Article type
Year
Abstract
Background:
National citation patterns of leading general medical journals (NEJM, The Lancet, JAMA and BMJ) in newspapers has been analyzed (1), as well as the contribution of authors from countries all around the world to the research literature published in these medical journals (2). Contribution of countries to the publication of Cochrane systematic reviews has also been mapped (3). But the citation of Cochrane reviews in newspapers is not known.
Objectives:
To analyze the citation of Cochrane systematic reviews in newspapers and to compare the results with those of related previous studies.
Methods:
Content analysis of the full text of 22 newspapers from 14 countries since 1993 (when the Cochrane Collaboration was founded) to 2019. Newspapers were selected following related previous studies and categorized into four regions: the USA, the UK, Euro-American countries (European countries other than the UK, and Australia, New Zealand and Canada) and Rest of the World (other countries) (1,3). Searches were performed in Factiva database using two terms (Cochrane and review*) in six languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and German). Duplicates and non-eligible retrieved news pieces were eliminated.
Results:
Of the 22 newspapers analyzed, the four that most cited the Cochrane reviews during the period 1993-2019 were The Guardian (172), The Times (131), The New York Times (110) and The Australian (85) (Fig. 1). The number of annual citations was no more than 20 between 1993 and 2004, rising sharply in 2005 (62 citations) and 2006 (65), and then decreasing slightly until 2019 (42), with the lowest number in 2017 (26) (Fig. 2). In 2008-15, citations of Cochrane reviews represent 14.1%, 20.9%, 10.3% and 10.7% of citations of NEJM (417/2,948), JAMA (417/1,992), The Lancet (417/4,064) and BMJ (417/3,884), respectively (Fig. 3). The number of Cochrane reviews conducted since 1993 in the 14 countries analyzed correlates positively with the number of citations of Cochrane reviews in the newspapers of these countries (Fig. 4).
Conclusions:
Citations of Cochrane reviews in newspapers decreased slightly since 2006 and represent 10-21% of citations of NEJM, JAMA, The Lancet and BMJ in the period 2008-15. The newspapers that cite the most Cochrane reviews are those from the UK, Australia and the US, which are the countries that produce the most of them.
Patient or healthcare consumer involvement:
None
References:
1. Casino G, Rius R, Cobo E. National citation patterns of NEJM, The Lancet, JAMA and The BMJ in the lay press: a quantitative content analysis. BMJ Open 2017;7(11):e018705.
2. Sumathipala A, Siribaddana S, Patel V. Under-representation of developing countries in the research literature: ethical issues arising from a survey of five leading medical journals. BMC Med Ethics 2004;5:5.
3. Groneberg DA, Rolle S, Bendels MHK et al. A world map of evidence-based medicine: Density equalizing mapping of the Cochrane database of systematic reviews. PLoS One 2019;14(12):e0226305.
National citation patterns of leading general medical journals (NEJM, The Lancet, JAMA and BMJ) in newspapers has been analyzed (1), as well as the contribution of authors from countries all around the world to the research literature published in these medical journals (2). Contribution of countries to the publication of Cochrane systematic reviews has also been mapped (3). But the citation of Cochrane reviews in newspapers is not known.
Objectives:
To analyze the citation of Cochrane systematic reviews in newspapers and to compare the results with those of related previous studies.
Methods:
Content analysis of the full text of 22 newspapers from 14 countries since 1993 (when the Cochrane Collaboration was founded) to 2019. Newspapers were selected following related previous studies and categorized into four regions: the USA, the UK, Euro-American countries (European countries other than the UK, and Australia, New Zealand and Canada) and Rest of the World (other countries) (1,3). Searches were performed in Factiva database using two terms (Cochrane and review*) in six languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and German). Duplicates and non-eligible retrieved news pieces were eliminated.
Results:
Of the 22 newspapers analyzed, the four that most cited the Cochrane reviews during the period 1993-2019 were The Guardian (172), The Times (131), The New York Times (110) and The Australian (85) (Fig. 1). The number of annual citations was no more than 20 between 1993 and 2004, rising sharply in 2005 (62 citations) and 2006 (65), and then decreasing slightly until 2019 (42), with the lowest number in 2017 (26) (Fig. 2). In 2008-15, citations of Cochrane reviews represent 14.1%, 20.9%, 10.3% and 10.7% of citations of NEJM (417/2,948), JAMA (417/1,992), The Lancet (417/4,064) and BMJ (417/3,884), respectively (Fig. 3). The number of Cochrane reviews conducted since 1993 in the 14 countries analyzed correlates positively with the number of citations of Cochrane reviews in the newspapers of these countries (Fig. 4).
Conclusions:
Citations of Cochrane reviews in newspapers decreased slightly since 2006 and represent 10-21% of citations of NEJM, JAMA, The Lancet and BMJ in the period 2008-15. The newspapers that cite the most Cochrane reviews are those from the UK, Australia and the US, which are the countries that produce the most of them.
Patient or healthcare consumer involvement:
None
References:
1. Casino G, Rius R, Cobo E. National citation patterns of NEJM, The Lancet, JAMA and The BMJ in the lay press: a quantitative content analysis. BMJ Open 2017;7(11):e018705.
2. Sumathipala A, Siribaddana S, Patel V. Under-representation of developing countries in the research literature: ethical issues arising from a survey of five leading medical journals. BMC Med Ethics 2004;5:5.
3. Groneberg DA, Rolle S, Bendels MHK et al. A world map of evidence-based medicine: Density equalizing mapping of the Cochrane database of systematic reviews. PLoS One 2019;14(12):e0226305.