Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: Impact factor (IF) is a metric that quantifies the citation rate of a journal and is widely considered a measure of journal prestige. Factors associated with citation rate of systematic reviews (SR) and meta-analyses (MA) have not been well characterized.
Objectives: To determine whether study quality and completeness of reporting of SR and MA published in high IF radiology journals is associated with citation rate.
Methods: All SR and MA published in English between Jan 2007 and Dec 2011, in radiology journals with an IF > 2.75, were identified on Ovid MEDLINE. The Assessing the Methodologic Quality of Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) checklist for study quality, and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist for study completeness, was applied to each SR and MA. Each SR and MA was then searched for in Google Scholar to yield a citation rate. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to assess the relationship between AMSTAR and PRISMA results with citation rate. Multivariate analyses were performed to account for the effect of journal IF and journal 5-year IF on correlation with citation rate. Values were reported as medians with interquartile range (IQR) provided.
Results: 129 studies from 11 journals were included (50 SR and 79 MA). Median AMSTAR result was 8.0/11 (IQR: 5–9) and median PRISMA result was 23.0/27 (IQR: 21–25). The median citation rate for SR and MA was 0.73 citations/month post-publication (IQR: 0.40–1.17). There was a positive correlation between both AMSTAR and PRISMA results and SR and MA citation rate; ρ=0.323 (P=0.0002) and ρ=0.327 (P=0.0002), respectively. Positive correlation persisted for AMSTAR and PRISMA results after journal IF was partialled out; ρ=0.243 (P=0.006) and ρ=0.256 (P=0.004), and after journal 5-year IF was partialled out; ρ=0.235 (P=0.008) and ρ=0.243 (P=0.006), respectively.
Conclusions: There is a positive correlation between the quality and the completeness of a reported SR or MA with citation rate that persists when adjusted for journal IF and journal 5-year IF. This result may encourage authors and journal editors to adopt/ endorse PRISMA.
Objectives: To determine whether study quality and completeness of reporting of SR and MA published in high IF radiology journals is associated with citation rate.
Methods: All SR and MA published in English between Jan 2007 and Dec 2011, in radiology journals with an IF > 2.75, were identified on Ovid MEDLINE. The Assessing the Methodologic Quality of Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) checklist for study quality, and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist for study completeness, was applied to each SR and MA. Each SR and MA was then searched for in Google Scholar to yield a citation rate. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to assess the relationship between AMSTAR and PRISMA results with citation rate. Multivariate analyses were performed to account for the effect of journal IF and journal 5-year IF on correlation with citation rate. Values were reported as medians with interquartile range (IQR) provided.
Results: 129 studies from 11 journals were included (50 SR and 79 MA). Median AMSTAR result was 8.0/11 (IQR: 5–9) and median PRISMA result was 23.0/27 (IQR: 21–25). The median citation rate for SR and MA was 0.73 citations/month post-publication (IQR: 0.40–1.17). There was a positive correlation between both AMSTAR and PRISMA results and SR and MA citation rate; ρ=0.323 (P=0.0002) and ρ=0.327 (P=0.0002), respectively. Positive correlation persisted for AMSTAR and PRISMA results after journal IF was partialled out; ρ=0.243 (P=0.006) and ρ=0.256 (P=0.004), and after journal 5-year IF was partialled out; ρ=0.235 (P=0.008) and ρ=0.243 (P=0.006), respectively.
Conclusions: There is a positive correlation between the quality and the completeness of a reported SR or MA with citation rate that persists when adjusted for journal IF and journal 5-year IF. This result may encourage authors and journal editors to adopt/ endorse PRISMA.