Useful and useless publications measured by bibliometrics and scientometrics in orthopaedic surgery. Are the relevance o
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EDITORIAL
Useful and useless publications measured by bibliometrics and scientometrics in orthopaedic surgery. Are the relevance of a journal and publication metrics useful enough for the scientific promotion of surgeons? Andreas F. Mavrogenis 1 & Marco Pećina 2 & Wei Chen 3 & Marius M. Scarlat 4
# SICOT aisbl 2020
Excellence in science Science is driven by the publication of novel ideas and experiments in peer-reviewed scientific journals and books [1]. To affect clinical practice, research findings need to be important and be presented properly; the data should be integral and transparent [2]. Universities are trusted to know best about research because it is assumed that academics strive for excellence in science. This is evidence, however huge differences in quality between individuals exist, especially in crowded universities. The end result could be average science and mediocrity [3–7]. One method to guarantee excellence in science is to find, support and allow independent work of scientists in order to promote and validate new ideas. In this way, education and research has the opportunity to stay ahead in the rankings. Yet, in the game of end results citation metrics and notoriety could be biased. For the past half-century, the impact factor as originally described in 1955 by Dr. Eugene Garfield has emerged as an index of quality and prestige and has been the most prominent method of evaluation for citation metrics [8]. However, one should be aware that there are many limitations and biases to the impact factor and metrics including self-citations, increased number of review articles and limited number of
* Marius M. Scarlat [email protected] 1
From the First Department of Orthopaedics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
2
Department of Orthopaedics, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
3
The Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
4
Clinique St. Michel, Groupe ELSAN, Toulon, France
original research articles, as well as the timing of publication [9–14]. While citation metrics may be useful for the qualitative evaluation of journals, the usefulness does not extend to individual articles. In fact, there should be no correlation between the frequency of citation of an individual article and the impact factor of the publishing journal [9, 15]. Moreover, a simple citation metric could be misused to evaluate scientists [16]. Additionally, in the game of the impact factors, the race for publications and citations has also led to numerous cases of scientific misconduct [17]. Therefore, citation metrics should not be used arbitrarily as single methods to assess the quality of a journal and to evaluate scientists. Instead, the quality of a journal should be evaluated by factors based on citations by other journals, visibility and download metrics and authors should be evaluated by thorough analysis of their curriculum vitae, scientific work and international scientific perfor
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