title: [Quality of publications in plastic surgery].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The objective of this study is to describe plastic surgery publications in terms of methodology, level of evidence, approval by institutional review board, method of consent, and subspecialty.
  
  
  METHODS
  The 8 top-ranked plastic surgery journals were selected. We manually reviewed the last 40 original articles in each plastic surgery journal, to represent more than 2 months of publications for all journals (range: 3-17 months). Only clinical original articles on human subjects were included. Each article was read at least twice by two different reviewers to ensure accurate data transcription, and then graded by written criteria. One of the senior authors was asked to make a final decision in case of doubt.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the articles reviewed, 320 were analyzed. The geographical origin of these publications were Asia (32.5%), Europe (30%), US (28.4%), South America (5.6%), Africa (2.5%), and finally Oceania (1%). Reconstructive surgery remains the specialty area most represented in the journals with almost half of the publications, followed by breast surgery (24%) and plastic surgery (19%). A total of 75.6% were retrospective studies. Nearly 80% of the studies were of low level of evidence. Only 3.5% were randomized trials. Less than 40% of the publications mentioned approval by an institutional committee, and 22.6% a patient's informed consent.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study aimed to analyze the quality of plastic surgery publications, taking into account the criteria of Evidence Based Medicine. This work showed that more than half of the studies did not mention an institutional review board approval (Ethics Committee), and that three quarter of the studies did not indicate the presence of patient's informed consent. Ultimately, over 80% of the studies were of low level of evidence. The top-ranked journals have already imposed guidelines corresponding to the methodology requirements to publish clinical studies in their pages, such as EQUATOR criteria for the PRS journal. Efforts are therefore to be done to raise the scientific level of the publications of our specialty.
authors.affiliation: Service de chirurgie plastique, reconstructrice, esthétique et des brûlés, CHU Toulouse Rangueil, 1, avenue Jean-Poulhès, 31059 Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mornet
authors.affiliation: Service de chirurgie plastique, reconstructrice, esthétique et des brûlés, CHU Toulouse Rangueil, 1, avenue Jean-Poulhès, 31059 Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: J-L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Grolleau
authors.affiliation: Service de chirurgie plastique, reconstructrice, esthétique et des brûlés, CHU Toulouse Rangueil, 1, avenue Jean-Poulhès, 31059 Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Garrido
authors.affiliation: Service de chirurgie plastique, reconstructrice, esthétique et des brûlés, CHU Lapeyronie, 34295 Montpellier cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bekara
authors.affiliation: Service de chirurgie plastique, reconstructrice, esthétique et des brûlés, CHU Lapeyronie, 34295 Montpellier cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Herlin
authors.affiliation: Service de chirurgie plastique, reconstructrice, esthétique et des brûlés, CHU Toulouse Rangueil, 1, avenue Jean-Poulhès, 31059 Toulouse, France. Electronic address: benoitchaput31@gmail.com.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chaput
mesh_terms: D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000592:standards; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D016462:Mammaplasty / Q000592:standards; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D011642:Publications / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000592:standards; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000592:standards; D013518:Surgery, Plastic / Q000592:standards*
keywords: Chirurgie plastique; EQUATOR; Level of evidence; Niveau de preuve; Plastic surgery; Quality of publications; Qualité des publications