title: Is There an Association between STARD Statement Adherence and Citation Rate?
abstract: Purpose To determine if adherence to the Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy (STARD) is associated with postpublication citation rates. Materials and Methods A comprehensive search of PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases was performed to identify published articles that have evaluated adherence of diagnostic accuracy studies to the STARD statement. These were included if the number of STARD items reported ("STARD result") could be obtained for each evaluated study. The date of publication, journal impact factor, and citation rate (citations per day) were extracted for the diagnostic accuracy studies. Univariate correlations were performed to identify any association between STARD result, impact factor, and citation rate. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to explore the effect of impact factor on postpublication citation rates. Results The authors were able to obtain the STARD results for 1002 "original" diagnostic accuracy studies from eight different "STARD evaluation" articles. The median impact factor was 3.97 (interquartile range [IQR]: 2.32-6.21), the median STARD result was 15 of 25 items (IQR: 12-18), and the median citation rate was 0.007 citations per day (IQR: 0.0032-0.017). The authors identified a weak positive correlation between STARD result and citation rate (r = 0.096; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.034, 0.157), a moderate positive correlation between impact factor and citation rate (r = 0.58; 95% CI: 0.535, 0.617), and a weak positive correlation between impact factor and STARD result (r = 0.13; 95% CI: 0.064, 0.186). Multivariate analysis accounting for journal clustering effects revealed that, when impact factor is partialed out, the positive correlation between citation rate and STARD result does not persist (r = 0.029; 95% CI: -0.033, 0.091). Conclusion There is a positive correlation between completeness of reporting, as evaluated with STARD, and citation rate as well as impact factor. When adjusted for impact factor, the positive correlation between completeness of reporting and citation rate does not persist. (©) RSNA, 2016 Online supplemental material is available for this article.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Radiology, University of Ottawa, 1053 Carling Ave, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1Y 4E9 (M.D., M.D.F.M., C.B.v.d.P., J.Q., D.K.); Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus, Ottawa, Canada ( W.P.); Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (D.A.K., P.M.M.B.); and Department of Radiology, Charité Medical School, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany (S.W.).
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dilauro
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Radiology, University of Ottawa, 1053 Carling Ave, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1Y 4E9 (M.D., M.D.F.M., C.B.v.d.P., J.Q., D.K.); Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus, Ottawa, Canada ( W.P.); Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (D.A.K., P.M.M.B.); and Department of Radiology, Charité Medical School, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany (S.W.).
authors.forename: Matthew D F
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: McInnes
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Radiology, University of Ottawa, 1053 Carling Ave, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1Y 4E9 (M.D., M.D.F.M., C.B.v.d.P., J.Q., D.K.); Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus, Ottawa, Canada ( W.P.); Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (D.A.K., P.M.M.B.); and Department of Radiology, Charité Medical School, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany (S.W.).
authors.forename: Daniël A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Korevaar
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Radiology, University of Ottawa, 1053 Carling Ave, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1Y 4E9 (M.D., M.D.F.M., C.B.v.d.P., J.Q., D.K.); Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus, Ottawa, Canada ( W.P.); Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (D.A.K., P.M.M.B.); and Department of Radiology, Charité Medical School, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany (S.W.).
authors.forename: Christian B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: van der Pol
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Radiology, University of Ottawa, 1053 Carling Ave, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1Y 4E9 (M.D., M.D.F.M., C.B.v.d.P., J.Q., D.K.); Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus, Ottawa, Canada ( W.P.); Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (D.A.K., P.M.M.B.); and Department of Radiology, Charité Medical School, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany (S.W.).
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Petrcich
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Radiology, University of Ottawa, 1053 Carling Ave, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1Y 4E9 (M.D., M.D.F.M., C.B.v.d.P., J.Q., D.K.); Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus, Ottawa, Canada ( W.P.); Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (D.A.K., P.M.M.B.); and Department of Radiology, Charité Medical School, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany (S.W.).
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Walther
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Radiology, University of Ottawa, 1053 Carling Ave, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1Y 4E9 (M.D., M.D.F.M., C.B.v.d.P., J.Q., D.K.); Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus, Ottawa, Canada ( W.P.); Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (D.A.K., P.M.M.B.); and Department of Radiology, Charité Medical School, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany (S.W.).
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Quon
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Radiology, University of Ottawa, 1053 Carling Ave, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1Y 4E9 (M.D., M.D.F.M., C.B.v.d.P., J.Q., D.K.); Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus, Ottawa, Canada ( W.P.); Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (D.A.K., P.M.M.B.); and Department of Radiology, Charité Medical School, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany (S.W.).
authors.forename: Darya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kurowecki
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Radiology, University of Ottawa, 1053 Carling Ave, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1Y 4E9 (M.D., M.D.F.M., C.B.v.d.P., J.Q., D.K.); Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus, Ottawa, Canada ( W.P.); Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (D.A.K., P.M.M.B.); and Department of Radiology, Charité Medical School, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany (S.W.).
authors.forename: Patrick M M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Bossuyt
mesh_terms: D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D055811:Journal Impact Factor; D011786:Quality Control; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards*