with the most publications in the top 100 (n =10). Plantar fasciitis is a well-studied topic. Despite this, however, a significant interest in plantar fasciitis research remains among clinicians and researchers evident by the high number of recent studies published on this topic. It is anticipated that these more recent studies will become highly cited over time and as such, this bibliometric analysis should be continuously updated.     

Tools to Improve Scientific Research

The mission of Arthroscopy is to provide authoritative, current, peer-reviewed clinical and basic science information regarding arthroscopic and related surgery. In addition, with a goal of improving the quality of the scientific research published in our journal and others, we develop and publish research pearls, statistical guides, article checklists and templates, and related tools. In sum, this effort allows our cadre of editors, reviewers, authors, and readers to strive to improve in our ability to create and critically analyze medical literature of the greatest merit. Our ultimate ambition is to publish more perfect articles with conclusions on which readers can rely.     

The Top 100 Most-Cited Articles on Ankle Arthroscopy: Bibliometric Analysis

The aim of this study was to analyze the 100 most-cited articles on ankle arthroscopy. Using the keyword ankle arthroscopy, the 100 most-cited articles in the Web of Science database were analyzed. Original articles, reviews, clinical trials, and case reports were included in the study. The search period included studies conducted between the years 1990 and 2020. The number of citations of the 100 most-cited articles ranged from 56 to 225 (mean, 95.52). The total number of citations was 9552. Among the articles examined, most were produced in the United States of America. The American Journal of Sports Medicine was the journal in which the most-cited articles were more frequently published. The article topic that drew attention most was osteochondral defects. Ankle arthroscopy is a technique that is still open to development and is a current topic that should be studied. Analyzing the 100 most-cited articles, it can be seen that most studies are on osteochondral defects. More articles will increase scientific data and provide more realistic solutions to ankle problems.     

Internationalization of general surgical journals: origin and content of articles published in North America and Great Britain from 1983 to 1998

HYPOTHESIS: The origin and characteristics of articles published in the 6 highest rated (Institute for Scientific Information classification) English-language general surgical journals have changed significantly during the past 15 years. DESIGN: All articles published in 1983, 1988, 1993, and 1998 in 5 US surgical journals and 1 British surgical journal were reviewed and characterized. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Absolute numbers and proportions of national and international articles published in each journal. RESULTS: Articles reviewed included 4868 in US journals and 1380 in the British journal. The total number of US journal articles decreased by 15.1%. The total number of British journal articles increased by 58.9%.The percentage of national articles decreased from 87.5% to 68.8% in US journals (P<.001) and constituted the minority of freely submitted articles in 1998 in 3 of 5 US journals. The percentage of national articles also decreased from 74.8% to 47.1% in the British journal (P<.001). Articles by European and Asian authors showed the most striking increases in all journals. The percentage of basic research articles declined in US journals from 23.3% to 17.9% (P =.001) owing to a 14.9% decline in national basic research articles. The percentage of clinical randomized studies increased from 2.2% to 4.1% (P<.008), but the increase was attributable to international articles. Government funding alone decreased from 13.6% to 11.2%, and government plus another source of funding decreased from 19.2% to 16.7% for national articles in US journals. CONCLUSIONS: Internationalization of the highly rated British and the 5 highest rated US general surgical journals has occurred. The decrease in the number of national articles in the US journals has been accompanied by significant decreases in government funding and basic research articles and a static output of clinical randomized studies from North America.     

Global Relevance of Literature on Trauma

The trauma pandemic disproportionately kills and maims citizens of low-income countries although the immediate cause of the trauma is often an industrial export of a high-income country, such as a motor vehicle. Addressing the trauma pandemic in low-income countries requires access to relevant research information regarding prevention and treatment of injuries. Such information is also generally produced in high-income countries. We reviewed two years’ worth of articles from leading orthopaedic and general medical journals to determine whether the scientific literature appropriately reflects the global burden of musculoskeletal disease, particularly that due to trauma. General medical journals underrepresented musculoskeletal disease, but within musculoskeletal disease an appropriate majority of papers were regarding trauma, in particular the epidemiology and prevention of injury. Orthopaedic journals, while focusing on musculoskeletal conditions, substantially underrepresented the global burden of disease due to trauma and hardly consider injury epidemiology and prevention. If orthopaedic surgeons want to maximize their global impact, they should focus on writing about trauma questions relevant to their colleagues in low-income countries and ensuring these same colleagues have access to the literature. Each author certifies that he or she has no commercial associations (eg, consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangements, etc) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article. Dr. Howard runs the Ptolemy project described in the accompanying article.     

Citation analysis of the most influential articles on traumatic spinal cord injury

Objective: We conducted a citation analysis in order to catalog and pay tribute to the 100 most influential clinical research articles in traumatic spinal cord injury.

Design: The Thomson Reuters Web of Science was searched in a two-step process without time period limitations. Review articles were excluded. In the first stage of data extraction, a Boolean query was used to identify the top 100 most cited clinical papers on traumatic spinal cord injury. One hundred and seven keywords were manually chosen and extracted from titles and abstracts. A second Boolean query used these keywords to broaden search results. The top 100 articles from this second stage search comprised the final list.

Outcome Measures: For each article, measures evaluated were number of citations, average number of citations per year, time elapsed before first citation, and time elapsed until the year in which each article received its respective highest number of citations in a one-year period.

Results: 119,991 articles were found in the second stage search. The top 100 most cited articles meeting inclusion criteria were identified within the first 2,104 results. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation was the most represented journal, with 20 of the top 100 articles. The top 100 list averaged 255 citations per article. The most highly cited article was the NASCIS 2 trial by Bracken et al., cited 1500 times, which investigated the efficacy of methylprednisolone or naloxone for spinal cord injury.

Conclusion: Clinical research in traumatic spinal cord injury has grown over time, expanding to encompass rehabilitation and experimental therapies in addition to acute management trials. The list may serve as an archive and reference for further studies in this field.     

Level of evidence of clinical spinal research and its correlation with journal impact factor

BackgroundOver the past two decades, there has been a growing recognition and emphasis on the practice of evidence-based medicine (EBM). The level of evidence (LOE) is used to classify clinical studies based on their quality and design. To compare the quality of scientific journals, the impact factor (IF) is the most widely used ranking measure. However, the calculation of IF is not directly dependent on the quality or LOE of clinical articles published in a journal.PurposeThe primary aim of this study was to evaluate the current LOE for clinical research in leading spinal journals and assess the relationship between LOE and IF. We hypothesized that most clinical research would provide level IV evidence, and that a positive correlation would exist between the proportion of high LOE articles and the journal IF.Study designA systematic review of all the articles in five general spinal journals was undertaken during 2010.SampleAll online articles in The Spine Journal, Spine, European Spine Journal, Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, and Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques during 2010, as well as supplements were included.Outcome measureThe LOE for each clinical study was assessed using guidelines produced by the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine.MethodsTwo reviewers independently assessed all articles.ResultsOverall 703 articles were suitable for LOE grading. Of these, 4.7% provided level I evidence, 23.2% level II, 12.5% level III, and 59.6% level IV. There was a significant association between LOE and type of study (p<.001); articles on therapeutic studies had the largest proportion (71.8%) of level IV evidence. There was a strong positive correlation between the proportion of level I and II evidence and the journal impact factor (ρ=0.9; 95% confidence interval 0.1 to 0.99; p=.037).ConclusionSpinal surgery journals with a higher IF contain a larger proportion of studies with high LOE, however most clinical articles provide level IV evidence of which the highest proportion are therapeutic studies. Clinicians, researchers, and journal editors should work hand in hand to enhance evidence-based practice in spinal care.     

La Iniciativa Open Access (OAI) en la literatura científica

According to the declaration of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (OAI) is defined as a editorial model in which access to scientific journal literature and his use are free. Free flow of information allowed by Internet has been the basis of this initiative. The Bethesda and the Berlin declarations, supported by some international agencies, proposes to require researchers to deposit copies of all articles published in a self-archive or an Open Access repository, and encourage researchers to publish their research papers in journals Open Access. This paper reviews the keys of the OAI, with their strengths and controversial aspects; and it discusses the position of databases, search engines and repositories of biomedical information, as well as the attitude of the scientists, publishers and journals. So far the journal Actas Urológicas Españolas (Act Urol Esp) offer their contents on Open Access as On Line in Spanish and English.     

Publications in anesthesia journals: quality and clinical relevance

Clinicians performing evidence-based anesthesia rely on anesthesia journals for clinically relevant information. The objective of this study was to analyze the proportion of clinically relevant articles in five high impact anesthesia journals. We evaluated all articles published in Anesthesiology, Anesthesia & Analgesia, British Journal of Anesthesia, Anesthesia, and Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica from January to June, 2000. Articles were assessed and classified according to type, outcome, and design; 1379 articles consisting of 5468 pages were evaluated and categorized. The most common types of article were animal and laboratory research (31.2%) and randomized clinical trial (20.4%). A clinically relevant article was defined as an article that used a statistically valid method and had a clinically relevant end-point. Altogether 18.6% of the pages had as their subject matter clinically relevant trials. We compared the Journal Impact Factor (a measure of the number of citations per article in a journal) and the proportion of clinically relevant pages and found that they were inversely proportional to each other.     

应用CiteSpace对肌少-骨质疏松症的可视化分析

目的 借助CiteSpace软件对近15年肌少-骨质疏松症领域的研究现状、热点及趋势进行可视化分析.方法 以Web of Science核心合集数据库为搜索来源,利用CiteSpace V.5.6 R2可视化分析软件对近15年肌少-骨质疏松症的研究进行可视化分析,探讨相关研究的作者、国家/机构分布、期刊分布状况及对关键...     

Time to publication for orthopaedic surgery peer-reviewed journals: A cross-sectional bibliometric analysis

BackgroundThe dissemination of research and evidence-based medicine is critical to advancing science and improving clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the timing and associated factors of the publication process for the most influential orthopaedic surgery research journals.MethodsAfter analyzing 25 orthopaedic surgery journals with the highest impact factors, 14 journals provided the necessary information for data analysis. A minimum of three consecutive issues per journal from 2021 were collected for review. Within each issue, all articles were included except for reviews, commentaries, replies, letters to the editor, and invited articles. The publication times for received to accepted (RA), received to published in press (RP1), and received to published in print (RP2) were retrieved and compared. Journal impact factor, specialty, and article level of evidence were recorded.ResultsA total of 1040 articles were included with a mean number of 74.3 ± 38 (range, 35–182) articles analyzed per journal. The mean impact factor for the 14 journals was 3.6 ± 1 (range, 2.5–5.8). The overall median duration of time for RA, RP1, and RP2 were 119 (IQR, 78–165) days, 157 (IQR, 102–216) days, and 291 (IQR, 243–378) days across all 14 journals, respectively. Journal of Arthroplasty demonstrated the shortest median duration of time for RA and RP1, while International Orthopaedics demonstrated the shortest median duration of time for RP2. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine demonstrated the longest median duration of time for RA and RP2, while the American Journal of Sports Medicine demonstrated the longest median duration of time for RP1. Level three studies, which included retrospective case-control and cohort study designs, demonstrated the shortest publication times, while sports medicine journals demonstrated the longest publication times for all periods.ConclusionThere was substantial variation in publication times across orthopaedic surgery journals which may impact accessibility to clinical insights.     

《中华肝胆外科杂志》被引分析研究

目的从文献引证角度透视《中华肝胆外科杂志》的学术水平和期刊质量。方法依据《中国生物医学期刊引文数据库》（Chinese Medical Citation Index，CMCI），采用文献计量方法对《中华肝胆外科杂志》载文被CMCI来源期刊引用的情况进行统计分析及评价。结果单篇论文平均被引次数为2．93次，被引频次较高的论文数量较多，被引作者群的地域分布30个省、直辖市和特区，北京、上海和广东在肝胆外科研究领域居于前列。引用期刊种数多，有355种期刊引用该刊，自引率为11．89％。结论《中华肝胆外科杂志》不仅是我国肝胆外科研究领域最重要的信息源之一，也是我国医学领域的主要核心期刊。