Pharmacoepidemiology and the “Impact Factor”

Abstract

The field of “Pharmacoepidemiology/Drug Utilization” research has been analysed by studying published research articles under the medical subject headings (MeSH terms) “Pharmacoepidemiology”, “Drug Utilization” and “Drug Utilization Review”. There were 1822 articles published, and stored in Medline, during the 32-month period between 1 January 2001 and 31 August 2003; these papers might represent a field of research, due to the similarity of MeSH terms used for coding and the set of journals in which the articles were published. A total of 457 articles, representing 25% of all articles in the field, were published in 14 different journals, and 50% of all articles (948) were collected in only 64 different journals. The two main journals publishing research in “Pharmacoepidemiology/Drug Utilization” are Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf and the Eur J Clin Pharmacol. These two publications are the official journals of the three main societies in the field and are at least partially focused on this subject, with 45.7% of all articles in Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf and 11.1% of all articles in Eur J Clin Pharmacol included under the studied MeSH terms; other journals only occasionally publish papers in this line of research. These two journals are the leaders in pharmacoepidemiology and drug utilization research, having impact factors (IFs) in 2002/2003 above (1.955/1.972 for EJCP) and a bit below (1.092/1.257 for PDS) the middle of the ranking of publications, according to the IF, in the “Pharmacology and Pharmacy” list of the Science Citation Index (SCI).

Appendix

Accompanying MeSH terms (158) in the 1,822 articles selected for being coded with any of the three MeSH terms “Pharmacoepidemiology”, “Drug Utilization” or “Drug Utilization Review” after excluding MeSH terms not descriptive of the subject of the paper. (Underlined terms are also commonly used to code retrieved articles that did not contain the three main search MeSH terms).

Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems/ Adverse Effects/Allergy and Immunology/ Attitude of Health Personnel/Attitude to Health/Autoimmune Diseases/Bioethics/ Biomedical Research/Biotechnology/Bioterrorism/Choice Behavior/Clinical Competence/ Clinical Pharmacy Information Systems/Clinical Protocols/ Clinical Trials/Commission on Professional and Hospital Activities/ Communicable Disease Control/Communication/Communication Barriers/Communications Media/Comorbidity/Conflict of Interest/ Confounding Factors (Epidemiology)/Contract Services/ Controlled Clinical Trials/ Cost–Benefit Analysis/ Costs and Cost Analysis/Culture/Decision Making/Demography/Diagnosis/Documentation/ Drug Administration Routes/ Drug Approval/Drug Costs/Drug Delivery Systems/Drug Design/ Drug Effects/Drug Eruptions/ Drug Evaluation/Drug Hypersensitivity/Drug Industry/ Drug Information Services/Drug Interactions/Drug Labeling/ Drug Monitoring/Drug Packaging/Drug Residues/Drug Resistance/Drug Stability/ drug therapy/Drug Tolerance/Drug Toxicity/Drugs, Essential/Drugs, Generic/Drugs, Investigational/Education/Emergencies/ Epidemiologic Methods/ Epidemiologic Research Design/ Epidemiologic Studies/ Epidemiology/Ethics/Government Agencies/Government Programs/Government Regulation/Health Benefit Plans, Employee/Health Care Coalitions/Health Care Costs/Health Care Rationing/ Health Care Reform/Health Care Sector/ Health Care Surveys/Health Education/ Health Expenditures/Health Facilities/Health Manpower/Health Personnel/Health Planning/Health Policy/Health Priorities/Health Promotion/Health Resources/ Health Services/Health Status/Health Status Indicators/Health Surveys/Home Care Services/ Hospital Administration/ Hospital Costs/Hospitals/ Infection/ Inflammation/ Information Dissemination/ Information Management/ Information Services/ Information Systems/Informed Consent/Insurance, Health/Interpersonal Relations/ Interprofessional Relations/ Intervention Studies/Legislation/Life Style/Medicaid/ Medical Audit/Medical Errors/ Medical Informatics/ Medical Record Linkage/ Medical Records/Medical Staff/Needs Assessment/Nurses/Patient Acceptance of Health Care/Patient Advocacy/ Patient Care Management/ Patient Compliance/Patient Education/Patient Freedom of Choice Laws/Patient Participation/Patient Satisfaction/Patient Selection/ Patient-Centered Care/Patients/ Pharmacogenetics/ Pharmacokinetics/ Pharmacology/ Pharmacology, Clinical/Pharmacopoeias/ Pharmacy/ Pharmacy Administration/ Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee/Pharmacy Service, Hospital/ Physician–Patient Relations/ Physicians/Placebos/ Polypharmacy/ Prescription Fees/ Prescriptions, Drug/ Prescriptions, Non-Drug/Public Health/Public Sector/ Qualitative Research/Quality Assurance, Health Care/ Quality Control/ Quality Indicators, Health Care/ Quality of Health Care/ Quality of Life/Quality-Adjusted Life Years/ Risk/ Safety/ Self Medication/ Socioeconomic Factors/ Sociology, Medical/ Sociology, Medical/ Treatment Failure/ Treatment Outcome/Health Maintenance Organizations/.