Tompkins RK, Yo CY, Donovan AJ "Internationalization of general surgical journals - Origin and content of articles published in North America and Great Britain from 1983 to 1998" ARCHIVES OF SURGERY 136 (12): 1345-1351 DEC 2001

[Eugene Garfield]

Full article available at :
http://archsurg.ama-assn.org/issues/v136n12/abs/soa1070.html

TITLE Internationalization of general surgical journals - Origin and
content of articles published in North America and Great Britain from 1983
to 1998
AUTHOR Tompkins RK, Yo CY, Donovan AJ
JOURNAL ARCHIVES OF SURGERY  136 (12): 1345-1351 DEC 2001

 Document type: Article    Language: English   Cited References: 13    Times
Cited: 0


Abstract:
Hypothesis: The origin and characteristics of articles published in the 6
highest rated (Institute for Scientific Information classification)
English-language general surgical journals have changed significantly during
the past 15 years.

Design: All articles published in 1983, 1988, 1993, and 1998 in 5 US
surgical journals and 1 British surgical journal were reviewed and
characterized.

Main Outcome Measures: Absolute numbers and proportions of national and
international articles published in each journal.

Results: Articles reviewed included 4868 in US journals and 1380 in the
British journal. The total number of US journal articles decreased by 15.1%.
The total number of British journal articles increased by 58.9%. The
percentage of national articles decreased from 87.5% to 68.8% in US journals
(P<.001) and constituted the minority of freely submitted articles in 1998
in 3 of 5 US journals. The percentage of national articles also decreased
from 74.8% to 47.1% in the British journal
(P<001). Articles by European and Asian authors showed the most striking
increases in all journals. The percentage of basic research articles
declined in US journals from 23.3% to 17.9% (P=.001) owing to a 14.9%
decline in national basic research articles. The percentage of clinical
randomized studies increased from 2.2% to 4.1% (P<.008), but the increase
was attributable to international articles. Government funding alone
decreased from 13.6% to 11.2%, and government plus
another source of funding decreased from 19.2% to 16.7% for national
articles in US journals.

Conclusions: Internationalization of the highly rated British and the 5
highest rated US general surgical journals has occurred. The decrease in the
number of national articles in the US journals has been accompanied by
significant decreases in government funding and basic research articles and
a static output of clinical randomized studies from North America.

Addresses:
Tompkins RK, Univ Calif Los Angeles, Med Ctr, Sch Med, Dept Surg,Div Gen
Surg, 10833 LeConte Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA
Univ Calif Los Angeles, Med Ctr, Sch Med, Dept Surg,Div Gen Surg, Los
Angeles, CA 90095 USA
Univ So Calif, Keck Sch Med, Dept Surg, Los Angeles, CA USA

Publisher:
AMER MEDICAL ASSOC, CHICAGO

IDS Number:
499UD

ISSN:
0004-0010

Cited Author            Cited Work                Volume      Page      Year

 *GASTR TUM STUD GR    NEW ENGL J MED               312      1465      1985
 *N AM SYMPT CAR EN    NEW ENGL J MED               325       445      1991
 ANGELL M              NEW ENGL J MED               342      1516      2000
 ELSTER AD             AM J ROENTGENOL              162       519      1994
 FISHER B              NEW ENGL J MED               312       665      1985
 KO CY                 J SURG RES                    91         5      2000
 MOY E                 JAMA-J AM MED ASSOC          278       217      1997
 NAHRWOLD DL           ANN SURG                     222       263      1995
 PEIPER M              LAGENBECKS ARCH CH S         114       361      1997
 SOUBA WW              ANN SURG                     232        32      2000
 STOSSEL TP            NEW ENGL J MED               322       739      1990
 THOMPSON JC           ANN SURG                     222       263      1995
 WELLS SA              ANN SURG                     224       239      1996





EXCERPT FROM PAPER :
Invited Critique

The hypothesis by Tompkins and colleagues that the internationalization of
general surgical jurnals has occurred is proven, but they fail to provide
convincing arguements for why this has occurred and why the trend has been
greater with the British Journal of Surgery (BJS) than the other
publications.

The loss of the British Empire may have benefited the BJS which like Britain
has had to look increasingly to Europe and beyond and not just to the
English-speaking world.  This may explain the greater reduction,
proportionally, in national articles in the United Kingdom compared with the
United States.  The increase in European publications reflects a policy
change by the BJS to encourage greater cooperation with European surgical
societies, providing a wider readership for their members.  Thus, during a
30 year period between 1969 and 1999, the number of United Kingdom-based
national publications in the BJS decreased from 82% to 47%, whereas the
number of European articles increased from 2% to 28% during the same period.
 There was no discernible trend in publications from the rest of the world.
The US journals seem to have attracted a greater contribution from Asia than
from Europe.

In his review of 9 general surgical jurnals (including the BJS and 3 of the
U.S. journals cited in the aticle by Tompkins and co-authors), the editor of
The Lancet, in 1996, (1)compared surgical research to a comic opera, with
its emphasis on case series rather than randomized trials.  Tompkins and
colleagues note a decrease in basic research in all publications but a
dearth of randomized trials in the BJS between 1988 and 1998.  This finding
is at odds with the data reported in a leading article in the BJS which note
an increase from 3 to 13 randomized trials per year between 1989 and
1999(2).

The authors rightly identify the impact of external factors on research,
such as the pressure of managed care on academic and clinical departments.
In the United Kingdom, the research assessment exercise places greater
emphasis on the impact factor of publications submitted for grant
applications.  This has led to a shift from clinical to molecular research
with subsequent publication in scientific journals with a higher impact
factor.  This may explain the relative reduction in national research
articles.

The implication for all surgical journals is clear: globalization is here to
stay.  The differene in teh internationalization of general surgical
journals between the US journals and BJS is marked and sould sound alarm
bells among the editorial boards of these journals.  Insularity must be
challenged.

Bernard F. Ribeiro, FRCS, FRCSEd
London, England

1. Horton R. Surgical research or comic opera: questions, but few answers,
Lancet 1996: 347:984-985
2. Murie JA, Farndon JR. BJS in the new millennium  Br. J. Surg. 2000:
87:1-2.


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Eugene Garfield, PhD.  email: garfield at codex.cis.upenn.edu
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