Scientific Publication Productivity of Emergency Physicians: A Bibliometric Analysis of the Last Decade.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: A significant increase has been observed in scientific research in emergency medicine in the past 10 years. However, the contribution of emergency physicians (EPs) to the emergency medicine literature is not known. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyze the contribution of EPs to the emergency medicine literature and their scientific publication productivity during a recent 10-year period. METHODS: Manuscripts published by EPs in emergency medicine journals in the Science Citation Index Expanded database during a recent 10-year period (2008-2017) were included in the study. The number of articles published by EPs, the distribution of the manuscripts by country and year, the impact factors, the citations per article, and the Hirsch (H) index were determined. RESULTS: A total of 15,281 original articles were published in a total of 24 journals by all EPs worldwide between 2008 and 2017. EPs from the United States published the highest number of articles (54.4% of all articles), followed by Canada (7.2%), Australia (6.2%), Turkey (4.3%), and the UK (4.1%). The countries with the highest H index were the United States (80), Canada (43), and the UK (40), respectively. South Korea had the highest increase in scientific production during the 10-year period (average annual growth rate of 17.89%). CONCLUSIONS: The number of articles increased from 2008 to 2017 in the whole world and in the United States. EPs from the United States were the most productive, both qualitatively and quantitatively.