Christian Balthasar Van Der Pol MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Matthew Donald Fernand McInnes MD, FRCPC, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

William Petrcich MSc, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Adam Scranton Tunis MD, MSc, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Ramez Hanna MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

The purpose of this study is to determine whether study quality and completeness of reported systematic reviews (SR) and meta-analysis (MA) published in high impact factor (IF) radiology journals correlate with citation rates.

All SR and MA published in English between Jan 2007 – Dec 2011, in radiology journals with an IF >2.75, were searched on Ovid MEDLINE using the modified Montori method. The full text articles were retrieved and reviewed by two investigators. Following this, the Assessing the Methodologic Quality of Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) checklist for study quality, and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist for study completeness, was applied to each SR and MA independently by each observer. All discrepancies were resolved by consensus. Inter-observer agreement was calculated using the Kappa coefficient. Each SR and MA was then searched in Google Scholar to yield the number of citations. A citation rate, defined as citations/month post-publication, was calculated for each SR and MA. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to assess the relationship between both AMSTAR and PRISMA results with citation rate, and journal 5-year IF with citation rate.

129 studies from 11 journals were included (50 SR and 79 MA). Average AMSTAR score was 7.2/11 and average PRISMA score was 21.9/27, with moderate-to-significant respective inter-observer agreement; K = 0.69 and 0.57. SR and MA ranged from 0.03-3.8 citation/month post-publication, with a mean of 0.91. There was moderate positive correlation between journal 5-year IF and SR and MA citation rate (R=0.46). Similar correlation was observed with both AMSTAR and PRISMA scores and SR and MA citation rate; R= 0.28 and 0.30 respectively.

The results confirm that there is a correlation between the journal 5-year IF and individual article citation rate. Furthermore, there is a positive correlation between the quality of an SR or MA and the completeness of its reporting with citation rate.

Higher quality and more thoroughly reported SR and MA have higher citation rates. This reinforces the importance of complete reporting and following publishing guidelines for authors of SR and MA.

Van Der Pol, C, McInnes, M, Petrcich, W, Tunis, A, Hanna, R, Does Quality and Completeness of Reported Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses Published in High Impact Radiology Journals Correlate with Citation Rates?.  Radiological Society of North America 2014 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, - ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2014/14012184.html