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European Orthopaedics and Traumatology
Published in: European Orthopaedics and Traumatology 3/2013

01-09-2013 | Original Article

Association of scientific and nonscientific factors to citation rates of articles of renowned orthopedic journals

Authors: Mazda Farshad, Claudia Sidler, Christian Gerber

Published in: European Orthopaedics and Traumatology | Issue 3/2013

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Abstract

Purpose

The physician often relies on the prestige of a journal to identify the most relevant articles to be read in his field. This investigation studied associations of scientific and nonscientific criteria with the citation frequency of articles in two top-ranked international orthopedic journals.

Methods

The 100 most (mean, 88 citations/5 years for cases) and 100 least (mean, two citations/5 years for controls) cited articles published between 2000 and 2004 in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery and the Bone & Joint Journal (formerly known as JBJS (Br)), two of the most distributed general orthopedic journals, were identified. The association of scientific and nonscientific factors on their citation rate was quantified.

Results

Randomized controlled trials, as well as multicenter studies with large sample sizes, were significantly more frequent in the high citation rate group. The unadjusted odds of a highly cited article to be supported by industry were 2.8 (95 % confidence interval 1.5, 5.6; p < 0.05) if compared with a lowly cited article.

Conclusion

Beside scientific factors, nonscientific factors such as industrial support seem associated to the citation rate of published articles. This, together with publication bias, questions whether scientific facts reach the readers in a balanced fashion.
Level of Evidence 3
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Metadata
Title
Association of scientific and nonscientific factors to citation rates of articles of renowned orthopedic journals
Authors
Mazda Farshad
Claudia Sidler
Christian Gerber
Publication date
01-09-2013
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
European Orthopaedics and Traumatology / Issue 3/2013
Print ISSN: 1867-4569
Electronic ISSN: 1867-4577
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12570-013-0174-6

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