title: The role of imaging specialists as authors of systematic reviews on diagnostic and interventional imaging and its impact on scientific quality: report from the EuroAIM Evidence-based Radiology Working Group.
abstract: To evaluate the inclusion of radiologists or nuclear medicine physicians (imaging specialists) as authors of systematic reviews (SRs) on imaging and imaging-guided diagnostic procedures and to determine the impact of imaging specialists' presence as authors on the overall quality of the reviews.
  
  
  
  A MEDLINE and EMBASE search was performed for SRs of diagnostic and interventional image-guided procedures that were published from January 2001 to December 2010. SRs about procedures primarily performed by nonimaging specialists were excluded. The inclusion of imaging specialists among the SR authors and the frequency of publication in imaging journals were evaluated. The quality of a subset of 200 SRs (100 most recent SRs with imaging specialists as authors and 100 most recent SRs without imaging specialists as authors) was rated by using a 12-item modified assessment of multiple SRs (AMSTAR) evaluation tool. Spearman, χ(2), and Mann-Whitney statistics were used.
  
  
  
  From among 3258 retrieved citations, 867 SRs were included in the study. Neuroimaging had the largest number of SRs (28% [241 of 867]), 41% (354 of 867) of SRs concerned diagnostic performance, and 26% (228 of 867) of SRs were published in imaging journals. Imaging specialists were authors (in any position) in 330 (38%) of 867 SRs; they were first authors of 176 SRs and last authors of 161 SRs. SRs with imaging specialists as authors were more often published in imaging journals than in nonimaging journals (54% [179 of 330] vs 9% [49 of 537]; P < .001). The median number of modified AMSTAR quality indicators was nine in SRs with imaging specialists as authors, while that in SRs without imaging specialists as authors was seven (P = .003).
  
  
  
  Only 38% (330 of 867) of SRs on radiology or nuclear medicine-related imaging published from January 2001 to December 2010 included imaging specialists as authors. However, the inclusion of imaging specialists as authors was associated with a significant increase in the scientific quality (as judged by using a modified AMSTAR scale) of the SR.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, Piazza E. Malan, 20097 San Donato Milanese, Italy (F.S., L.M.S.); Radiology Unit, IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, San Donato Milanese, Italy (F.S., L.M.S., G.D.L.); Department of Nuclear Medicine, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan (H.B.); Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Division of Molecular and Gender Imaging, Medical University Vienna, General Hospital Vienna, Vienna, Austria (D.B., T.H.); Scuola di Specializzazione in Radiodiagnostica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy (G.C., C.M.); Department of Radiology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway (A.E.); Unità Operativa di Radiologia Diagnostica e Interventistica, Azienda Ospedaliera San Paolo, Milan, Italy (N.F.); Departments of Radiology (M.H., S.S.) and Epidemiology (M.H., S.S.), Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Health Policy and Medicine, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Mass (M.H.); Department of Radiology, St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin 4, Ireland (D.E.M.); Department of Radiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands (R.M.); Department of Nuclear Medicine, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark (L.J.P.); Department of Radiation Sciences, Diagnostic Radiology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden (K.R.); Department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Collegium Medicum, Bydgoszcz, Poland (Z.S.); Department of Surgery, Vascular Laboratory, Ikazia Hospital, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (S.S.); Department of Radiology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (J.S.); Clinical Research Imaging Centre, Queen's Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland (E.J.R.v.B.); and Institut für Diagnostische und Interventionelle Radiolog
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sardanelli
authors.forename: Humayun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bashir
authors.forename: Dominik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Berzaczy
authors.forename: Guglielmo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cannella
authors.forename: Ansgar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Espeland
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Flor
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Helbich
authors.forename: Myriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hunink
authors.forename: Dermot E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Malone
authors.forename: Ritse
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Muzzupappa
authors.forename: Lars J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: Katrine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Riklund
authors.forename: Luca M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Sconfienza
authors.forename: Zbigniew
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Serafin
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Spronk
authors.forename: Jaap
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stoker
authors.forename: Edwin J R
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: van Beek
authors.forename: Dierk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vorwerk
authors.forename: Giovanni
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authors.lastname: Di Leo
mesh_terms: D001319:Authorship; D015706:Bibliometrics; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D009683:Nuclear Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017712:Peer Review, Research; D011643:Publishing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011871:Radiology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D013038:Specialization