Recent Trends of the Scientific Publication Patterns of Korean Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons

Lim, Cheong

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There haven't been any papers that have analyzed the recent trends in the changing attitudes and results of Korean thoracic and cardiovascular surgeons who submit scientific papers to the major cardiothoracic journals. MATERIAL AND METHOD: I analyzed the original articles that were published in the major cardiothoracic surgery journals from 1995 to 2008 by Korean thoracic and cardiovascular surgeons. The data was retrieved from the internet websites of Pubmed, three major international SCI (Science Citation Index) journals and the Korean Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. I then analyzed the data according to the chronological year, the subjects and the subspecialties. RESULT: The total number of original articles in the three international journals was 14,629. Among them, the number of articles written by Korean scientists was 157 (1.07%). A sharp increase was identified from 28 articles out of 7,674 articles (0.36%) prior to 2002, to 129 articles out of 6,955 articles (1.83%) after 2003. On the other hand, the annual number of articles in the Korean Journal was markedly decreased from 126.8 articles by 1999 to 80.0 articles after 2000. The annual number of articles in the Korean Journal was also decreased from 58.8% by 1999 to 48.3% after 2000.
CONCLUSION
There was an observed increase in submitting articles to the international SCI journals after 2000 rather than to the Korean journal. The proportion of original articles in the Korean journal is also decreasing. I think we need to pay special attention to improve the quality and quantity of articles published in the Korean journal.