DOI: 10.1148/radiol.2461070821
(Radiology 2008;246:330-331.)
© RSNA, 2008
Declining Number of Publications by American Authors in Radiology
Lionel Arrivé, MD
Department of Radiology, Hôpital Saint-Antoine, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris et Faculté de Médecine Pierre et Marie Curie, 184 rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, 75012 Paris, France
e-mail: lionel.arrive{at}sat.ap-hop-paris.fr
Editor:
Both internationalization and decline in the proportion of articles published by American authors have been reported in several medical journals (1–3). I therefore sought to determine whether changes have occurred in the country of origin for articles published in Radiology between the years 1990 and 2005.
Each of the monthly issues of Radiology published between 1990 and 2005 was analyzed to determine the country of origin of each article. Editorials, review articles, and letters to the editor were excluded from analysis. Absolute numbers of articles were recorded for all countries that published at least 10 articles in a single year between 1990 and 2005. Other countries were grouped as either European countries or extra-European countries.
A total of 7569 original articles were published in Radiology between 1990 and 2005. The total number of articles published per year in Radiology decreased by 15%, from 550 in 1990 to 468 in 2005.
The absolute number of articles published by American authors decreased from 416 in 1990 to 184 in 2005. The proportion of U.S. articles declined from 76% of articles published in Radiology in 1990 to 39% in 2005. The decrease was linear and progressive (416 articles in 1990, 316 in 1995, 233 in 2000, and 184 in 2005). A similar decrease was observed for Canada (21 articles in 1990 and nine in 2005). On the other hand, increases were observed for Switzerland (two articles in 1990 and 21 in 2005), China (two articles in 1990 and 13 in 2005) and Korea (six articles in 1990 and 28 in 2005). Germany tripled the absolute number of articles published in Radiology. Marked increases were also observed for the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Italy, and Austria. In all countries, the increase was linear and progressive. The number of French and Japanese articles remained stable between 1990 and 2005.
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References
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- Stossel TP, Stossel SC. Declining American representation in leading clinical-research journals. N Engl J Med 1990;322:739–742. [Abstract]
- Nahrwold DL, Pereira SG, Dupuis J. United States research published in major surgical journals is decreasing. Ann Surg 1995;222:263–269. [Medline]
- Szokol JW, Murphy GS, Avram MJ, Nitsun M, Wynnychenko TM, Vender JS. Declining proportion of publication by American authors in major anesthesiology journals. Anesth Analg 2003;96:513–517.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
Response
Alberto Miguel-Dasit, MD, PhD
MR Section, La Plana de Vila-Real Hospital, Carretera de Villarreal a Borriana, km 0.5, 12540 Villarreal, Castellón, Spain
e-mail: amdasit{at}hotmail.com
I read with interest the letter by Dr Arrivé. A progressive decrease in the proportion of U.S. articles published in Radiology between 1990 and 2005, with an increase of articles originating from other countries, was found. Although the reasons for the decline in authorship by investigators from the United States are likely multifactorial (1), such as the National Institutes of Health funding of imaging research (2,3), I would like to discuss the importance of the "impact factor" indicator of scientific journals regarding this trend. Chen et al (4) analyzed trends in the number of articles submitted to or published in the American Journal of Roentgenology. They found that Japanese, Korean, and German authors achieved the largest increases during 1980–2002, which was accompanied by an absolute decrease in publications from authors in the United States. Interestingly, a similar trend of publication according to the country of origin of the articles (excluding Japan) was found by Dr Arrivé for Radiology during 1990–2005.
Findings of another study (5) showed that the majority of articles from oral presentations at the European Congress of Radiology that originated in nine different European countries and were published in journals ranked in the top quartile (top 25% of journals, according to impact factor) were published in journals edited in the United States, chiefly in Radiology.
In Europe and parts of Asia, administrators at medical schools use the impact factor as an objective measurement to rank faculty members for promotion and salary. When an article is then published in a journal with a high impact factor, the researchers are likely to receive more academic credit than if the same article were published in a national or regional scientific journal (6,7). Of interest, Radiology was ranked third for several years in the published list of journals included in the "Radiology, Nuclear Medicine, and Medical Imaging" section of the Journal Citation Reports (http://go5.isiknowledge.com/portal.cgi).
Radiology was ranked number 1 in 2005 and is a widely read and respected journal (8).
Therefore, at present, worldwide radiology investigators try to gain prestige in the scientific world publishing their articles in the journals in which they can reach widespread circulation and impact (9), such as Radiology or other journals in the United States (4).
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References
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- Powner DJ, Kellum JA. Declining critical care research publications by authors from U.S. institutions, 1990–1999. Acad Med 2001;76:1261–1263.
- Itagaki MW, Pile-Spellman J. Factors associated with academic radiology research productivity. Radiology 2005;237:774–780. [Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Hillman BJ. The past 25 years in medical imaging research: a memoir. Radiology 2000;214:11–14. [Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Chen MY, Jenkins CB, Elster AD. Internation-alization of the American Journal of Roentgenology: 1980–2002. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2003;181:907–912. [Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Miguel-Dasit A, Martí-Bonmatí L, Aleixandre R, Sanfeliu P, Bautista D. Publication of material presented at radiologic meetings: author's country and international collaboration. Radiology 2006;239:521–528. [Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Rogers LF. Impact factor: the numbers game [editorial]. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2002;178:541–542.[Free Full Text]
- Rogers LF. Internationalization of the AJR. AJR Am J Roentgenol 1999;173:1.
- Frush DP. What of the past...what of the future? Radiology 1999;210:3.
- Miguel-Dasit A, Aleixandre R, Valderrama JC, Martí-Bonmatí L, Sanfeliu P. Hypothetical influence of non-indexed Spanish journals on the impact factor of radiological journals. Eur J Radiol 2005;54:321–326. [CrossRef][Medline]
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