Spine health care is an integral part of several. The Evolution and Maturation of Periodical Spine Publications

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1 WScJ 4: 95102, 2013 The Evolution and Maturation of Periodical Spine Publications Sait Naderi 1, Uygur Er 2, Edward C. Benzel 3 1 Department of surgery, Umraniye Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey 2 Department of surgery, Koru Hospital, Ankara, Turkey 3 Department of surgery, Center for Spine Health, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA Abstract AIM: The aim of this study was to analyze spinerelated journals and review their quality and quantity in order to compare the quality and quantity of journals that started publication before and after Material and Methods: Thirtyfour journals were identified by an internet search. The pubmed, medline and SCIExp databases were reviewed. The journal metrics for impact factor, H index and H5 index were ascertained. Results: The first journal was started in Fourteen of the 34 journals started publication before Thirteen journals are indexed in pubmed, seven journals in medline, and only six journals are indexed in the SCIExp list. Six and seven of the journals that started before 2001 were indexed in SCIExp and Medline respectively, but none of the 20 journals that started publication after 2001 were indexed in SCIExp or medline. Seven of the 14 journals that started publication before 2001 have an IF. Currently Spine has the highest H and H5 indices, whereas The Spine has the highest IF. Conclusions: Spinerelated journal publication has been growing in the last ten years. However, journals that started publication in the last decade are associated with a low or zero rate of indexing in scientific databases. Key words: impact factor, periodicals, spine Introduction Spine health care is an integral part of several medical disciplines, including orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, physical medicine, and rheumatology. Initially, in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, spinerelated manuscripts were published in general surgery and other general medical journals. Subsequently, until the 1970s, such papers were published in major orthopedic and neurosurgery journals. Alongside the substantial increase in the body of literature concerning spine care and spinal disorders, many spine societies were founded from the mid1960s. The establishment of spinerelated journals was often the result of the formation of these spine societies: the Scoliosis Research Society as Scoliosis Club in 1966, the American Spinal Injury World Spinal Column, Volume 4 / No: 3 / September 2013 Association in 1973, the International Society for Study of Lumbar Spine in 1974, the American Associations of logical Surgeons/Congress of logical Surgeons (AANS/CNS) Joint Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves in 1978, the North American Spine Society (NASS) in1985, the European Spine Society in 1991, and the Spine Society of Europe in The first spinededicated periodical publication appears to have been Die Wirbelsaule in Forschung und Praxis, a bookstyle journal published in Germany in the German language. It was first published in 1956 by Herbert Junghans, and its 133rd volume was published in However, there is no evidence of its publication after that issue. Among currently active journals, Spine was the first international journal dedicated to spine care in the English 95

2 Spine s language. Currently there are 34 journals dedicated to spine health care. This is a large number of journals bearing in mind the size of the discipline. This study investigates the quantity and quality of spine periodicals worldwide. The study addresses aspects of the media including publisher, editors, societies, and readership. Material and Methods In order to research spine and spinal cord related journals, a pubmed and internet search was undertaken. The search used the following key words: columna journal, coluna journal, cervical spine journal, craniovertebral junction journal, deformity journal, low back pain journal, lumbar spine journal, scoliosis journal, spinal column journal, spinal journal, spine journal, spine research journal, spine surgery journal, of spine, and vertebra journal. The study reviewed the publisher, affiliation to a society, language or languages of the journal, year of first publication, frequency of publication, electronic link, specialty of editors, current indexing status in scientific databases such as Medline, SCIExp, and pubmed, as well as the journal metrics H index, H5 index and impact factor (IF). In order to evaluate the rate of readibility of journals published in the last decade alongside those established earlier, the journal metrics and indexing status of journals published before and after 2001 were compared. Results Thirtynine spine and spinal cord related journals were identified in the internet and pubmed search. Five journals were excluded from the study because they are specifically dedicated to the spinal cord ( of Spinal cord Medicine, Topics in spinal cord rehabilitation and Spinal cord ) or are no longer in print ( Die Wirbelsaule in Forschung und Praxis published between 1956 and 1991, and World Spine published between 2006 and 2008). Hence, this review covers 34 spine related journals (Table 1). Of the 34 journals, 16 (47%) are published in North America, nine (26.4%) in Asia, eight (23.5%) in Europe, and one (2.9%) in South America. Twenty three (67.4%) of the 34 journals are the official organ of spine related societies while simultaneously functioning in affiliation with other societies. Eleven journals are independent national or international journals. The comparison of journals that were initiated before and after 2001 demonstrated that ten of 14 journals established before 2001 and 13 of 20 journals established after 2001 had a society affiliation. One journal (2.9%) started publication in the 1970s, three (8.8%) in the 1980s, six (17.6%) in the 1990s, 17 (50%) in the 2000s, and seven journals (20.5%) began publication after 2010 (Table 4). Fourteen of the journals (41.1%) initiated publication before 2001 and 20 journals (58.8%) initiated publication after Twenty six journals are published in and one in Chinese. There were six dual language journals, including three JapaneseEnglish journals, one TurkishEnglish journal, one EnglishFrench and one KoreanEnglish journal. In addition, one threelanguage journal is currently published in Spanish, and Portuguese, with a wide circulation. The frequency of publication of journals varies between one and 26 issues per year. One journal publishes 26 issues per year, seven journals publish 12 issues, one journal eight issues, three journals six issues, 14 journals four issues, four journals two issues, and three journals one issue per year. The frequency of publication of one journal, of Spine and surgery, was not stated on its web site. Eight (23.5%) of the 34 journals publish 12 or more issues per year. Editors are orthopedic surgeons for 16 journals (47%), neurological surgeons or neuroscientists for nine journals (26.4%), both specialties in one journal (2.9%), rehabilitation in one (2.9%), rheumatology in one (2.9%) and biomechanical engineers in two journals (5.8%). The specialty of editors of four Japanese or Chinese journals could not be identified. Thirteen of the journals were indexed in pubmed. Seven journals were indexed in Medline, and six journals were indexed in SCIE (Table 2). Fourteen of 34 journals initiated publication before 2001 and 20 after Six (42.8%), seven (50%) and eight (57.1%) of 14 journals, which started publication before 2001 are indexed in SCIExp, medline and pubmed respectively. None of the 20 journals that initiated publication after 2003 were indexed in SCIE and Medline. Only five journals (25%) in this group were indexed in pubmed. The H index of eight journals (23.5%), the H5 index of 11 journals (32.3%) 3 and the IF of seven journals (20.5%) could be found 9. Currently Spine has the highest H index (149) and H5 index (61) (Table 3), but The Spine has the highest IF (3.290). 96 World Spinal Column, Volume 4 / No: 3 / September 2013

3 S Naderi et al. Table 1: Alphabetic list of journals analyzed 1. Asian Spine 2. Chinese of Spine and Spinal Cord 3. Coluna/Columna 4. Contemporary Spine Surgery 5. European Spine 6. EvidenceBased SpineCare 7. Joint, bone, spine: revue du rhumatisme 8. of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation 9. of Craniovertebral Junction and Spine 10. of Korean Society of Spine Surgery 11. of neurosurgery: spine 12. of Spinal Surgery (China) 13. of spinal surgery (India) 14. of Spine Research 15. of Spinal Disorders and Technique 16. of Spine 17. of Spine & surgery 18. of the Spinal Research Foundation 19. Korean of Spine 20. Open Spine 21. Round Tables in Spine Surgery 22. Scoliosis 23. Seminars in spine surgery 24. Spinal surgery (Japan) 25. Spine 26. Spine deformity 27. The global spine journal 28. The Internet of Spine SurgeryThe Internet of Minimally Invasive Spinal Technology 29. The international journal of spine surgery 30. The journal of Japanese Society of Lumbar Spine Disorders 31. The Spine journal 32. The of Turkish Spinal Surgery 33. World Spinal Column Discussion Spine surgery is a thriving and growing discipline. The evolution and development of new technologies and techniques obligatorily results in a rapidly evolving body of literature. The development of new instruments and devices contribute to this rapid expansion. In addition, the increase in the size of the aging population requiring spine health care results in increased demand for care and interest among spine health care professionals. Some orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons have begun performing spinal operations solely. This has been a global phenomenon. Thus, a new surgeon profile, Spine Surgeon, emerged from both disciplines. This new breed of surgeons has refined and developed many spinal techniques and operations. A greater appreciation and understanding of surgical anatomy has facilitated access to some regions of the spine that had previously been untouchable. All of the aforementioned factors have increased the demand for scientific publication outlets. This has resulted in the increased number of new spine journals. Although some spine related journals are quite popular among spine health care specialists, others are less popular. This study found that there are 34 spine related journals, and that there has been a growing trend for new spinerelated journals in the last decade. It also found that, although 20 new journals were initiated in the last decade, their readability rate (indexing in Medline and SCIE, and journal metrics) is low when compared to journals initiated prior to Many major and minor factors may affect the choice to submit a paper to any given journal. Minor Factors The affiliation of the journals and publication frequency are minor factors that affect the choice of journal for manuscript submission. The organizational affiliation of a journal is important for members of that organization. The Spine, European Spine, J neurosurgery: Spine, and Joint, bone spine are the official organs of certain spine societies and are supported by members of the societies. Spine is the official organ of a number of spine societies. A review of the organizational affiliation of journals established before and after 2001 reveals a similar society affiliation profile. It implies that society affiliation is not a major factor regarding the choice for manuscript submission. World Spinal Column, Volume 4 / No: 3 / September

4 Spine s Table 2: Detailed list of spine journals addressing affiliation, and Publishers Asian Spine Chinese of Spine and Spinal Cord Coluna/Columna Contemporary Spine Surgery European Spine EvidenceBased SpineCare Joint, bone, spine: revue du rhumatisme of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation of Craniovertebral Junction and Spine of Korean Society of Spine Surgery of neurosurgery: spine of Spinal Surgery China Official organs or affiliations Korean Society of Spine Surgery Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine Brazilian Vertebral Column Society * European Spine Society and ** AO Spine International France Rheumatology Society Korean Society of Spine Surgery Publisher and publication start year Korean Society of Spine Surgery/2007 Chinese Ass. of Rehab. Medicine and the SinoJapanese Friendship Hospital/1991 J. de Vega, La Coruña/2004 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins/2000 Springer Verlag/1992 Thieme, Stuttgart Germany/2010 Edition Elsevier, Paris/2000 Reading MA: Andover Since 1999: Amsterdam, los Pres/2001 Medknow Publication, Mumbai/2010 Korean Society of Spine Surgery/1994 Language Frequency Editor and specialty JaeYoon Chung/ Indexing SCIE Pubmed Medline + English 12? Portuguese, Spanish 4 English 12 English 12 French 6 English 2 Korean AANS AANS/1999 English 12 Ji shu Nai ke za zhi she/ Helton LA Defino/ Biomechanics Kern Singh/ Max Aebi/ Luiz Roberto Vialle/ Marie Christophe Boissier/ Romathologist Hermie J. Hermens/ Biomechanics Atul Goel/ HeuiJeon Park/ Michael G.Fehlings/ Chinese 6? 98 World Spinal Column, Volume 4 / No: 3 / September 2013

5 S Naderi et al. of spinal surgery India of Spine Research of Spinal Disorders & Technique of Spine of Spine & surgery of the Spinal Research Foundation Korean of Spine Open Spine Round Tables in Spine Surgery Scoliosis Seminars in spine surgery Spinal surgery Japan Spine Spine Deformity The global spine journal NSSAI Japanese Society for Spine Surgery and Related Research Spinal Research Foundation Korean Spinal surgery Society SOSORT The Japanese Society of Spinal Surgery Many spine societies*** Scoliosis Research Society AO Spine International Medulla Communications, Mumbai/2009 Japanese Society for spine surgery and related research/2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins/1988 OMICS Publishing Group Los Angeles, CA/2011 SciTechnol An OMICS Group Initiative/2012 Spinal Research Foundation/2008 Korean Spinal surgery Society/2004 Bentham Science Publisher/2009 Quality Medical Publishing/2005 Biomed central London/2006 W.B. Saunders/1989 OsakaShi inihon sekizui kenkyukak/1986 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins/1976 Elsevier Inc., Philadelphia/2013 Thieme Medical Publishers, NY, New York/2011 Japanese English 8 English 12 English 2 English 1 P S Ramani/ 12? Thomas Zdeblick/ Siavash S.Haghighi/ Multieditorial/ Brian R. Subach/ SeHoon Kim/ Toru Hasegawa/ + Multieditorial English 1 Japanese 4 English 26 English 6 Theodoros B. Grivas/ Sam W. Wiesel & Scott D. Boden/ Toshiaki Abe/ James N. Weinstein/ John E. Lonstein/ Jeffrey Wang/ + World Spinal Column, Volume 4 / No: 3 / September

6 Spine s The Internet of Spine Surgery Internet scientific publications/2005 English 2 Nahshon Rand/ The Internet of Minimally Invasive Spinal Technology ISMISS/ SICOT and AAMISM**** ISPUB, Sugarland, Tx, USA/2007 English 2 John C. Chiu/ The international journal of spine surgery The journal of Japanese Society of Lumbar Spine Disorders The Spine journal The of Turkish Spinal Surgery World Spinal Column ISASS Japanese Society of Lumbar Spine Disorders North American Spine Society Turkish Spine Society World Spinal Column Society Elsevier Inc., Philadelphia, PA, USA/2007 The Japanese Society of Lumbar Spine Disorders/1994 Elsevier Sience Inc./2001 Turkish Spine Society/1990 World Spinal Column Society/2010 Japanese English 12 Turkish Hansen Yuan/ & 1? 4 Eugene J. Carragee/ Teoman Benli/ Sait Naderi/ AANS: Americal Association of logical Surgeons, ISASS: International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery and the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery, : surgeon, NSSAI: Spinal Surgeons Association, : pedic surgeon, R: Rheumatologist, SOSORT: Society on Scoliosis pedic and Rehabilitation Treatment, * Official scientific publication organ of Sociedade Brasileira de Coluna (SBC), and of affiliate associations: Asociación Mexicana de Cirujanos de Columna (AMCICO), Capítulo de Columna de la Sociedad Ecuatoriana de Ortopedia y Traumatología, Capítulo de Columna de la Sociedad Colombiana de Ortopedia y Traumatología, Capítulo de Columna de la Sociedad Venezolana de Cirugía Ortopédica y Traumatología, Sociedade Brasileira de Estudo das Lesões Medulares (SOBRALEM), Sociedade Brasileira de cirurgia (SBN), Sociedad lberolatinoamericana de Columna Vertebral (SILACO) and Sociedade Portuguesa de Patologia da Coluna Vertebral. **: Affiliated societies of European Spine : Austrian Spine Society, Brazilian Spine Society, Cervical Spine, Research Society (European Section), Czech Spine Surgery Society, Deutsche Wirbelsäulengesellschaft, Dutch Spine Society, EuroSpine, The Spine Society of Europe, French Society of Spine Surgery, GEER (Grupo de Estudio de Enfermedades del Raquis), G.I.S. (Italian Spine Society), Hellenic Spine Society, Polish Soiety of Spinal Surgery, SILACO (Sociedad IberoLatinoamericana de Columna), South African Spine Society, Turkish Spine Society ***: Affiliated societies of Spine: Argentine Society for the Study of Spine Pathology, Asia Pacific pedic Association Spinal Section, Cervical Spine Research Society, Chinese pedic Association, Finnish Spine Research Society, International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine, Japan Spine Research Society, Korean Society of Spine Surgery, Scoliosis Research Society, Spine Section of the Hellenic pedic Association, Spine Society of Australia, Spine Society of Europe ****: International society of minimally invasive spinal surgery affiliated of SICOT, and American Academy of minimally invasive spinal surgery and medicine) The frequency of publication of a journal may also affect the submission rate of manuscripts to that journal. This study revealed that although the number of spine related journals increased tremendously in the last several decades, only eight (23.5%) of 34 journals are published monthly or biweekly, whilst another eight journals have attracted the manuscript volume to justify a monthly publication. However, the frequency of publication of a journal reflects only the number of issues published each year and does not reflect the quality of papers. The distribution of spine journals around the world is relatively heterogeneous. Asian journals are predominantly 100 World Spinal Column, Volume 4 / No: 3 / September 2013

7 S Naderi et al. Table 3: h5 index of journals based on Google Academic (2011), h index and impact factor of journals based on Thomson Reuters (2012) s H Index H5 index Impact Factor Spine Spinal Surgery 1 J Spinal Disorders & Technique Seminars in Spine Surg 9 3 European Spine J neurosurgery: spine Joint, bone, spine: revue Rhumatol The Spine journal J Back Musculoskelet Rehab Coluna/Columna 2 Korean of Spine 3 Scoliosis 15 Asian Spinal 3 of Spine Research 1 of Japanese and Korean origin. Both the orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery societies of these two countries are very active in journal publication. International journals are generally published in North America and Europe. North America is the most prominent continent for spine journal publication. Major Factors Two major factors reflect a journal s quality. These are presence in the various indexes, and their journal metrics. As is the trend in other disciplines, spine related manuscripts are often first submitted to journals indexed in the SCIExp. Papers are often then submitted to nonindexed journals if they are rejected by the indexed journals. Consequently, the quality of papers published in nonindexed journals is likely to be lower than those published in indexed journals. The need for additional new journals may therefore be questioned. A. Position in indices Medline was the most prominent indexing journal database for many years. However, the SCI, SCIExp and pubmed databases are also used widely. Six (42.8%) and seven (50%) of 14 journals that began publication before 2001 are indexed in SCIExp and Medline respectively. None of 20 journals that began publication after 2001 are indexed in SCIExp. Pubmed indexes 13 (38.2%) of 34 spine journals. Eight (57.1%) of the 14 journals which started publication before 2001 are indexed in pubmed, but only five (25%) of the 20 journals which started after 2001 are. The zero and World Spinal Column, Volume 4 / No: 3 / September 2013 low indexing rate among journals published after 2003 can be explained by the short duration of publication and the preference of academics to submit their papers to already indexed journals. B. metrics metrics include IF, H and H5 indices, Source Normalized Impact per Paper, Scientific Ranking, Science Citation Image, Rank, Article Influence, Eigenfactor, Cited HalfLife, Immediacy Index and the 5Year impact factor. Although all of these metrics are important, the authors of this study used IF, H index and H5 indices to compare journals. Traditionally, the citation metric most often used in medical circles to evaluate a journal s status is IF (8). IF was first used by Garfields and Shear in 1963 (4). The IF of journals is published by Thompson Reuters on an annual basis in Citation Reports (JCR) (7). IF is measured by citations to articles from the most recent two full years, divided by the total number of articles from the most recent two full years (10). IF is calculated annually for those journals that are indexed in Thomson Reuters JCR (5). In calculating the impact factor, Thomson Reuters considers not only the number of times each published paper is cited, but also the number of articles published by the journal over the year. Another index, the H index, measures both the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist (1,2,6). It applies to the productivity of a journal. Another journal metric, h5index, was introduced by Google recently, 101

8 Spine s and is based on the articles published by a journal over 5 calendar years. H is the largest number of articles that have each been cited H times. A journal with an H5index of 25 has published, within a 5year period, 25 articles that each has 25 or more citations. In summary, journal metrics reflect the citation rate of already published papers of journals. This study indicates that only seven (20.5%) of 34 journals are assessed by IF, 11 (32.3%) by H5 factor, and eight (23.5%) by H factor. None of journals that were initiated after 2001 are assessed by IF. Two (10%) are assessed by H and three (15%) by h5 factor. Of further importance here is that academicians tend not to submit their most highly rated manuscripts to new journals. A review of IF, H index and H5 index of spine journals shows that Spine is currently the leading journal. The Spine, of Spinal Disorder and Technique, and of surgery: Spine are other journals widely read by surgeons. Another important journal for nonsurgeon spine professionals is Joint, bone, spine. Conclusion There are currently 34 spine related journals. This is a large number of journals for a single discipline. The increase in the number of journals, particularly after 2001, can be explained by the increased rate of intervention for spine pathologies, the number of interested disciplines (orthopedic and neurological surgery, physical therapy, rheumatology, sport medicine, chiropractic), and widespread use of internet publication. However, a review of database information and journal metrics of 20 journals initiated after 2001 indicates that most newly initiated journals are not indexed in key databases. Academicians still submit their most important studies to journals indexed in the relevant databases and that are associated with strong journal metrics. The need for new journals is therefore questioned. Currently, Spine remains the most widely read journal in the field of spine publications. The Spine, and J surgery: Spine are close competitors. Joint, Bone, Spine is not too far behind, and finds popularity amongst nonsurgeons. REFERENCES 1. Abbas AM. Bounds and inequalities relating hindex, gindex, eindex and generalized impact factor: An improvement over existing models. PLoS ONE 7(4):e33699, doi: /journal pone Dias LAS. Relative hindex to compare the scientific performance of researchers. Genetic and Molecular Research 11(2): , Google Scholar. Metrics. Available at: Accessed January 13, Grzybowski A. The journal impact factor: how to interpret its true value and importance. Med Sci Monit 15SR:1 4, Heat J, GrimmerSommers K, Milanese S, Hillier S, King E, Johnston K, et al. Measuring the impact of allied health research. J Multidisciplinary Health Care 4: , Hisrch JE. An index to quantify and individual s scientific research output. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102: , Moed HF. New development in the use of citation analysis in research evaluation. Arch Imminol Ther Exp (Warsz) 57:1318, Saleem T. The Hisrch index a play on numbers or a true appraisal of academic output? Saleem Int Arch Med 4(25):1 4, Thompson Reuters. Citation Report, Available at: Accessed January 13, Van Driel ML, Magin PJ, Del Mar CB. impact factor and its importance for AFP. Australian Family Physician 37(9):770773, 2008 Manuscript submitted April 03, Accepted April 21, Address correspondence to: Uygur Er, Koru Hospital, Department of surgery, Ankara, Turkey Phone: uygurer@gmail.com 102 World Spinal Column, Volume 4 / No: 3 / September 2013