Incidence, Diversity, and Quality of Publications in Orthopaedic Trauma Literature

Abstract

Introduction: Modern medicine increasingly relies on evidence-based care, using academic journals as vehicles for information dissemination. Increasing rates of publication have led to an overwhelming volume of literature. This study evaluates the proportion of dedicated orthopaedic trauma literature, the frequency of different topic domains, and the quality of currently published information. Methods: Top orthopaedic journals were selected by impact factor and scientific articles published between 2016 –2019 were evaluated. All articles were categorized by subspecialty and pre-defined topic domains and level of evidence was recorded. Results: 3,697 articles were published in Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma (JOT), Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research (CORR), the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS), and Bone and Joint Journal (BJJ). 32% of articles were dedicated to orthopaedic trauma topics. Joint Arthroplasty was the most published subspecialty in general journals (35.37%, P<0.002). Hip fractures were the most prevalent trauma topic domain in all four journals (15.5%, P<0.002). Pelvic ring injuries were the second most prevalent topic in orthopaedic trauma journals, versus distal radius fractures in non-trauma journals (P<0.05). 48.4% of published literature was level III evidence, with no differences between trauma and non-trauma publications (P>0.05). Conclusion: Orthopaedic trauma is well represented within the orthopaedic literature with a diverse distribution of topics over the four-year period, second only to Joint Arthroplasty which was by far the most common topic in general orthopaedic journals. Level of Evidence in trauma literature parallel other orthopaedic subspecialties, but there is an overall low proportion of level I and II studies in the orthopaedic literature. Level of Evidence: Level II