Bibliometric analysis of scientific articles published in Brazilian and international orthodontic journals over a 10-year period

Objective

This study aimed at describing the profiles of Brazilian and international studies published in orthodontic journals.

Methods

The sample comprised 635 articles selected from two scientific journals, i.e., Dental Press Journal of Orthodontics and American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, which were analyzed at three different intervals over a 10-year period (1999 - 2004 - 2009). Articles were described in terms of knowledge domain, study design, and country of origin (or state of origin for Brazilian papers).

Results

The most frequent study designs adopted in international studies were cohort (23.9%) and cross-sectional (21.7%) designs. Among Brazilian papers, cross-sectional studies (28.9%) and literature reviews (24.6%) showed greater frequency. The topics most often investigated were dental materials (17%) and treatment devices (12.4%) in international articles, with the latter topic being addressed by 16% of the Brazilian publications, followed by malocclusion, with 12.6%. In all cases, the most frequent countries of origin coincided with the countries of origin of each journal.

Conclusions

The majority of the studies analyzed featured a low level of scientific evidence. Moreover, the findings showed that journals tend to publish studies produced in their own country of origin, and that there are marked discrepancies in the number of papers published by different Brazilian states.

The 100 top-cited articles in orthodontics from 1975 to 2011

OBJECTIVE

To identify the 100 top-cited articles published in orthodontics journals and to analyze their characteristics to investigate the achievement and development of orthodontics research in past decades.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

The Institute for Scientific Information Web of Knowledge Database and the 2011 Journal Citation Report Science Editions were used to retrieve the 100 top-cited articles published in orthodontics journals since 1975. Some basic information was collected by the Analyze Tool on the Web of Science, including citation time, publication title, journal name, publication year, and country and institution of origin. A further study was then performed to determine authorship, article type, field of study, study design, and level of evidence.

RESULTS

The 100 target articles were retrieved from three journals: American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics (n  =  74), The Angle Orthodontist (n = 15), and European Journal of Orthodontics (n  =  11). Since 1975, the articles cited 89 to 545 times mainly originated from the United States, and the overwhelming majority of articles were clinical. The most common study design was case series; 40 articles were classified as level IV and 12 as level V evidence.

CONCLUSIONS

The 100 top-cited articles in orthodontics are generally old articles, rarely possessing high-level evidence.