Analysis of scientific articles published in two general orthopaedic journals

To give an overview of the behaviour and scientific contributions of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery American (JBJS-A) and British Volume (JBJS-B).

480 original articles published in 2009 were identified through a combined comprehensive computer and manual library search. Articles were assigned to 11 orthopaedic categories and by country, type and specialty of the institution. Possible grants and citations were analysed. USA led all countries in published articles (36,87%), followed by UK (20,62%) and South Korea (5,83%). Most studies published were performed at academic institutions (65,83 %), only 4,16% at private practices.

Almost half of the articles (46,24%) were published in three categories: hip (19.16%), knee (13.75%) and trauma (13.33%). In both journals 47.15% articles had at least one funding source. A review of articles published in major journals allows to show how research in orthopaedics is distributed worldwide.

This study shows that a variety of different journals is neccessary to reflect the broad spectrum of orthopaedics in depth. Level of Evidence III, Retrospective Comparative Study.