Abstract
Scientists who are members of an editorial board have been accused of preferentially publishing their scientific work in the journal where they serve as editor. Reputation and academic standing do depend on an uninterrupted flow of published scientific work and the question does arise as to whether publication mainly occurs in the self-edited journal. This investigation was designed to determine whether editorial board members of five urological journals were more likely to publish their research reports in their own rather than in other journals. A retrospective analysis was conducted for all original reports published from 2001–2010 by 65 editorial board members nominated to the boards of five impact leading urologic journals in 2006. Publications before editorial board membership, 2001–2005, and publications within the period of time as an editorial board member, 2006–2010, were identified. The impact factors of the journals were also recorded over the time period 2001–2010 to see whether a change in impact factor correlated with publication locality. In the five journals as a whole, scientific work was not preferentially published in the journal in which the scientists served as editor. However, significant heterogeneity among the journals was evident. One journal showed a significant increase in the amount of published papers in the ‘own’ journal after assumption of editorship, three journals showed no change and one journal showed a highly significant decrease in publishing in the ‘own’ journal after assumption of editorship.
Highlights
Academic publishing occurs in a situation where intellectual, financial, and occasional political interest may enter into the publishing process [1]
Analysis Strategy A retrospective analysis was conducted for all original reports published from 2001–2010 by 65 editorial board members nominated to the boards of five leading urologic journals in 2006
A total of 4645 articles were published by the 65 authors over the time period from 2001 to 2010. 1800 articles were published in the time period 2001 to 2005, before the authors assumed editorship, and 2845 in the time period from 2006–2010, when the authors had assumed editorship
Summary
Academic publishing occurs in a situation where intellectual, financial, and occasional political interest may enter into the publishing process [1]. Hearsay intimates that scientists who are members of an editorial board preferentially publish their scientific work in the journal where they serve as editor. As academically active clinicians and researchers, are allowed to publish in their ‘own’ journal, a ‘‘type of camaraderie’’ [2] has been proposed to exist which may facilitate the review process. Medical research financing is often determined by the sum of publications, in high impact journals. With this in mind, preferential publishment of scientific work in the journal where the scientist serves as editor might open the way to scientific and private misconduct with considerable effects on the scientific community as a whole.
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