title: Scatter of orthopaedic research: can orthopods stay up-to-date with research?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The volume of orthopaedic literature is increasing exponentially, becoming more widely scattered among journals. The rate of increase in orthopaedics is greater than other specialties. We aimed to identify the number of different journals an orthopaedic surgeon would need to read to stay up-to-date with current evidence.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched PubMed for all orthopaedic-related systematic reviews (SR) and randomized controlled trials (RCT) published in 2011 using MESH (Medical Subject Headings) terms. The search was based on the Australian Orthopaedic Association syllabus of March 2011. The results of the search were exported to EndNote, then Microsoft Excel. We then calculated the least number of journals needed to read 25%, 50% and 100% of the articles. This was done separately for SRs and RCTs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found 1400 orthopaedic RCTs spread over 392 journals. Ten journals contained 25% of the articles, 36 journals contained 50% and 114 journals contained 75%. Three hundred journals contained three or fewer RCTs. We found 354 orthopaedic-relevant SRs spread over 152 journals. Six journals contained 25% of the articles, 23 journals contained 50% and 63 journals contained 75%. Ninety-three journals contained only one SR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results demonstrate the vast scatter of orthopaedic research. Four orthopaedic RCTs are published every day. To read even 25% of the new RCTs and SRs published in orthopaedics, a surgeon would require a subscription to 13 different journals monthly, a costly and time-consuming endeavour.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Tweed Heads Hospital, Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia.|Department of Evidenced-Based Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Lahann
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wijenayake
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Gold Coast Hospital, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Conroy
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Tweed Heads Hospital, Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.affiliation: Department of Evidenced-Based Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thorning
authors.affiliation: Department of Evidenced-Based Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Glasziou
mesh_terms: D015706:Bibliometrics; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D009985:Orthopedics; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012196:Review Literature as Topic
keywords: evidence-based medicine; orthopaedics; research; scatter