[Bibliometric indicators of production and usage of Archivos de Bronchoneumologia]

Time from submission to publication varied widely for biomedical journals: a systematic review

OBJECTIVE

Fast dissemination of research is important for improving treatments and thus benefitting patients, caregivers, and researchers. However, getting scientific papers published may take a long time. The editorial handling time can be delayed by several processes both before and after acceptance of the paper. The aim of this study was to systematically review the editorial handling time of biomedical peer-reviewed literature (i.e. time from submission to publication).

METHODS

The protocol for this systematic review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42020196238). PubMed and EMBASE were searched systematically on 29 May 2020. We included publications on the timespan between submission and publication for accepted articles published in biomedical journals.

RESULTS

Of the 4197 unique studies identified in the search, 69 were included in the systematic review. The mean timespan from submission to publication varied from 91 to 639 days, while the median timespan varied from 70 to 558 days. Submission to acceptance and acceptance to publication timespans showed similar disparity with means ranging from 50 to 276 and 11 to 362 days, respectively. Data were too statistically heterogeneous to perform meta-analyses.

CONCLUSION

Editorial handling times of journals varied widely from a few months to almost two years, which delays the availability of new evidence. The editorial handling time did not differ between submission-to-acceptance-time and acceptance-to-publication-time. Examining differences in editorial processes between journals with long and short editorial handling times may help uncover, which processes are frequent causes of delay and thereby where to improve.

[Bibliometric study of the journal Actas Dermo-Sifiliográficas(1984-2003) II. Analysis of bibliographical references]

OBJECTIVE

To quantify the number of references for each of the articles published in the regular issues of the journal Actas Dermo-Sifiliográficas (AD) between 1984 and 2003, and to calculate the average number of references for each of these years. To study the consumption of information by the authors of documents published in AD through the analysis of all of the bibliographical references listed in the articles published in 1984, 1993 and 2003.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The number of references for each of the scientific articles published in the regular issues of the journal Actas Dermo-Sifiliográficas between 1984 and 2003 was reviewed manually. For the years 1984, 1993 and 2003, the type of document, language, country of origin and age of the references were analyzed.

RESULTS

The 2,604 articles published in the journal AD between 1984 and 2003 provided 56,144 references. The average number of references per article for the entire period was 21.56 +/- 21.2. The type of document with the most references was the review (67.06 +/- 59.9), followed by original works (24.76 +/- 19) and clinical cases (17.95 +/- 9.7). The primary type of document for references in the three years studied was the review article, which went from 84.8 % in 1984 to 95.4 % in 2003. References to books, on the other hand, dropped from 10.6 % in the first year to 3.3 % in the last one (p < 0.001). The United States was the country of origin of a large part of the references reflected in the three years studied (55.4 %). Following at a great distance were the United Kingdom (15.7 %) and Spain (9 %). English was the language in which most of the references were written in the three years studied, increasing from 72.9 % in 1984 to 87.5 % in 2003. Spanish was the second most used language in the references (9.1 %); contrary to what was expected, its use decreased over the three years. The main journals referenced by the authors published in AD were the American publications Archives of Dermatology (12.3 %) and Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (10.3 %). References to AD itself accounted for 4 % of the total; it was the fourth most referenced journal after the British Journal of Dermatology (7.4 %).

CONCLUSIONS

Spanish dermatologists primarily use English-language publications for their research. They mostly obtain current information from periodicals, with a significant percentage of the information being found in a small group of journals, which are the ones with the greatest international impact for our field of specialization.

[Bibliometric study of the journal Actas Dermo-Sifiliográficas (1984-2003). I. Production analysis]

OBJECTIVE

Analyze the scientific articles published in Actas Dermo-Sifiliográficas (AD) between 1984 and 2003. The main bibliometric parameters analyzed were: number of articles, their length and type, primary subject areas, authorship of the documents, main contributing centers, departmental areas and geographic distribution of the articles.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

All of the scientific articles published in the regular issues of the journal Actas Dermo-Sifiliográficas between 1984 and 2003 (two decades), corresponding to volumes 75 to 94, were reviewed manually.

RESULTS

A total of 2,604 articles were published in the journal AD during the period studied, with a yearly average of 130 articles. Clinical cases or notes were the main type of document (66.2 %), followed by original articles (23.5 %) and review articles (4.7 %). The length of the documents varied from 1 to 33 pages, with an average of 4.55 pages. The subjects that were most discussed in the documents from this period were dermatopathology (15.9 %) and therapeutics (15.4 %). A total of 11,667 authorships were found, with 2,907 different authors. The average number of authors per article for the period was 4.48. 56.7 % of the authors were occasional contributors (having signed a single document), while 3.5 % were top contributors, having signed 20 or more works over this period. Seven Autonomous Communities accounted for 85.5 % of the articles. The Community of Madrid was by far the largest contributor (917 documents, 35.2 %), followed by Andalusia (422, 16.2 %), Catalonia (240, 9.2 %) and Castile-León (221, 8.5 %). The 2,604 documents in the study were from 293 different centers, which accounted for 2,977 co-authorships. Most of these co-authorships were from large hospitals or hospital complexes. The most noteworthy of these were the Madrid hospitals 12 de Octubre (281 co-authorships) and Clínico San Carlos (153), and Hospital Universitario San Cecilio in Granada (149). Dermatology was the specialty of most of the authors (90.8 % of those authors listed first). The main specialty collaborating with dermatology was pathology, taking part in 28.5 % of the articles.

CONCLUSIONS

An analysis of the productivity of the journal AD over two decades gives us an idea of scientific activity in dermatology in Spain, because of the journal's quantitative and qualitative significance in the context of Spanish dermatology.

[Analysis and evolution of bibliometric indicators of productivity and readership of articles on smoking appearing in Archivos de Bronconeumología from 1970 to 2000. A comparison to others topics in respiratory medicine]

OBJECTIVES

To analyze the evolution of bibliometric indexes for research on smoking published in Archivos de Bronconeumología (AB) from 1970 through 2000, to compare indexes for each of the three decades under study, and to compare the indexes for smoking research with those of other topics in respiratory medicine.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We reviewed all articles published by AB between 1970 and 2000, recording data on 13 characteristics.

RESULTS

Of 2,198 documents reviewed, 45 (2.04%) were about smoking; 71% of them were published in the last five years. The research came mainly from the most productive four provinces and five hospitals, which produced 68.1% and 50% of the reports, respectively. The first authors were pneumologists in 78.4% of the articles. The productivity index was 1.65, and the mean number of authors per document (collaboration index) was 4 3. The total number of references was 1,230 and the number of references per paper was 27.3 26. AB was the most cited journal. We found no change in obsolescence indexes. Insularity and self citation indexes tended to increase. Topics with productivity indexes that were higher than the index for smoking research were asthma (p < 0.05), respiratory insufficiency and sleep disorders, non-tuberculosis infection, oncology and pleural and interstitial diseases (p < 0.001). The insularity index was higher for tuberculosis than for smoking (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Smoking research increased considerably during the period studied. Pulmonologists predominated among the authors of studies on smoking. Bibliometric indexes for smoking evolved as did the indexes for other research. The most frequently cited journal was AB.

[Evolution of the bibliometric indicators of production and consumption of Archivos de Bronchopneumología in the last 20 years]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the evolution of bibliometric indicators for authorship and citation of ARCHIVOS DE BRONCONEUMOLOGIA over the past 20 years. At least 16 articles reporting new research or case reports were analyzed for every other year from 1976 to 1996. The following data were collected for each article: type of document, number of authors and their place of work and specialty, time interval between acceptance and publication, and references (including number, types, language, journal name and year of publication). The number of authors per article (collaboration index) averaged around five and has not varied significantly over the 20 years studied. Pulmonologists predominated among the authors, accounting for about 60% of the total, and most contributions came from a few provinces, mainly Barcelona and Madrid. The interval between reception and publication has gradually increased over the 20 years under review, coming to stand around 9.9 +/- 1.6 months in 1996. Most references (over 80%) cite journals and the proportion of references to books has decreased in recent years (from 12.3% in 1976 to 3.5% in 1996). The journal's index of isolation has increased (from 6.2 to 12.1%), as has the index of self-citation (from 0.4 to 6.2%). Although most cited works are in English (over 80%), the proportion of Spanish-language references increased (from 6.2 to 12.1%). In conclusion, maintenance of the number of collaborating authors, the predominance of journals and English-language sources among references are the main traits that characterize the bibliometric indicators for authorship and citation in ARCHIVOS DE BRONCONEUMOLOGIA.