Current trends in orthodontic journals listed in Journal Citation Reports. A bibliometric study

The aim of this study is to analyze articles published in orthodontic journals included in Journal Citation Reports (JCR) to determine current trends in orthodontic publishing.

Articles included in orthodontic journals in 2016 JCR and published during 2007-2017 were selected. After applying inclusion criteria, author-based parameters (article title, first author's name, institution and sex, number of authors, number of affiliations, first author's origin, and geographic origin), article-based parameters (article type, main topic, and research design), and the number of cites and self-cites were registered for each article.

A total of 7119 articles were analyzed, and 842 different centers and 4483 different authors were identified. The percentage of female authors showed a tendency to increase over the decade; the most productive country was the United States (17.4%). Bone anchorage was the most recurrent topic (7.2%). More than three-fourths of articles (80.8%) proceeded from orthodontic departments belonging to public institutions, with a decreasing trend in nonacademic or private affiliations. Positive and negative correlations were found to exist between citation counts and other variables.

American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, Angle Orthodontist, and European Journal of Orthodontics were the 3 main journals with regard to production volume, with the United States being the most productive country. The most recurrent topic was bone anchorage, and most of the studies were research articles with observational cross-sectional design. Study design, geographic origin of the articles, article type, and the main subject of the article may be predictive of citation numbers.