ArticleAnnals of coloproctology2026
Article processing charges in colorectal surgery journals: a cross-sectional bibliometric analysis of cost, citation impact, and geographic disparity.
Article in Annals of coloproctology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
purposeArticle processing charges (APCs) are central to author-paid open access (OA) publishing. Disparities appear in oncology, pathology, and global surgery, but not colorectal surgery, spanning coloproctology, general surgery, gastroenterology, and oncology journals. We examined APC levels, citation-impact linkage, and authorship geography.
methodsThis study was a cross-sectional bibliometric analysis of 32 journals (MEDLINE/PubMed search). APCs (publisher-direct 2026) and 2024 citation metrics (Journal Impact Factor [JIF], SCImago Journal Rank [SJR], SCImago H-index) were extracted. First- and last-author countries for all 2024-2025 articles (n=31,164) were mapped to World Bank income groups. Multivariable ordinary least squares regression modeled log10(APC) on publisher group, region, OA model, and log10(JIF 2024).
resultsMedian APC was US $3,980 (interquartile range, $3,580-$4,390), varying by region: $1,467 in Asia, $3,840 in the United Kingdom, $4,140 in Western Europe, and $4,175 in the United States. APC correlated with the SCImago H-index (ρ=0.51, P=0.003) but not with JIF (P=0.25) or SJR (P=0.13). Of 30,320 articles, first authors were from high-income countries in 62.5%, upper-middle-income countries in 34.7%, and lower-middle- or low-income countries in 2.8%; China (30.9%), the United States (23.1%), and Japan (8.0%) were the leading countries. First authors were more often from non-high-income countries than last authors (median difference, +0.68 percentage points; P<0.001). In multivariable regression (R2=0.90), society-direct publishing was associated with lower APCs (β=-0.44, P<0.001), whereas US-based publishing (β=+0.18, P=0.019), UK-based publishing (β=+0.16, P=0.037), and a hybrid OA model (β=+0.15, P=0.014) were associated with higher APCs. JIF was not independently associated with APC (P=0.93).
conclusionColorectal surgery APCs are high and decoupled from citation impact after adjustment, with underrepresentation of lower-resource-setting authors, especially at senior-author level. Society-owned and Asia-based journals offer lower-cost alternatives but remain a minority.
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