The impact of case reports in oral and maxillofacial surgery

This review examines the effect of publishing case reports on journal impact factor and future research. All case reports published in the four major English language oral and maxillofacial surgery journals in the two year period, 2007-2008, were searched manually. The citation data of each case report were retrieved from the ISI online database. The number, percentage and mean citations received by case reports and their relation to the 2009 journal impact factor were analysed. Case reports which received more than 5 citations were also identified and all of the citing articles retrieved and analysed. Thirty-one percent of all articles published in major oral and maxillofacial journals in 2007-2008 were case reports. Case reports had a low citation rate with a mean citation of less than 1. There were 38 (7.2%) case reports with more than 5 citations and 30% of the citing articles were also case reports. The publication of case reports negatively affected journal impact factor which correlated directly with the percentage of case reports published within a journal. Case reports reporting recent topics, describing new treatment/diagnosis method and with a literature review were more likely to receive citations.