Citation analysis of identical consensus statements revealed journal-related bias

Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
Thomas V Perneger

Abstract

To examine whether the prestige of a journal, measured by its impact factor, influences the numbers of citations obtained by published articles, independently of their scientific merit. In this cohort study, citation counts were retrieved for articles describing consensus statements that were published in multiple journals and were correlated with the impact factors of the source journals. Four consensus statements were published in multiple copies: QUOROM (QUality Of Reporting Of Meta-analyses) was published in three journals, CONSORT (CONsolidated Standards Of Reporting Trials) in eight journals, STARD (STAndards for Reporting of Diagnostic accuracy) in 14 journals, and STROBE (STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology) in eight journals. For each consensus statement, the impact factor of the source journal and the number of citations were highly correlated (Spearman correlation coefficients: QUOROM, 1.00; CONSORT, 0.88; STARD, 0.65; and STROBE, 0.81-all P<0.02). When adjusted for time since publication, each logarithm unit of impact factor predicted an increase of 1.0 logarithm unit of citations (95% confidence interval: 0.7-1.3, P<0.001), and the variance explained was 66% (adjusted r(2)=0.66). Th...Continue Reading

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Citations

Sep 9, 2010·PloS One·John P A IoannidisEvangelos Evangelou
Aug 27, 2013·International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics : the Official Organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics·Xiao-Fei ZhuLei Xin
Mar 17, 2010·Cortex; a Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior·Joanna Brooks, Sergio Della Sala
May 28, 2015·Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research·Tommy P MrozGiles R Scuderi
Dec 5, 2015·Accountability in Research·Khaled Moustafa
Jan 26, 2013·Journal of Clinical Epidemiology·Anne-Sophie JannotThomas V Perneger
Dec 3, 2014·Journal of Clinical Epidemiology·Xujuan ZhouAdam G Dunn
Mar 13, 2018·Scientometrics·Aleksandra CislakTamar Saguy
Jun 18, 2019·European Journal of Clinical Investigation·John P A Ioannidis, Brett D Thombs

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