Publication Trends of Pediatric and Adult Randomized Controlled Trials in General Medical Journals, 2005-2018: A Citation Analysis

Michael L Groff; Martin Offringa; Abby Emdin; Quenby Mahood; Patricia C Parkin; Eyal Cohen

doi:10.3390/children7120293

Publication Trends of Pediatric and Adult Randomized Controlled Trials in General Medical Journals, 2005-2018: A Citation Analysis

Children (Basel). 2020 Dec 15;7(12):293. doi: 10.3390/children7120293.

Authors

Michael L Groff^{1

2}, Martin Offringa^{2

3

4

5}, Abby Emdin^{2

6}, Quenby Mahood⁷, Patricia C Parkin^{2

3

4

8}, Eyal Cohen^{2

3

4

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5C1, Canada.
² Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada.
³ Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada.
⁴ Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 3M6, Canada.
⁵ Division of Neonatology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada.
⁶ Global Child Health, Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada.
⁷ Division of Hospital Library and Archives, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada.
⁸ Division of Pediatric Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada.
⁹ Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada.

Abstract

Policy has been developed to promote the conduct of high-quality pediatric randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Whether these strategies have influenced publication trends in high-impact journals is unknown. We aim to evaluate characteristics, citation patterns, and publication trends of pediatric RCTs published in general medical journals (GMJs) compared with adult RCTs over a 13-year period. Studies were identified using Medline, and impact metrics were collected from Web of Science and Scopus. All RCTs published from 2005-2018 in 7 GMJs with the highest impact factors were identified for analysis. A random sample of matched pediatric and adult RCTs were assessed for publication characteristics, academic and non-academic citation. Citations were counted from publication until June 2019. Among 4146 RCTs, 2794 (67.3%) enrolled adults, 591 (14.2%) enrolled children, and 761 RCTs (18.3%) enrolled adult and pediatric patients. Adult RCTs published in GMJs grew by 5.1 publications per year (95% CI: 3.3-6.9), while the number of pediatric RCTs did not show significant change (-0.4 RCTs/year, 95% CI: -1.4-0.6). Adult RCTs were cited more than pediatric RCTs (median(IQR): 29.9 (68.5-462.8) citations/year vs. 13.2 (6.8-24.9) citations/year; p < 0.001); however, social media attention was similar (median(IQR) Altmetric Attention Score: 37 (13.75-133.8) vs. 26 (6.2-107.5); p = 0.25). Despite policies which may facilitate conduct of pediatric RCTs, the publishing gap in high-impact GMJs is widening.

Keywords: bibliometrics; child; clinical trials; journal impact factor; pediatrics; publication characteristics; publications; publishing; randomized controlled trials; social media.