Keywords
journal article - journal impact factor - peer review - research - database
Introduction
Researching, writing, and disseminating the findings of scientific research are important
means of communication in the academic environment.[1] In general, the role of publication has both academic function of informing and
communicating the results of the research, and professional function, democratically
providing a structured area for the debate of the study findings.[1]
[2] In this context, the main function of medical journals is to transmit information
that improves health care, publishing scientific articles that focus on issues of
great relevance in health practice.[3] However, despite the growing number of scientific publications, allowing to reach
a wider audience of readers, the authors face an unprecedented challenge when selecting
which journal is the ideal journal to publish their research.[3]
[4]
[5]
In this difficult decision-making, the impact factor (IF) of the journal has been
one of the most widely used factors to evaluate its quality, importance, and penetration
in the academic environment.[6]
[7] The IF is calculated by dividing the number of citations of a journal in the Journal
Citation Reports (JCR) in one year by the total number of articles published in the
same discipline in the journal evaluated in the previous two years.[8] Some authors have suggested the choice of scientific journals owned by an association
of health professionals or publications that allow free access to the reader, potentially
increasing the visibility of the study.[9]
[10]
In Brazil, Revista Brasileira de Ortopedia (Rev Bras Ortop) is the scientific publishing
body of Sociedade Brasileira de Ortopedia e Treaumatologia (SBOT).[11] The journal does not receive funding money from funding agencies and is fully supported
by SBOT, without charging a fee for submission and publication of its articles. Since
2009 it is indexed in PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, SciELO (Scientific Electronic
Library On-Line) and LILACS (Latin American Literature in Health Sciences) databases,
ensuring good visibility in the world orthopedic scenario. Nevertheless, Lech, in
an editorial published in the journal itself in 1994, drew attention to the fact that
national authors do not mention national authors, demonstrated by the low rate of
self-citation within the journal.[12] Among the causes pointed out, we highlight the need to use international references
to "confer veracity" to the study and the phenomena of "third-worldism" and "implicit
competition" among the authors.
Interestingly, despite having increased its exposure in databases of excellence in
medical research, since 1994 little has changed in this poor scenario of citations
of the journal itself.[13] But do Brazilian authors actually mention less the journal of their professional
association than foreign authors do for their societies or medical associations? Our
hypothesis is that little has changed since 1994, keeping the journal's number of
self-citations low. The aim of this study is to observe the profile of self-citations
of Rev Bras Ortop and citations of this journal in other medical journals of orthopedics.
Material and Methods
This is a cross-sectional observational study of the frequency of self-citations and
citations of Rev Bras Ortop in other orthopedic medical journals. In addition to Rev
Bras Ortop, four other magazines of general scope were chosen within the specialty
(The Journal of Bone & Joint Surg American [J Bone Joint Surg Am], Bone & Joint Journal [Bone Joint J], Acta Orthopaedica et Traumatologica Turcica [Acta Orthop Traumatol Turc] and Der Unfallchirurgie [Unfallchirurg]) and a journal specific to a knowledge area (Journal of Shoulder & Elbow Surgery [J Shoulder Elbow Surg]).
J Bone Joint Surg Am is a peer-reviewed fortnightly medical journal published by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc. (Massachusetts, USA). It is indexed in PubMed, Scopus, CrossRef, Portico and Web
of Science, with 4.57 IF 2019.[14] Bone Joint J, formerly known as The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery British, is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal published by The British Editorial Society of Bone & Joint Surgery (London, United Kingdom). It is indexed in PubMed, with 4.30 IF 2019.[15] Acta Orthop Traumatol Turc is the official journal of the Turkish Association of
Orthopedis and Traumatology (Türk Ortopedi ve Travmatoloji Derneği - TOTDER) and the Turkish Society of Orthopedics and Traumatology (Türk Orthopedi ve Travmatoloji Birliği Derneği - TOTBID). It is a peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal published bimonthly
in English. It is indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded, PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, DOAJ, Index Copernicus and TUBITAK ULAKBIM TR Index,
with 1.21 IF 2019.[16] Unfallchirurg is the official medical journal of the German Society of Trauma Surgery
(Deutschen Gesellschaft für Unfallchirurgie), of monthly periodicity, offering some open access articles and others only by subscription.
The articles are peer-reviewed and originally published in German, with abstract in
English. It is indexed in the Science Citation Index (SCI) Expanded, PubMed, EMBASE and Scopus, with 0.67 IF 2019.[17] J Shoulder Elbow Surg is the official publication of several medical societies,
including Sociedad Latinoamericana de Hombro y Codo. It has monthly periodicity, and its articles are peer reviewed. It offers open access
articles and other articles by subscription only. It is indexed in PubMed, EMBASE
and Scopus, with 2.81 IF 2019.[18]
[Table 1] provides information from selected journals.
Table 1
|
Main Journal
|
Who publishes
|
Periodicity
|
Indexing
|
IF 2019
|
|
Rev Bras Ortop
|
SBOT
|
Monthly
|
PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, SciELO and LILACS
|
0.69
|
|
J Bone Joint Surg Am
|
The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc.
|
Biweekly
|
PubMed, Scopus, CrossRef, Portico and Web of Science
|
4.57
|
|
Bone Joint J
|
The British Editorial Society of Bone & Joint Surgery
|
Monthly
|
Pubmed
|
4.30
|
|
Acta Orthop Traumatol Turc
|
TOTDER / TOTBID
|
Bimonthly
|
Science Citation Index Expanded, PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, DOAJ, Index Copernicus
and TUBITAK ULAKBIM TR Index
|
1.21
|
|
Unfallchirurg
|
Deutschen Gesellschaft für Unfallchirurgie
|
Monthly
|
Science Citation Index Expanded, PubMed, EMBASE and Scopus
|
0.67
|
|
J Shoulder Elbow Surg
|
Various medical specialty societies [#]
|
Monthly
|
PubMed, EMBASE and Scopus
|
2.81
|
The last 15 articles published in 2020 were selected in each of the six journals.
All references were evaluated to identify the journal in which they were originally
published. The distribution of punctual frequency of the four main journals mentioned,
their position and the percentage relative to the total number of citations were observed
in each of the journals. The number of times Rev Bras Ortop was mentioned in each
of the selected journals was evaluated using its absolute and relative frequencies.
Results
The total number of citations in this study was 2527, ranging from 386 (Rev Bras Ortop)
to 486 (J Shoulder Elbow Surg) per journal. Three journals presented high frequency
and three journals presented low sel-citation frequency. It was observed that The
J Shoulder Elbow Surg, Bone Joint J and J Bone Joint Surg Am present firstly citations
of themselves, with 22.2%, 13.7% and 11.9% of the citations, respectively, in relation
to the total researched in the journal. Rev Bras Ortop, Acta Orthop Traumatol Turc
and Unfallchirurg presented low self-references, with 2.6%, 1.0% and 2.2% of citations,
respectively, in relation to the total surveyed in the journal. Acta Orthop Traumatol
Turc cited itself four times in a total of 391 references and Unfallchirurg 10 times
out of a total of 456 referrals. Rev Bras Ortop is sel-f-mentioned in the sixth position
(10 out of a total of 386 references used during the study period), however it was
not mentioned in any of the other five medical journals included in the study (absolute
frequency 0, relative frequency 0).
[Table 2] shows the six orthopedic journals analyzed in the study, with its four main citations,
in addition to the number of times Rev Bras Ortop was mentioned in each of the journals.
Table 2
|
Main Journals
|
Main citations
|
Position
|
Absolute frequency
|
Frequency relative to total citations (%)
|
|
Rev Bras Ortop
|
|
Total citations searched: 386
|
Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc
Am J Sports Med
J Bone Joint Surg Am
Spine
Rev Bras Ortop – self-cit
PARTIAL TOTAL
|
First
Second
Third
4th
6th
|
90
29
28
20
10
177
|
23.3
7.5
7.3
5.2
2.6
45.9
|
|
J Bone Joint Surg Am
|
|
Total citations searched: 420
|
J Bone Joint Surg Am - self-cit
Clin Orthop Rel Res
Am J Sports Med
J Arthroplasty
Rev Bras Ortop
PARTIAL TOTAL
|
First
Second
Third
4th
N/C
|
50
28
22
17
0
117
|
11.9
6.7
5.2.
4.0
0
27.9
|
|
Bone Joint J
|
|
Total citations searched: 388
|
Bone Joint J - self-cit
J Bone Joint Surg Am
Spine
Clin Orthop Rel Res
Rev Bras Ortop
PARTIAL TOTAL
|
First
Second
Third
4th
N/C
|
53
44
34
16
0
147
|
13.7
11.3
8.8
4.1
0
37.9
|
|
Acta Orthop Traumatol Turc
|
|
Total citations searched: 391
|
J Bone Joint Surg Am
Clin Orthop Rel Res
J Hand Surg Am
J Shoulder Elbow Surg
Acta Orthop Traumatol Turc - self-cit
Rev Bras Ortop
PARTIAL TOTAL
|
First
Second
Third
4th
19th
N/C
|
24
23
17
15
4
0
83
|
6.1
5.9
4.3
3.8
1.0
0
21.2
|
|
Unfallchirurg
|
|
Total citations searched: 456
|
Am J Sports Med
J Bone Joint Surg Am
J Shoulder Elbow Surg
Bone Joint J
Unfallchirurg - self-cit
Rev Bras Ortop
PARTIAL TOTAL
|
First
Second
Second
4th
6th
N/C
|
33
27
27
15
10
0
112
|
7.2
5.9
5.9
3.3
2.2
0
24.6
|
|
J Shoulder Elbow Surg
|
|
Total citations searched: 486
|
J Shoulder Elbow Surg - self-cit
J Bone Joint Surg Am
Arthroscopy
Am J Sports Med
Rev Bras Ortop
PARTIAL TOTAL
|
First
Second
Second
4th
N/C
|
108
49
19
18
0
194
|
22.2
10.1
3.9
3.70
39.9
|
Discussion
It was observed that, in general, there is a low frequency of rev bras ortop citations
both in the journal itself and in the other journals researched in this study. In
the evaluation of the last 15 articles published in Rev Bras Ortop in 2020, only 10
were from the journal itself, while in the other five journals included in the study
the journal was not mentioned at all. The magnitude of the problem is enormous, since
it is the main vehicle for disseminating scientific evidence of Brazilian orthopedists.
Although it was not our objective to evaluate the reasons that lead the Brazilian
orthopedist to cite their own journal so little, our findings suggest the need to
elaborate and implement strategies to encourage the citation of their scientific journal.
There are two ways to deal with this sad reality. One of them is, in a simplistic
way, to seek a "culprit," whether this is the "third-worldist" phenomenon, the search
for a "good" foreign periodical or the Brazilian orthopedists themselves cious of
"their" discovery. However, it should be in mind that there is no reliable list of
good and bad journals, and that the sharing of evidence through scientific publications
contributes greatly to minimizing the importance of borders and contributing to the
use of evidence in the global health field.[1]
[5] In addition, there is no "local" or "very specific" knowledge that is not of interest
to any medical journal that seeks quality and transparency.[19]
The other way to deal with the problem of Rev Bras Ortop's low self-citation is to
improve its reputation, which includes indexing in more bibliographic databases, the
perception of "prestige" of the journal and the increase of its IF, widely used in
the selection of which journal to send the scientific study.[2]
[3]
[20]
[21] It is interesting to note that of the three journals with the highest number of
self-citations, the lowest IF 2019 is 2.81,[18] while the highest IF 2019 of the journals with the lowest number of self-citations
is 1.21.[16] Currently Rev Bras Ortop's FI 2019 is 0.69.[11] Interestingly, of the three journals of lesser self-citation, all are of official
organs of their medical specialty societies. Despite the potential increase in the
visibility of the study among a greater number of professionals in the field when
it is published in the journal of their own professional medical association,[9]
[10] Morley and Urquhart[2] observed that this link was pointed out as of low importance among professionals
of a university hospital of the United Kingdom's National Health System.
Although IF is is an important criterion for choosing which journal to submit a scientific
study, several authors have pointed out limitations in its use, especially for incorrect
manipulation and application of self-citations.[7]
[8]
[22] Moreover, its usefulness does not extend to individual articles, suggesting that
there is objectively no correlation between the frequency of citation of an individual
article and the IF of a given publication.[19]
[22]
[23] Finally, it is important to note that the IF does not reflect the quality and transparency
in the peer review process to which a journal submits its articles.[3]
[5]
[24] In the study by Morley and Urquhart,[2] peer review was considered a very important factor in the choice of journal for
publication. Reputable journals should fully disclose their peer review process in
printed content or on their official Website, and their reviewers should understand
the importance of their work in legitimizing publication.[5]
[24]
[25]
[26] The lack of peer review leads to unethical practices such as plutogism, publication
of unscientific falsified data, and unsafe clinical practices.[25] In 2018, more than 42,000 academic journals reviewed by active peers were published,
with an accelerated growth of more than 5% in recent years.[27]
The influence of Latin American studies in the orthopedic literature has been limited,
with a small number of publications conducted in the region.[28]
[29] In 2014, Latin American countries produced only 1% of all published orthopedic articles.[29] Of the 50 most cited articles, 20 were by Brazilian authors, but no national journal
was used as a reference. In this context, what is necessary for Brazilian orthopedists
to recognize the importance of Rev Bras Ortop and choose it to publish their studies?
Moreover, how to motivate the citation to the national authors who publish in the
journal? Understanding the characteristics that make the articles cited by other scientists
can help researchers, institutions and governments promote quality research that could
become more influential to the international orthopedic scientific community.[29]
This challenge does not seem to be exclusive to Rev Bras Ortop. In our study, we observed
that of the four journals published by their professional specialty associations,
only Bone Joint J self-cited first. Certainly, this finding reflects the diversity
of subjects covered by Bone Joint J, but also its reputation and credibility built
over years. Chomsky-Higgins et al.[28] highlighted the need for strong policies to encourage scientific production, such
as support for multicenter projects and clinical studies that benefit the local population,
encouraging residents and young orthopedists to produce quality research and improvement
of hospital infrastructure. Thus, as the largest professional and educational entity
of Brazilian orthopedics, SBOT needs to foster training and obtain the necessary funding
to develop national data that can be published in its own journal, increasing the
visibility of Brazilian research and researchers on the world stage. In parallel,
there is a need for this and other professional medical associations to act with government
institutions, such as CAPES, in order to reduce bureaucratic pressure, characterized
by arbitrary elevation of cutting levels for financing purposes, which leads national
authors to try to publish their manuscripts in journals with higher IF in their field
of research, instead of seeking a Brazilian journal, such as Rev Bras Ortop.[30]
Among the limitations of the study, we highlight mainly the short period of data collection
(last 15 articles published in 2020) and the lack of investigation of the reasons
that lead the Brazilian orthopedist to cite so little of their own journal. Because
this is a cross-sectional observational study, we examined the self-citation rate
at a given time, evaluating the strength of the relationship between the exposure
factor and bibliometric variables taken into account in scientific journals, such
as IF, peer review and main editorial source. Cross-sectional studies are known to
have an inherent temporal dimension, as they verify the prevalence of the exposure
factor at present time.[31] Thus, we observed that Rev Bras Ortop showed a low self-citation rate, suggesting
the need to implement specific strategies to reverse the current scenario. Understanding
the reasons for the low self-citation rate is fundamental, but the fact that this
was not the focus of the present study does not make it impossible to take actions
that improve the visibility of the main scientific publication of SBOT.
Conclusion
It was observed that Revista Brasileira de Ortopedia has a low self-citation rate,
showing that Brazilian orthopedists do not mention Brazilian orthopedists who publish
in the journal. We suggest the development and implementation of strong strategies
to improve the visibility of the journal in the world academic-scientific scenario.
It is essential that Brazilian orthopedists understand this reality and help directly
and effectively in their change.
