Profile of Articles Published in AJR From 2014 to 2018 and Potential Association With Bibliometric Parameters

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to assess the profile of articles published in the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR) and potential associations with bibliometric indexes over a 5-year period. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Citable documents published from 2014 to 2018 were retrieved from the Journal Citation Reports database. Six bibliometric indexes were assessed. The following article parameters were retrieved: type, subspecialty (17 topics covered by AJR), origin, and title. Differences between groups were assessed by t test, ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis test, or chi-square test. Citability was assessed by regression analysis. RESULTS. After exclusions, 2210 articles were considered citable and included in the analyses. Most of the metrics improved slightly, except for the Eigenfactor score and article influence score, which decreased. Original articles were preponderant; AJR published significantly more review articles than did three other general radiology journals. The mean number of citations per year of original articles (2.03 ± 2.18) was significantly larger than that of review articles (2.06 ± 2.47) (p = .02). The mean number of citations per year was significantly higher for articles with mixed-origin authorship (3.12 ± 3.19) than for articles with American (2.02 ± 2.17) or non-American (1.93 ± 2.26) authors only (p < .001). The distributions of mean number of citations per year among subspecialties differed significantly (p = .001). Articles on abdominal, musculoskeletal, pediatric, and women's imaging were more frequently cited. Multivariate regression analysis showed that subspecialty and presence of acronyms or initialisms in the title were the only independent predictors of citability (both, p = .001). CONCLUSION. The main AJR bibliometric indexes increased slightly from 2014 to 2018, except for those from the Eigenfactor Project. The presence of acronyms or initialisms in the title and subspecialty were the only independent predictors of citability.