Emergency Medicine Research: Scholarly Output, Citation Impact, and Regional Performance from 2021 to 2024

Earlier studies highlighted historically low citation rates in emergency medicine (EM) journals, while more recent analyses reported a surge in publications and funding within the EM category. However, it remains unclear whether this growth has translated into improved academic impact.

The main objective is to assess the scholarly output and citation performance of journals classified under the EM category in Scopus (2021-2024). We also aim to compare EM journals progress with more than 40 other major medical journal categories, each containing at least 40,000 publications.

The key indicators included total publication volume, total citations, and field-weighted citation impact (FWCI). Regional analysis was also performed using these indicators to evaluate global disparities.

The journals classified under the EM category produced 46,977 publications-among the lowest in volume-along with the fewest total citations (n= 168,099) and the lowest citations per publication (n= 3.6). Their FWCI was 0.89, ranking it among the three lowest-performing categories. Regionally, the United States and Europe led in output and citations, while South America and Latin America achieved high FWCI scores (1.20 and 1.13, respectively). Developing regions showed both low output and impact.

Scopus-classified journals in the EM category lag in citation impact, highlighting a need for targeted strategies to strengthen its global academic visibility.