Publication trend in the Indian Journal of Orthopaedics: What is published and why?

BACKGROUND: Factors influencing publication of manuscripts in reputed journals have never been studied to the best of our knowledge. This study was conducted to evaluate the trend in publication within the Indian Journal of Orthopaedics (IJO).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted by accessing the online database of the IJO. All the issues available online were included. Published articles were classified into one of the following thirteen categories: (i) Basic Sciences (ii) trauma (upper limb and lower limb) (iii) infections (iv) pediatric orthopedics (v) arthroplasty (vi) arthroscopy (vii) spine surgery (viii) musculoskeletal oncology (ix) hand and microvascular surgery (x) adult reconstruction (including the Ilizarov technique) (xi) general orthopedics and miscellaneous (xii) letter to editor (xiii) book review. A scatter diagram was plotted to study the individual trends.

RESULTS: A total of 2213 articles from 110 issues published between 1967 and 2014 were studied. Total number of articles per issue have increased over the years. Publications in the fields of trauma, adult reconstruction, arthroscopy and hand and microvascular surgery have increased steadily. Arthroplasty and spine surgery have recorded dramatic increase in publication. On the other hand, publications in the rest of the fields have declined of which the greatest fall is noted in the field of musculoskeletal oncology.

CONCLUSIONS: Trend in publication with the IJO has changed over years with more articles being published in arthroplasty and Spine surgery. Despite advances, publication in the field of musculoskeletal oncology has fallen.