Scientific publications in internal medicine and family medicine: a comparative cross-sectional study in Swiss university hospitals.
Bibliometric study
citations
family medicine
h-index
productivity
publications
Journal
Family practice
ISSN: 1460-2229
Titre abrégé: Fam Pract
Pays: England
ID NLM: 8500875
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
17 06 2021
17 06 2021
Historique:
pubmed:
14
11
2020
medline:
26
10
2021
entrez:
13
11
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Family medicine is a relatively new academic medical discipline. We aimed to compare the main bibliometric indices of hospital-based senior physicians practicing internal medicine versus family medicine in Switzerland. We conducted this cross-sectional study in March 2020. We selected all hospital-based senior physicians practicing internal medicine or family medicine in the six Swiss university hospitals. Using Web of Science, after removing from both groups of physicians the 5% with the highest number of publications, we extracted the number of publications, the number of publications per year, the number of citations, the number of citations per year, the number of citations per publication and the h-index. We compared the data between the two groups using negative binomial regressions and the proportion of physicians having at least one publication using chi-square tests. We included 349 physicians in the study (internal medicine: 51%, men: 51%). The median number of publications was three [interquartile range (IQR) = 18], the median number of citations was nine (IQR = 158) and the median h-index was one (IQR = 5). All bibliometric indices were similar in both groups, as was the proportion of physicians having at least one publication (family medicine: 87% versus 82%, P = 0.15). We found no association between the bibliometric indices and the medical specialty. Further studies are needed to explore other important indicators of academic output, such as those more specifically assessing its quality and scientific importance.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
Family medicine is a relatively new academic medical discipline. We aimed to compare the main bibliometric indices of hospital-based senior physicians practicing internal medicine versus family medicine in Switzerland.
METHODS
We conducted this cross-sectional study in March 2020. We selected all hospital-based senior physicians practicing internal medicine or family medicine in the six Swiss university hospitals. Using Web of Science, after removing from both groups of physicians the 5% with the highest number of publications, we extracted the number of publications, the number of publications per year, the number of citations, the number of citations per year, the number of citations per publication and the h-index. We compared the data between the two groups using negative binomial regressions and the proportion of physicians having at least one publication using chi-square tests.
RESULTS
We included 349 physicians in the study (internal medicine: 51%, men: 51%). The median number of publications was three [interquartile range (IQR) = 18], the median number of citations was nine (IQR = 158) and the median h-index was one (IQR = 5). All bibliometric indices were similar in both groups, as was the proportion of physicians having at least one publication (family medicine: 87% versus 82%, P = 0.15).
CONCLUSIONS
We found no association between the bibliometric indices and the medical specialty. Further studies are needed to explore other important indicators of academic output, such as those more specifically assessing its quality and scientific importance.
Identifiants
pubmed: 33184657
pii: 5980324
doi: 10.1093/fampra/cmaa124
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
299-305Informations de copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.