Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34491929›Full record

ArticleJournal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews2021

Authorship Proliferation of Research Articles in Top 10 Orthopaedic Journals: A 70-Year Analysis.

Ellen Lutnick, Antonio Cusano, David Sing, Emily J Curry, Xinning Li

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Continuing Authorship Proliferation in the Cardiothoracic Surgical Literature.Interdisciplinary cardiovascular and thoracic surgery · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. An Assessment of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery Publication Trends From 2012 Through 2022.Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews · 2025
    Article
  4. Global Trends in Diabetic Foot Research (2004-2023): A Bibliometric Study Based on the Scopus Database.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025
    Review
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Ellen LutnickFrom the University at Buffalo, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY (Ms. Lutnick); the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT (Dr. Cusano); and the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Boston University, Boston, MA (Dr. Sing, Ms. Curry, Dr. Li).ORCID 0000-0001-7102-3718
David Sing
Emily J Curry
Xinning Li

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionScholarly impact has been used to measure faculty productivity and academic contribution throughout academia. Traditionally, the number of articles authored has been the primary metric for scholarly impact regarding academic promotion and reputation. We hypothesize that over time, the nature of authorship has evolved to include more authors per research article throughout the history of orthopaedic literature.

methodsBibliometric data for all original research article abstracts were extracted from PubMED for the 10 highest rated H5-index orthopaedic clinical journals ("American Journal of Sports Medicine," "Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery American Volume," "Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research "Spine," "Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy," "Journal of Arthroplasty," "Arthroscopy," "The Spine Journal," "European Spine Journal," and "Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery British Volume/Bone & Joint Journal"). The number of authors per article was then analyzed over time using the Cochran-Armitage trend test.

resultsA total of 106,529 original articles were analyzed over a 70-year period. The number of authors increased significantly over time from a mean of 1.4 authors (SD: 0.62) in 1946 to 5.7 authors (SD: 3.1) in 2019, representing an average relative increase of 4.3% per year (P < 0.05). The three oldest journals had the lowest average authors (Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery Am Volume: 1946, mean 3.7 authors [SD: eight]; Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery Br Volume/Bone & Joint Journal: 1948, mean: 3.6 authors [SD: 7.5]; Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research: 1963, mean 3.3 authors [SD: 2.9]). The three newest journals had the highest average authors (European Spine Journal: 1992, mean 5.3 authors [SD: 3.3]; Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy: 1993, mean 5.5 authors [SD: 6.7 authors; The Spine Journal: 2003, mean 5.2 authors [SD: 3.6]). DISCUSSION: Original research articles published in orthopaedic academic journals have experienced an increase in authorship over time. Although our data cannot explain what has driven this change, increasing cooperation between collaborators may represent less contribution per author over time.

Indexed as

OrthopedicsPeriodicals as TopicArthroscopyAuthorshipCell ProliferationUnited States

Identifiers

PMID34491929
PMCPMC8415927

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.