title: The evolution of dental journals from 2003 to 2012: a bibliometric analysis.
abstract: Bibliometrics are a set of methods, which can be used to analyze academic literature quantitatively and its changes over time. The objectives of this study were 1) to evaluate trends related to academic performance of dental journals from 2003 to 2012 using bibliometric indices, and 2) monitor the changes of the five dental journals with the highest and lowest impact factor (IF) published in 2003. Data for the subject category "Dentistry, Oral Surgery & Medicine" was retrieved from the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) published from 2003 to 2012. Linear regressions analysis was used to determine statistical trends over the years with each bibliometric indicator as the dependent variable and the JCR year as the predictor variable. Statistically significant rise in the total number of dental journals, the number of all articles with the steepest rise observed for research articles, the number of citations and the aggregate IF was observed from 2003 to 2012. The analysis of the five top and five bottom-tire dental journals revealed a rise in IF however, with a wide variation in relation to the magnitude of this rise. Although the IF of the top five journals remained relatively constant, the percentile ranks of the four lowest ranking journals in 2003 increased significantly with the sharpest rise being noted for the British Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery. This study revealed significant growth of dental literature in absolute terms, as well as upward trends for most of the citation-based bibliometric indices from 2003 to 2012.
authors.affiliation: Division of Orthodontics, Department of Craniofacial Sciences, University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, Connecticut 06030, United States of America; Discipline of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
authors.forename: Yasas Shri Nalaka
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Jayaratne
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
authors.forename: Roger Arthur
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Zwahlen
mesh_terms: D015706:Bibliometrics; D018865:Dental Research / Q000639:trends*; D003813:Dentistry; D006801:Humans; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000639:trends*; D011643:Publishing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors