Author Characteristics Research Articles

Exploring the publications in three major orthodontic journals: A comparative analysis of two 5-year periods

To analyze the types of articles and authorship characteristics of three orthodontic journals--American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics (AJODO), The Angle Orthodontist (AO), and European Journal of Orthodontics (EJO)--published between 2008 and 2012 and to assess the differences in content within this period and an earlier period of 1998 to 2002. Each journal's content was accessed through the web edition. From each article, the following parameters were recorded: article type, number of authors, number of affiliations, source of article (referring to the first author's affiliation), and geographic origin. Descriptive statistics were performed and selected parameters were analyzed with the Pearson chi-square or Fisher exact test for independence at the .05 level of significance. Review of differences between the two periods showed that the number of publications was almost double. The percentages of multi-authored articles increased. Fewer studies derived from the United States/Canada and European Union countries. Increases for articles from non-European Union countries, Asia, and other countries were found. Characteristics of the second period showed that the EJO and AO published more research articles, whereas the AJODO regularly published case reports and other articles. Approximately 75% of all studies derived from orthodontic departments. The publications from 1998-2002 and 2008-2012 were significantly different both in terms of numbers and characteristics. Within 2008-2012 there were notable differences between the three journals concerning the type and origin of the publications.

Methodological reviews of economic evaluations in health care: what do they target?

An increasing number of published studies of economic evaluations of health technologies have been reviewed and summarized with different purposes, among them to facilitate decision-making processes. These reviews have covered different aspects of economic evaluations, using a variety of methodological approaches. The aim of this study is to analyze the methodological characteristics of the reviews of economic evaluations in health care, published during the period 1990-2010, to identify their main features and the potential missing elements. This may help to develop a common procedure for elaborating these kinds of reviews. We performed systematic searches in electronic databases (Scopus, Medline and PubMed) of methodological reviews published in English, period 1990-2010. We selected the articles whose main purpose was to review and assess the methodology applied in the economic evaluation studies. We classified the data according to the study objectives, period of the review, number of reviewed studies, methodological and non-methodological items assessed, medical specialty, type of disease and technology, databases used for the review and their main conclusions. We performed a descriptive statistical analysis and checked how generalizability issues were considered in the reviews. We identified 76 methodological reviews, 42 published in the period 1990-2001 and 34 during 2002-2010. The items assessed most frequently (by 70% of the reviews) were perspective, type of economic study, uncertainty and discounting. The reviews also described the type of intervention and disease, funding sources, country in which the evaluation took place, type of journal and author's characteristics. Regarding the intertemporal comparison, higher frequencies were found in the second period for two key methodological items: the source of effectiveness data and the models used in the studies. However, the generalizability issues that apparently are creating a growing interest in the economic evaluation literature did not receive as much attention in the reviews of the second period. The remaining items showed similar frequencies in both periods. Increasingly more reviews of economic evaluation studies aim to analyze the application of methodological principles, and offer summaries of papers classified by either diseases or health technologies. These reviews are useful for finding literature trends, aims of studies and possible deficiencies in the implementation of methods of specific health interventions. As no significant methodological improvement was clearly detected in the two periods analyzed, it would be convenient to pay more attention to the methodological aspects of the reviews.

Scientific Publications and Research Groups on Alcohol Consumption and Related Problems Worldwide: Authorship Analysis of Papers Indexed in PubMed and Scopus Databases (2005 to 2009)

The research of alcohol consumption-related problems is a multidisciplinary field. The aim of this study is to analyze the worldwide scientific production in the area of alcohol-drinking and alcohol-related problems from 2005 to 2009. A MEDLINE and Scopus search on alcohol (alcohol-drinking and alcohol-related problems) published from 2005 to 2009 was carried out. Using bibliometric indicators, the distribution of the publications was determined within the journals that publish said articles, specialty of the journal (broad subject terms), article type, language of the publication, and country where the journal is published. Also, authorship characteristics were assessed (collaboration index and number of authors who have published more than 9 documents). The existing research groups were also determined. About 24,100 documents on alcohol, published in 3,862 journals, and authored by 69,640 authors were retrieved from MEDLINE and Scopus between the years 2005 and 2009. The collaboration index of the articles was 4.83 ± 3.7. The number of consolidated research groups in the field was identified as 383, with 1,933 authors. Documents on alcohol were published mainly in journals covering the field of "Substance-Related Disorders," 23.18%, followed by "Medicine," 8.7%, "Psychiatry," 6.17%, and "Gastroenterology," 5.25%. Research on alcohol is a consolidated field, with an average of 4,820 documents published each year between 2005 and 2009 in MEDLINE and Scopus. Alcohol-related publications have a marked multidisciplinary nature. Collaboration was common among alcohol researchers. There is an underrepresentation of alcohol-related publications in languages other than English and from developing countries, in MEDLINE and Scopus databases.

Measurable Progress in Female Authorship in Otolaryngology

To identify contemporary trends in female authorship in the otolaryngology literature. Analysis of 4 otolaryngology journals. All articles published in Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology, Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Laryngoscope, and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in 2008 were reviewed and compared with prior data from 1978, 1988, and 1998. Each published article's authorship panel was examined for the number of authors and each author's sex, degree, and the subspecialty area of publication. Year-to-year comparisons were conducted for the rates and characteristics of female authorship. A total of 544, 629, 713, and 785 articles from 1978, 1988, 1998, and 2008, respectively, were analyzed. From 1998 to 2008, the overall percentage of female authors increased from 14.5% to 22.5% (P < .001). Similarly, the percentage of articles with a female first author increased from 12.9% to 21.3% (P < .001). Whereas previously pediatric otolaryngology had the highest female first author percentage (range, 6.9%-19.4%), in 2008 all other subspecialties demonstrated significant increases in female first author percentages: otology (18.6%), general (22.3%), head and neck (22.2%), plastics (18.9%), and pediatrics (19.4%) (P = .885). A significant number of female first authors continue to be nonphysicians (19.2% in 2008, P < .001). Female authorship has shown significant and steady increases in the otolaryngology literature, particularly in the past decade. Increased rates of publication from female otolaryngologists within most subspecialties have resulted in similar rates of publication across the subspecialties.

PRM58 Methodological Reviews of Economic Evaluations in Health Care: Are They Useful?

The increasing amount of economic evaluations in health technologies published during the last decades have generated the concern about their methodological features. The aim of this study is, firstly, to explore methodological reviews and to detect their main research topics and, secondly, to appraise their usefulness for economic evaluation practice. We performed systematic searches in electronic databases (Scopus, Medline and Pubmed) of methodological reviews published in English, period 1990- 2010. We selected those articles whose main purpose was to review and assess the applied methodology. Then we classified data according to study objectives, period of the review, number of reviewed studies, methodological items assessed and their main conclusions. Additionally, we checked how generalizability issues were considered in the reviews. A total of 58 methodological reviews were identified, 42 were published during the period 1990 - 2001 and 16 during 2002-10. Items most frequently assessed (by 70% of the reviews) were: perspective, uncertainty and discounting. The type of intervention and disease, funding sources, country in which the evaluation took place, type of journal and author's characteristics were also described in the literature. Generalizability issues were only checked in 14 studies, mainly by those published after 2000. there is an increasing activity of reviewing economic evaluation studies aiming to analyse the application of methodological principles and to offer summaries of papers classified by either diseases or health technologies. These reviews are useful to detect literature trends, targets of the studies and possible deficiencies in the implementation of the methods to specific health interventions.

Publications of Australian LIS Academics in Database

This paper examines aspects of journal articles published from 1967 to 2008, located in eight databases, and authored or co-authored by academics serving for at least two years in Australian LIS programs from 1959 to 2008. These aspects are: inclusion of publications in databases, publications in journals, authorship characteristics of publications, productivity, and subject content of publications over time. Results indicate that national and LIS-specific databases provided adequate coverage; however, no single database provided over half of all publications. More than half of all articles were published in national journals focusing on aspects of LIS in Australia; however, there is a trend for increasing publications in international journals. Most of the earlier publications had one author, but multiple authorship in publications has increased since 1999. Overall the number of publications per LIS academic is low; however, per capita productivity has been increasing since the mid-1990s. Finally, titles of articles reveal a shift from library-related terms to information-related terms.

Full-text publication of abstracts presented at the 33th Argentinean pediatric meeting and non publication related factors

There is no information about non publication of research presented at scientific meetings in Argentina. We analyzed the full-text publication rate of abstracts presented at the 33° Argentinean Pediatric Congress (APC), time to achieve publication, and factors associated with publication or non-publication. Survey-based cross-sectional study, including authors of abstracts presented at the 33° APC. The survey included age, gender, specialty and sub-specialty, professional area and reason of publication or non-publication. We randomly selected 140/894 presented abstracts. Only 16 abstracts (11.4%) were subsequently published in full, requiring 27±15 months. There were no association between full-text publication and author's characteristics. "Oral presentations" were more likely to be subsequently published (p= 0.018). In non published abstracts, 95% were not submitted by the author, more frequently because of "lack of time" (35.9%). Only 11.4% of abstracts were subsequently published in full. Oral presentation was associated with a higher publication rate. Most frequent cause for non-publication was non submission due to lack of time.

Authorship characteristics in prosthodontic literature: proliferation and internationalization. A review and analysis following a 10-year observation

Author characteristics and the extent of dental literature authorship globalization have not been widely investigated, especially in prosthodontics. The purpose of this study was to examine trends in authorship characteristics in prosthodontics. Articles published in The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry (JPD), International Journal of Prosthodontics (IJP), and Journal of Prosthodontics (JP) in 1998, 2003, and 2008 were reviewed. Abstracts, letters to the editor, and book reviews were not included in the investigation. The authors' educational degrees had to be listed in the publications for the articles to be included. For each article, number of authors, degrees of all authors, academic ranks of first and last authors, and geographic origin were recorded. Descriptive and analytic analyses (alpha=.05), including a generalized linear model, Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U, or chi-square tests, were used as appropriate. A total of 998 articles met the inclusion criteria from the 3 selected journals for the years studied. Across all 3 journals, the mean number of authors per article increased significantly from 2.9 in 1998 to 3.6 in 2008 (Kruskal-Wallis, P<.001). The mean number of authors per article increased steadily on all continents, except for Africa and Oceania. A steady increase of authors with higher degrees was observed. There was a significant increase in the proportion of senior-ranking faculty as last author over time (chi-square=5.57, df=1, P=.018). The contributions from Asia and South America increased over time. The number of authors per article, the number of authors with higher educational degrees, and the percentage of senior-ranking faculty as last author steadily increased in the prosthodontic literature from 1998 to 2008. The trend of globalization of authorship was evident in the prosthodontic literature.

Publications in Four Gifted Education Journals From 2001 to 2006: An Analysis of Article Types and Authorship Characteristics

We reviewed articles from four premier journals in the field of gifted education for the years 2001 to 2006 (N = 506). We classified articles according to types, including narrative, descriptive, correlational, meta-analysis, causal-comparative, experimental, and qualitative. Results indicated that 46% of the articles were narrative, 16% qualitative, 13% causal-comparative, 10% correlational, 9% descriptive, 2% experimental, 1% meta-analytic, and 3% fell into multiple categories. We also collected information concerning the first authors of each article to determine the frequency of publication, gender, professional affiliation, and review board membership. Our results indicated that there is a need for more diversity in the gifted education field, particularly in terms of professional affiliation. The most salient need, however, is for more evidence-based research.

Highly cited articles in library and information science: An analysis of content and authorship trends

Thirty-two highly cited articles that were influential to scholarly communication in library and information science (LIS) in the latter part of the twentieth century are identified and examined. Journal distributions, major subject themes, and authorship characteristics of these articles are discussed and compared to the majority of scholarly articles published in LIS during the same time period.

Characteristics of Authorship and Papers to an Education Journal in the Pacific Islands: Pacific Islands Educational Journal

This study aims to explore characteristics of authorship and papers published in Directions: Journal of Educational Studies from 1978 to 2005. As an exploratory study (Creswell, 2003), it incorporates a mixed method analysis and makes statistical and qualitative inferences (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2003). The study found that most authors to the journal are male; an overwhelming number of them are single authors; and that there is a high presence of opinion papers rather than empirical studies. Furthermore, it was shown that most contributors to the journal are expatriates, defined as those whose nationalities are outside the Pacific Islands, and also that, apart from Fiji, more needs to be done in terms of directed research on other island states in the Pacific region. Tokelau, for example, is a member of the University of the South Pacific (USP), the institution that publishes the Directions, but no articles based on this Pacific nation has been published in the journal’s thirty year existence. The study suggests that there needs to be more collaborative educational research conducted within and beyond the Pacific Islands, as international collaboration, especially with countries ahead in educational research, is positively related to increased publication productivity and impact.

D-Lib Magazine: Its First 13 Years

By the use of bibliometric techniques, authorship characteristics of D-Lib Magazine (D-Lib) are studied. Data was collected by examining issues from the Magazine's launch date, July 1995 to the issue dated May/June 2008. Author productivity, the most productive authors, authors' gender, type of affiliated institutions, authors' geographic distribution, multiple authorship, and the average number of references per article are reported. The impact of D-Lib Magazine was investigated by utilizing Web of Sciences (WoS) databases and its analyzing tools. The most cited D-Lib Magazine authors, D-Lib articles, and the lists of authors, journals, and academic fields that often cite the Magazine are presented.

Argumentation in texts from a teacher education journal: An exercise of analysis based upon the Bakhtinian concepts of genre and social language

In this paper we analyse argumentation patterns present in a set of texts that were published in an electronic Brazilian science teacher education journal (www.cienciaemtela.nutes.ufrj.br). As the texts submitted to the journal differ regarding to format and characteristics of authorship, our corpus involves research reports, essays and recounts of didactic experiences written by scientists, science education researchers, school teachers, popular science professionals and informal setting educators. Based upon a Bakhtinian theoretical framework that emphasises the historical and social character of discursive production, our analyses selected genre and social language as main analytical categories. Argumentation was characterized as in terms of relationships between utterance and features of the social activities and discursive practices they relate to. The analysis described the texts with respect to theme, compositional structure and style and identified discursive markers broadly related to the category of language such as (i) the way the author presents him/herself in the text, (ii) the ways the authors represent and relates to their readers (iii) references made about the conceptual domain discussed in the texts. Results show that several texts share thematic choices and adopt a stance in which teachers’ autonomy is valued. Evidences of authors’ different socio-conceptual perspectives are more clearly revealed by features in style and compositional structure of texts. For instance, issues of authority are revealed by the status given to methodological considerations, by the ways through which citations are incorporated in the literature reviews and by the description of what counts as a result. Finally, through the examination of the patterns of argumentation more typically present in the texts, we discuss obstacles to as well as possibilities of dialogue and mutual appreciation of contributions made by different author profiles.

Asian and Pacific Region Authorship Characteristics in Leading Library and Information Science Journals

Authorship characteristics from the Asian and Pacific region in the top twenty journals in library and information science are studied. Data was collected searching the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science databases. Major findings of this study are: there are a total of 1,317 articles for the period 1967 to 2005; the most productive countries are, in rank order, Australia, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines; and 77.6 percent of authors in the top twenty library and information science journals contributed a single article. Among the library science journals about 50 percent were written by multiple authors, while 73.1 percent of articles in the information science journals were written collaboratively. The most productive individual authors in the region are reported. The strongest collaboration within the region took place between Australia and China; China and Singapore; Australia and New Zealand.

Asian and Pacific Region Authorship Characteristics in Leading Library and Information Science Journals

Authorship characteristics from the Asian and Pacific region in the top twenty journals in library and information science are studied. Data was collected searching the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science databases. Major findings of this study are: there are a total of 1,317 articles for the period 1967 to 2005; the most productive countries are, in rank order, Australia, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines; and 77.6 percent of authors in the top twenty library and information science journals contributed a single article. Among the library science journals about 50 percent were written by multiple authors, while 73.1 percent of articles in the information science journals were written collaboratively. The most productive individual authors in the region are reported. The strongest collaboration within the region took place between Australia and China; China and Singapore; Australia and New Zealand.

What ‘Signature’ Means in the Sciences

Some actions of social life are so ubiquitous and ordinary that they evade sociological approaches that might threaten to problematize them. The world of science is no exception. Until the 1970s, the sciences were widely studied by epistemologists following 'out-of-contexť and idealist approaches. Since then, the practices of scientists have attracted anthropologists and sociologists. But, despite this extra scrutiny, and the light it has shed on the life of science, many questions remain. In particular, there are questions surrounding the activity that forms the focus of this book: 'a fundamental gesture still remaining widely neglected': the practice of 'signing' (p. 1 1). In recent years, with the development of 'entrepreneurial universities' and rising concern with intellectual propriety, the notion of 'scientific authorship' has changed.1 Thinking about authorship from the point of view of 'signature' highlights the ways in which its scientific usage is unusual. For example, contrary to literary practice, in science, writing is not a condition for signing; in biology, and even more in physics, articles are commonly signed by ten or more people, and sometimes, hundreds. And scientific statements become valid only when separated from their local conditions of production and the personal characteristics of authorship. Recognizing such differences prompts several questions about the meaning of 'signing' in science and the 'functions' vested in the scientific signature. To answer these questions, Pontille takes the reader from the workspaces where data are produced, to publication where empirical results and names are merged. His material includes interviews, observations, statistics, and texts across three disciplines biology, law, and sociology. His aim is to 'account for

Orthodontic journals with impact factors in perspective: Trends in the types of articles and authorship characteristics

The purposes of this study were to analyze the types of articles and their authorship characteristics in the 3 orthodontic journals with impact factors--American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics (AJODO), Angle Orthodontist (AO), and European Journal of Orthodontics (EJO)--during 2 intervals of 5 years each (1993-1997 and 1998-2002) and to assess the changes in their contents during these periods. The results of 3004 article entries were analyzed with the Pearson chi-square test, and the examination of the variability of the parameters studied among journals and across the 2 time intervals was performed at the 0.05 level of significance. Significant differences were found between the journals with respect to the research component of articles (higher in the EJO) and case reports (higher in the AJODO and the AO). For each journal, differences were also identified between the 2 time intervals, with multi-authored papers and multiple affiliations appearing more frequently in the second interval. The contributions of articles from the United States and Canada to the AJODO and the AO were statistically higher than to the EJO. A similar trend was found for articles from Europe, which comprise more than 70% of the content of the EJO. An increased contribution of articles from East Asia and Oceania was noted in the second time interval, which reached almost 100% of the previous time frame. The potential sources of variation in the studied parameters are discussed.

136: A Descriptive Analysis of Authorship Within Medical Journals, 1995-2005

Promotion and Tenure Committees look for scholarly productivity of many types. Publications are important for the promotion of faculty to higher levels of professorship. Many methods for deciding authorship order based upon contribution have been proposed and used, but few papers have been written describing the current characteristics and authorship trends among major medical journals. We performed a descriptive study looking at authorship characteristics among 4 major journals and additionally describe trends in these characteristics over a 10-year period.

Case studies in tourism research: A state-of-the-art analysis

This paper focuses on the methodological aspects of case study as a research strategy. In particular, it examines case study research in tourism. Seventy-six full articles from the recent volumes (2000–2004) of Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, Tourism Analysis, and Tourism Management were selected for a content analysis. The research discusses (1) themes/topics case studies addressed, (2) case specificity in research purposes, objectives or questions, (3) authorship characteristics, (4) research designs, (5) methodological procedures, and (6) the presentation of case study reports. It is concluded that the prevalent arguments of case studies as conceptually and analytically weak is not justified. Stereotypical perceptions as such can be misleading and may consequently exert a negative impact on the righteous application of case study methodology in tourism research. Limitations of this analysis and future research issues are also discussed.

Trends and Redress in Community Psychology during 10 Years of Democracy (1994–2003): A Journal-Based Perspective

Drawing on a content analysis of selected articles from the South African Journal of Psychology (SAJP) and Psychology in Society (PINS), the authors reflect on the extent to which South African community psychology's early vision resonates in publications in post-1994 South African psychology. Concerned about the Euro-American, patriarchal, classist, and individualised orientation in clinical, counselling, and social psychology, community psychology's vision arose as a response to this crisis of ‘relevance’ in the 1980s in South Africa. It placed the accent on accessible psychosocial services, re-defining the roles of psychologists, democratising psychological practice, prevention, competencies, empowerment of under-represented groups, collaboration, and inclusive modes of knowledge production. Our content analysis suggests that South African community psychology tends to operate within a porous disciplinary boundary, sharing academic concerns with a larger group of critical psychologists. Authorship characteristics show that for the 1994 to 2003 period male and females were more or less equally represented as authors, the majority of whom were affiliated to academic institutions. In contrast, co-authorship as an expression of collaboration did not feature strongly and the community voice was unrepresented at authorship level. Most of the articles tended to assume an empirical or theoretical slant and examined themes consistent with community psychology's early vision and focus. Similarly, research in community psychology seemed to have attended to selected priority psychosocial issues and drawn on historically neglected groups, including black adolescents and adults, to serve as participants. By way of conclusion, we surmise that community psychology, albeit an under-represented branch of psychology, may be one of many areas of engagement for those aligned to the quest for emancipatory psychological practice and theory in South Africa.