Temporal trends in global emergency medicine research - Jesse Smith

Supervisor:

Professor David Taylor

Research Institution:

Austin Hospital, Heidelberg

Background: 

Little is known about publication trends in emergency medicine research, with most reports being outdated.1

Objective:

To determine temporal trends of 31 article characteristics, over a 20 year period

Methods:

We undertook a retrospective review of journals with the highest impact factors. Original research articles were included if they were published in 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007, 2012 or 2017. Full-text search functions allowed abstraction of bibliometric data. Kruskal-Wallis and Chi square tests were employed. 

Results:

2,250 articles were examined. Between 1997 and 2017, author numbers increased and male authors decreased (Table). There were also increases (p<0.01) in acronyms (6.8% to 16.1%), funding reports (20.2% to 71.2%) and conflicts of interest reports (0% to 96.1%). Study design, statistical analysis and reporting became more sophisticated (Table). However, the proportion of randomised trials decreased and cohort studies increased. There were increases (p<0.01) in median sample sizes (365 to 1368.5), data collection periods (172 to 674.5 days) and reference numbers (18.7 to 28.2). 

Conclusion:

Original research has increased its methodological rigor and reporting standards. However, there remains considerable scope for improvement.

References

1. Lee CH, Shih CP, Chang YC, Chaou CH. The evolution of academic performance in emergency medicine journals: viewpoint from 2000 to 2009 journal citation reports. Acad Emerg Med2011; 18: 898-904