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Journal metrics of the top-ranked Orthopaedic, Medical, and Surgical journals – A cross-sectional, comparative study

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Abstract

Purpose

In academic publishing, research metrics play a crucial role in assessing the scientific impact and performance of the published literature, as well as of the journals in which they are published. Several journal-level metrics (JLM) such as the h-index of the analysed journals, total citations, total documents, citable documents, references and external citations per document are considered crucial indicators of the importance and reputation of the journals. We hypothesize that journals in the field of Medicine receive more citations than those in Surgical journals like Orthopaedic surgery, and hence have better JLM. This study aims to to assess and compare the JLM of Medical and Surgical journals between two time zones 2017–2019 vs. 2020–2022, i.e., pre and post-COVID-19 pandemic period.

Methods

A cross-sectional bibliometric analysis of the top-ranked Orthopaedic, Medical, and Surgical journals was undertaken based on traditional JLM, using the SCImago database from 2017 to 2022. Our analysis focused on identifying trends in the h-index of the analysed journals, total citations, total documents, citable documents, references and external citations per document.

Results

Overall Medical journals were found to have higher JLM than the Surgical and Orthopaedic journals. The h-index of Surgical journals, Medical journals and Orthopaedic journals were comparable between the two periods (pre and -post-COVID-19 pandemic); Total Cites (3 years), total documents (2017), total documents (3 years), total references, and citable documents (3 years) of Surgical journals, Medical journals and Orthopaedic journals were significantly higher in the period 2020–2022.

Conclusion

There has been a steady increase in the number of publications from post COVID-19 period. Medical journals have higher JLM than Surgical and Orthopaedic journals. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (Am), Annals of Surgery and Diabetes Care were the most published journals in Orthopaedics, General Surgery and Medicine-related topics respectively.

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Funding

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedics, ACS Medical College and Hospital, Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute, Chennai, 600077, Tamil Nadu, India

    Madhan Jeyaraman

  2. Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine – Sri Lalithambigai Medical College and Hospital, Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute, Chennai, 600095, Tamil Nadu, India

    Preethi Selvaraj

  3. Department of Orthopaedics, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi, 110076, India

    Abhishek Vaish & Raju Vaishya

  4. Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon, Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust, Southport, PR8 6PN, UK

    Karthikeyan P. Iyengar

Authors
  1. Madhan Jeyaraman
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  2. Preethi Selvaraj
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  3. Abhishek Vaish
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  4. Karthikeyan P. Iyengar
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  5. Raju Vaishya
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Contributions

A) Conceptualization – Raju Vaishya

b) Data Collection – Raju Vaishya, Preethi Selvaraj

c) Data Curation – Preethi Selvaraj, Karthikeyan P. Iyengar, Raju Vaishya

d) Manuscript writing – Madhan Jeyaraman, Preethi Selvaraj, Abhishek Vaishya, Karthikeyan P. Iyengar, Raju Vaishya

e) Manuscript revision – Madhan Jeyaraman, Preethi Selvaraj, Karthikeyan P. Iyengar, Raju Vaishya

f) Proof reading – Abhishek Vaishya, Karthikeyan P. Iyengar, Raju Vaishya

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Madhan Jeyaraman.

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Jeyaraman, M., Selvaraj, P., Vaish, A. et al. Journal metrics of the top-ranked Orthopaedic, Medical, and Surgical journals – A cross-sectional, comparative study. International Orthopaedics (SICOT) 48, 357–364 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-023-06010-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-023-06010-6

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