The impact of COVID-19 on global health journals: an analysis of impact factor and publication trends
Background COVID-19 has affected research productivity across all areas of knowledge. Current evidence suggests that COVID-19 has had a blockbuster effect on journal impact factors (JIFs) and publication trends, while little is known on global health journals.Methods Twenty global health journals we...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMJ Publishing Group
2023-04-01
|
| Series: | BMJ Global Health |
| Online Access: | https://gh.bmj.com/content/8/4/e011514.full |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832575360867237888 |
|---|---|
| author | Hao Li Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno Jiaxin He Xinliang Liu Xinyang Lu Meiling Zhong Changli Jia Zheng Feei Ma |
| author_facet | Hao Li Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno Jiaxin He Xinliang Liu Xinyang Lu Meiling Zhong Changli Jia Zheng Feei Ma |
| author_sort | Hao Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background COVID-19 has affected research productivity across all areas of knowledge. Current evidence suggests that COVID-19 has had a blockbuster effect on journal impact factors (JIFs) and publication trends, while little is known on global health journals.Methods Twenty global health journals were included to analyse the impact of COVID-19 on their JIFs and publication trends. Indicator data, including numbers of publications, citations, articles with different types, etc, were extracted from journal websites and Web of Science Core Collection database. The JIFs from 2019 to 2021 were simulated for longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses. Interrupted time-series analysis and non-parametric tests were applied to assess whether COVID-19 had decreased non-COVID-19 publications from January 2018 to June 2022.Results In 2020, 615 out of 3223 publications were COVID-19 related, accounting for 19.08%. The simulated JIFs of 17 out of 20 journals in 2021 were higher than those in 2019 and 2020. Notably, 18 out of 20 journals had a decrease in their simulated JIFs after excluding COVID-19-related publications. Moreover, 10 out of 20 journals decreased their monthly numbers of non-COVID-19 publications after the COVID-19 outbreak. For all the 20 journals as a whole, after the COVID-19 outbreak in February 2020, the total number of non-COVID-19 publications significantly decreased by 14.2 compared with the previous month (p=0.013), and since then, on average, the publications had decreased by 0.6 per month until June 2022 (p<0.001).Conclusions COVID-19 has impacted the structure of COVID-19-related publications, the JIFs of global health journals and their numbers of non-COVID-19 publications. Although journals may benefit from increased JIFs, global health journals should avoid relying on a single metric. More follow-up studies including more years of data with a combination of metrics should be conducted to generate more robust evidence. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-383eef2c42594d22ac626e55c5f83809 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2059-7908 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Global Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-383eef2c42594d22ac626e55c5f838092025-02-01T08:55:09ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Global Health2059-79082023-04-018410.1136/bmjgh-2022-011514The impact of COVID-19 on global health journals: an analysis of impact factor and publication trendsHao Li0Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno1Jiaxin He2Xinliang Liu3Xinyang Lu4Meiling Zhong5Changli Jia6Zheng Feei Ma72 China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing, China4 Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK1 School of Public Health/Global Health Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan, ChinaKangda College of Nanjing Medical University, Lianyungang, Jiangsu, China3 Department of Mathematical Sciences, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada1 School of Public Health/Global Health Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China1 School of Public Health/Global Health Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China5 Centre for Public Health and Wellbeing, School of Health and Social Wellbeing, College of Health, Science and Society, University of the West of England, Bristol, UKBackground COVID-19 has affected research productivity across all areas of knowledge. Current evidence suggests that COVID-19 has had a blockbuster effect on journal impact factors (JIFs) and publication trends, while little is known on global health journals.Methods Twenty global health journals were included to analyse the impact of COVID-19 on their JIFs and publication trends. Indicator data, including numbers of publications, citations, articles with different types, etc, were extracted from journal websites and Web of Science Core Collection database. The JIFs from 2019 to 2021 were simulated for longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses. Interrupted time-series analysis and non-parametric tests were applied to assess whether COVID-19 had decreased non-COVID-19 publications from January 2018 to June 2022.Results In 2020, 615 out of 3223 publications were COVID-19 related, accounting for 19.08%. The simulated JIFs of 17 out of 20 journals in 2021 were higher than those in 2019 and 2020. Notably, 18 out of 20 journals had a decrease in their simulated JIFs after excluding COVID-19-related publications. Moreover, 10 out of 20 journals decreased their monthly numbers of non-COVID-19 publications after the COVID-19 outbreak. For all the 20 journals as a whole, after the COVID-19 outbreak in February 2020, the total number of non-COVID-19 publications significantly decreased by 14.2 compared with the previous month (p=0.013), and since then, on average, the publications had decreased by 0.6 per month until June 2022 (p<0.001).Conclusions COVID-19 has impacted the structure of COVID-19-related publications, the JIFs of global health journals and their numbers of non-COVID-19 publications. Although journals may benefit from increased JIFs, global health journals should avoid relying on a single metric. More follow-up studies including more years of data with a combination of metrics should be conducted to generate more robust evidence.https://gh.bmj.com/content/8/4/e011514.full |
| spellingShingle | Hao Li Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno Jiaxin He Xinliang Liu Xinyang Lu Meiling Zhong Changli Jia Zheng Feei Ma The impact of COVID-19 on global health journals: an analysis of impact factor and publication trends BMJ Global Health |
| title | The impact of COVID-19 on global health journals: an analysis of impact factor and publication trends |
| title_full | The impact of COVID-19 on global health journals: an analysis of impact factor and publication trends |
| title_fullStr | The impact of COVID-19 on global health journals: an analysis of impact factor and publication trends |
| title_full_unstemmed | The impact of COVID-19 on global health journals: an analysis of impact factor and publication trends |
| title_short | The impact of COVID-19 on global health journals: an analysis of impact factor and publication trends |
| title_sort | impact of covid 19 on global health journals an analysis of impact factor and publication trends |
| url | https://gh.bmj.com/content/8/4/e011514.full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT haoli theimpactofcovid19onglobalhealthjournalsananalysisofimpactfactorandpublicationtrends AT doneliseoluceroprisno theimpactofcovid19onglobalhealthjournalsananalysisofimpactfactorandpublicationtrends AT jiaxinhe theimpactofcovid19onglobalhealthjournalsananalysisofimpactfactorandpublicationtrends AT xinliangliu theimpactofcovid19onglobalhealthjournalsananalysisofimpactfactorandpublicationtrends AT xinyanglu theimpactofcovid19onglobalhealthjournalsananalysisofimpactfactorandpublicationtrends AT meilingzhong theimpactofcovid19onglobalhealthjournalsananalysisofimpactfactorandpublicationtrends AT changlijia theimpactofcovid19onglobalhealthjournalsananalysisofimpactfactorandpublicationtrends AT zhengfeeima theimpactofcovid19onglobalhealthjournalsananalysisofimpactfactorandpublicationtrends AT haoli impactofcovid19onglobalhealthjournalsananalysisofimpactfactorandpublicationtrends AT doneliseoluceroprisno impactofcovid19onglobalhealthjournalsananalysisofimpactfactorandpublicationtrends AT jiaxinhe impactofcovid19onglobalhealthjournalsananalysisofimpactfactorandpublicationtrends AT xinliangliu impactofcovid19onglobalhealthjournalsananalysisofimpactfactorandpublicationtrends AT xinyanglu impactofcovid19onglobalhealthjournalsananalysisofimpactfactorandpublicationtrends AT meilingzhong impactofcovid19onglobalhealthjournalsananalysisofimpactfactorandpublicationtrends AT changlijia impactofcovid19onglobalhealthjournalsananalysisofimpactfactorandpublicationtrends AT zhengfeeima impactofcovid19onglobalhealthjournalsananalysisofimpactfactorandpublicationtrends |