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Is There an Association between STARD Statement Adherence and Citation Rate?
Marc Dilauro1, Matthew D F McInnes1, Daniël A Korevaar1
1From the Department of Radiology, University of Ottawa, 1053 Carling Ave, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1Y 4E9 (M.D., M.D.F.M., C.B.v.d.P., J.Q., D.K.); Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus, Ottawa, Canada ( W.P.); Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (D.A.K., P.M.M.B.); and Department of Radiology, Charité Medical School, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany (S.W.).
Adherence to reporting guidelines like STARD does not independently increase citation rates for diagnostic accuracy studies. While a correlation exists, it is largely explained by journal impact factor, not reporting quality alone.
Area of Science:
- Medical research methodology
- Bibliometrics
- Scientific publishing
Background:
- The Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy (STARD) statement aims to improve the quality of reporting for diagnostic accuracy studies.
- Understanding factors influencing postpublication citation rates is crucial for assessing research impact.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between adherence to STARD guidelines and the citation rates of diagnostic accuracy studies.
- To determine if reporting quality, as measured by STARD adherence, independently affects a study's citation impact.
Main Methods:
- A systematic search identified 1002 diagnostic accuracy studies evaluated for STARD adherence.
- Data on STARD reporting completeness, journal impact factor, and citation rates were extracted.
- Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were used to assess correlations between STARD results, impact factor, and citation rates.
Main Results:
- A weak positive correlation was found between STARD result completeness and citation rate (r = 0.096).
- A moderate positive correlation was observed between journal impact factor and citation rate (r = 0.58).
- Multivariate analysis showed that the correlation between STARD completeness and citation rate disappeared when journal impact factor was accounted for.
Conclusions:
- Completeness of reporting, assessed by STARD, shows a positive correlation with both citation rates and journal impact factor.
- The association between reporting completeness and citation rates is not independent of journal impact factor.
- Journal impact factor appears to be a stronger determinant of citation rates than STARD adherence alone.
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