Pediatric Surgical Research Output in Germany in the Last 30 Years - An Assessment and International Comparison of Three Dedicated Paediatric Surgical Journals.

Christina Oetzmann Von Sochaczewski,Oliver J Muensterer

doi:10.3389/fped.2020.00152

Abstract

Purpose: Research output of once-leading countries in surgical journals is decreasing despite an overall increase of scientific publications by 8% per year. We aimed to assess research outputs of German, Dutch, and Israeli pediatric surgeons in dedicated pediatric surgical journals in order to get insight into trends in pediatric surgical research.Methods: We collected bibliographic information on all original articles in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery, European Journal of Pediatric Surgery, and Pediatric Surgery International in 1985–1988, 2000–2003, and 2015–2018 that had a German, Dutch or Israeli last author from a department of pediatric surgery. Citation counts were obtained from the Web of Science.Results: Research output of German pediatric surgery decreased from 19 manuscripts in 1988 (0.1/surgeon/year) to eight manuscripts in 2017 (0.02/surgeon/year), whereas those of the Netherlands increased from two manuscripts in 1985 (0.08/surgeon/year) to 12 manuscripts in 2016 (0.3/surgeon/year). The declining German research output negatively correlated with increasing numbers of specialist pediatric surgeons for total (τ = −0.54; P = 0.0156) and manuscripts per surgeon (τ = −0.79; P = 0.0001), resulting in a negative trend over time (χ2 = 11.845, P = 0.0006). Analyses of citation patterns revealed that manuscripts by Dutch pediatric surgeons and those published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery had higher absolute citation counts than the reference category of a German manuscript in the European Journal of Pediatric Surgery. Age-corrected citation rates resembled this result by increasing from 2000 to 2003 ( = 0.799, range: 0–3.368) to 2015–2018 ( = 2, range: 0–5) (P = 0.035) for the Netherlands. Assessment of manuscript types revealed that the proportion of prospective studies increased in the German sample (χ2 = 5.05, P = 0.0246), but remained the lowest among the comparators. Surprisingly, the proportion of non-clinical manuscripts from Germany also increased over time (χ2 = 4.001, P = 0.0455), whereas it remained constant in both the Netherlands and Israel.Conclusion: German pediatric surgical research output decreased in the last thirty years based on the sample of dedicated pediatric surgical journals, while Dutch productivity increased. Citation rates—as a measure of scientific impact—were associated and increased with Dutch manuscripts. The involved factors remain to be determined and whether this represents a shift toward other journals or mirrors a general development.

Highlights

The amount of scientific publications grew by 8% per year in the current decade [1], so did the number of articles published in three exclusively pediatric surgical journals, which has grown by 19% per decade in the last 30 years [2]
Absolute numbers of manuscripts originating from Germany and published in the three selected pediatric surgical journals decreased over time from 57 in 1985–1988 to 41 in 2015– 2018, whereas those from the Netherlands increased from 18 in 1985–1988 to 40 in 2015–2018
We found a decreasing amount of original articles published by German departments of pediatric surgery in three leading pediatric surgical journals over the last three decades

Summary

Introduction

The amount of scientific publications grew by 8% per year in the current decade [1], so did the number of articles published in three exclusively pediatric surgical journals, which has grown by 19% per decade in the last 30 years [2]. More than twenty years ago, others noted that the share of formerly scientifically active countries in surgical journals decreased [3], despite the overall increase of journals and published research articles. In order to add an international perspective, we compared the German situation to the Netherlands as a country that underwent intense centralization of pediatric surgical care [6], while it remained decentralized in Germany [7]. We compared these results to Israel as a country whose structure of pediatric surgical care remained unchanged

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion