title: Turkish endocrine surgery publications in international scientific journals.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In recent years, major progress has been made in the field of endocrine surgery in Turkey, similar to that in the rest of the world. Parallel to these developments, there has been a significant increase in the number of publications in the related field. Our study aimed to evaluate Turkey's publications related to endocrine surgery in the international arena.
  
  
  METHODS
  Members of the general surgery departments from academic centers in Turkey were determined. Using these member names, a PubMed search was performed for English papers related to "endocrine surgery." For searching papers from non-academic centers, the same engine was used. To reach manuscripts possibly missed by the PubMed search, 3 national calls were made through the website of the Turkish Society of Endocrine Surgery. The obtained papers were divided into "thyroid," "parathyroid," "adrenal," and "neuroendocrine tumors" and were listed according to the publication year. In addition, all manuscripts were listed according to the publishing journal and the 2012 impact factor of that journal. This study did not require ethical approval, because it did not involve evaluation of experimental or patient data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A search of Turkish general surgery clinics revealed 497 international publications, between 1976 and 2012. When listed according to the year of publication, most publications were found to be in the year 2009. Papers appeared mostly in "Surgery Today." The mean impact factor of the journals where the papers have been published was 1.9 (0.1-13.8). The rates of thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal tissue and neuroendocrine tumors related publications were 69%, 10%, 15% and 6%, respectively. Since this study is not an experimental study or a study related to patient data, we did not apply for ethical approval.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The contribution of Turkish general surgeons' to world science is apparent when evaluated in terms of publications related to endocrine surgery until recently. Particularly, since 2002, with the increase in the number of publications in the field of endocrine surgery, there has been an increase in Turkey's importance on the international platform.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Ege University Hospital, İzmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Batuhan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Demir
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Ege University Hospital, İzmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Erman
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alçı
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Ege University Hospital, İzmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ruslan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hasanov
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Ege University Hospital, İzmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Kilongo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mulailua
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Ege University Hospital, İzmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Özer
authors.initials: Ö
authors.lastname: Makay
authors.affiliation: Clinic of General Surgery, Private Ankara Güven Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Savaş
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koçak
keywords: Endocrine surgery; Turkey; publications