Research articles published by Korean spine surgeons: Scientific progress and the increase in spine surgery.
There has been a marked increase in spine surgery in the 21st century, but there are no reports providing quantitative and qualitative analyses of research by Korean spine surgeons. The study goal was to assess the status of Korean spinal surgery and research. The number of spine surgeries was obtained from the Korean National Health Insurance Service. Research articles published by Korean spine surgeons were reviewed by using the Medline/PubMed online database. The number of spine surgeries in Korea increased markedly from 92,390 in 2004 to 164,291 in 2013. During the 2000-2014 period, 1982 articles were published by Korean spine surgeons. The annual number of articles increased from 20 articles in 2000 to 293 articles in 2014. There was a positive correlation between the annual spine surgery and article numbers (p<0.001). There were 1176 original studies published, and there was an annual increase in articles with Oxford levels of evidence 1, 2, and 3. The mean five-year impact factor (IF) for article quality was 1.79. There was no positive correlation between the annual IF and article numbers. Most articles (65.9%) were authored by neurosurgical spine surgeons. But spinal deformity-related topics were dominant among articles authored by orthopedics. The results show a clear quantitative increase in Korean spinal surgery and research over the last 15years. The lack of a correlation between annual IF and published article numbers indicate that Korean spine surgeons should endeavor to increase research value.
Department of Neurosurgery, Spine Center, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Soo Eon
SE
Lee
Department of Neurosurgery, Spine Center, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: taj@snu.ac.kr.
Tae-Ahn
TA
Jahng
Department of Neurosurgery, Spine Center, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Ki-Jeong
KJ
Kim
Department of Neurosurgery, Spine Center, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Seung-Jae
SJ
Hyun
Department of Neurosurgery, Spine Center, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Hyun Jib
HJ
Kim
Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.
Yoshiharu
Y
Kawaguchi
D006801:Humans; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D056910:Republic of Korea; D013131:Spine / Q000601:surgery*
Impact factor; Level of evidence; Publication; Research; Spine surgery