Citation characteristics of research published in emergency medicine versus other scientific journals

Study objective: We sought to examine how a cohort of published emergency m edicine research is cited in scientific journals. Methods: Data were collected on all research submitted to the 1991 Society for Academic Emergency Medicine meeting and subsequently published. Outcome measures included all citations of these studies found in journals listed in the Science Citation Index, as well as the impact factors (citations per manuscript per year) of citing journals. Results: Two hundred four of the 493 submitted studies were published and m et study entry criteria; the average article was cited 2.04 times a year du ring the study period. Twelve percent were never cited, and 39% were cited only once or twice. Thirty percent were published in non-emergency medicine journals, and these were cited at least twice as often (and by almost 3 ti mes as many journals) as apparently similar studies published in emergency medicine journals. The percentage of studies never cited by anyone was abou t threefold higher when published in emergency medicine journals. Forty-two percent of the citations of research published in emergency medicine journ als came from within the specialty. Emergency medicine journals provided on ly 16% of the citations of emergency medicine research published in non-eme rgency medicine journals because these studies were cited 3 times as often by authors in other disciplines. Rejection of research for presentation at the meeting did not predict the number or quality of citations or citing jo urnals. Conclusion: Research submitted to the Society for Academic Emergency Medici ne meeting and subsequently published is cited about as often as the averag e scientific journal article but receives more impact, is cited more widely , and is more likely to he cited by a broader range of authors when publish ed by non-emergency medicine journals. The ability of emergency medicine jo urnals to compete with larger non-emergency medicine journals for their lar ger audiences may help shape perceptions of the specialty.