Abstract
In 2011, professional societies recommended the use of the representative name “Granulomatosis with polyangiitis GPA” followed by the parenthetical eponym “Wegener”, due to the ethical concerns that were raised on Wegener. We aim to study the change in using the eponym “Wegener” to using the representative name “GPA” in medical literature in the period from 2010 to 2017. We used Scopus database to search for articles or reviews that used the eponym “Wegener”, and those that used the representative name “GPA” during the years 2010–2017, using appropriate operators and limiting tools available. A total of 2613 publications used the eponym “Wegener” compared to 1443 publications included the phrase “GPA” during the years 2010–2017. We found a significant difference in number of publications that used the eponym alone in the years from 2010 to 2014 (p < 0.001), reaching only 11.8% of the total publications in 2014, with no significant difference in the subsequent years (i.e. 2014–2017). USA, UK, and US-based institutions published research using the eponym alone significantly more than Germany, France, and Japan. The use of the eponym only also varied among journals. Changing an eponym to a representative name would take around 4 years to adopt the new change.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bogdan, A., & Molina, M. J. (2017). Physical chemistry of the freezing process of atmospheric aqueous drops. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A., 121(16), 3109–3116.
Burnham, J. F. (2006). Scopus database: A review. Biomedical Digital Libraries, 3(1), 1.
CBE Style Manual Committee. (1994). Scientific style and format: The CBE manual for authors, editors, and publishers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Coppes, M. J., & Beckwith, B. (1993). Eponyms in medicine: Possessive or nonpossessive? The Journal of Pediatrics, 122(1), 165.
DeRemee, R. A. (2010). Dr Friedrich Wegener and the American College of Chest Physicians Award. Chest, 138(3), 753.
Falk, R. J., Gross, W. L., Guillevin, L., Hoffman, G. S., Jayne, D. R., Jennette, J. C., et al. (2011). Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener’s): an alternative name for Wegener’s granulomatosis. Arthritis and Rheumatism, 63(4), 863–864.
Godman, G. C. (1954). Wegener granulomatosis. Pathology and review of the literature. Archives of Pathology, 1954(58), 533–553.
Iverson, C. (2007). AMA manual of style: a guide for authors and editors. Chicago: American Medical Association.
Jana, N., Barik, S., & Arora, N. (2009). Current use of medical eponyms: A need for global uniformity in scientific publications. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 9(1), 18.
Kondziella, D. (2009). Thirty neurological eponyms associated with the Nazi era. European Neurology, 62(1), 56–64.
Kondziella, D., & Zeidman, L. A. (2016). What’s in a name? Neurological eponyms of the Nazi Era. In L. Tatu & J. Bogousslavsky (Eds.), War neurology (Vol. 38, pp. 184–200). Basel: Karger Publishers.
Lefrak, S. S., & Matteson, E. L. (2007). Freidrich Wegener: The past and present. Chest, 132(6), 2065.
Lu, D. W., & Katz, K. A. (2005). Declining use of the eponym “Reiter’s syndrome” in the medical literature, 1998–2003. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 53(4), 720–723.
Matteson, E. L. (2008). All medical eponyms should be abandoned. La Presse Medicale, 37(2), 250–251.
Mora, B., & Bosch, X. (2010). Medical eponyms: Time for a name change. Archives of Internal Medicine, 170(16), 1499–1500.
Rosen, M. J. (2007). Dr. Friedrich Wegener, the ACCP, and history. Chest, 132(3), 739–741.
Sargin, G., & Senturk, T. (2017). Scientific people named in the classification of vasculitis. Revista brasileira de reumatologia., 57(6), 605–609.
Strous, R. D., & Edelman, M. C. (2007). Eponyms and the Nazi era: Time to remember and time for change. IMAJ-RAMAT GAN, 9(3), 207.
Thomas, P. B. (2016). Are medical eponyms really dying out? A study of their usage in the historical biomedical literature. The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 46(4), 295–299.
Wegener, F. T. (1936). Uber generalisierte, septische Gefasserkrankungen. Verh dtsch pathol ges, 29, 202–209.
Whitworth, J. A. (2007). Should eponyms be abandoned? No. BMJ, 335(7617), 425.
Woywodt, A., & Matteson, E. L. (2006). Wegener’s granulomatosis: Probing the untold past of the man behind the eponym. Rheumatology, 45(10), 1303–1306.
Woywodt, A., & Matteson, E. (2007). Head to Head: Should eponyms be abandoned? Yes. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 335(7617), 424.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
AlRyalat, S.A., Rawashdeh, K., El khatib, O. et al. The change from an eponym to a representative name: Wegener to granulomatosis with polyangiitis. Scientometrics 117, 2077–2089 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2951-z
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2951-z