The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American). 2008;90:2432-2437.
doi:10.2106/JBJS.G.01687
© 2008 The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow CME: Take the activity for this article:
 CME 4: October, November, December 2008 (publication date January 5, 2009; ...
Right arrow Letters to the Editor: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when Letters to the Editor are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Rights and Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Okike, K.
Right arrow Articles by Bhandari, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Okike, K.
Right arrow Articles by Bhandari, M.
Related Collections
Right arrow Adult Trauma
Right arrow Basic Science
Right arrow Spine
Right arrow Adult Hip
Right arrow Adult Knee
Right arrow Foot/Ankle
Right arrow Shoulder
Right arrow Elbow
Right arrow Hand/Wrist
Right arrow Sports
Right arrow Pediatrics
Right arrow Oncology
Right arrow Rehabilitation
Right arrow Education and Training
Right arrow Pain Management
Right arrow Ethics
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Facebook   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Nonscientific Factors Associated with Acceptance for Publication in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American Volume)

Kanu Okike, MD, MPH1, Mininder S. Kocher, MD, MPH2, Charles T. Mehlman, DO, MPH3, James D. Heckman, MD4 and Mohit Bhandari, MD, MSc5

1 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114. E-mail address: okike{at}post.harvard.edu
2 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
3 Division of Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229
4 The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 20 Pickering Street, Needham, MA 02492
5 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hamilton General Hospital, McMaster University, 7 North, Suite 727, Barton Street East, Hamilton, ON L8L 2X2, Canada

Investigation performed at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Hamilton General Hospital, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Disclosure: In support of their research for or preparation of this work, one or more of the authors received, in any one year, outside funding or grants of less than $10,000 from the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Children's Hospital Boston. In addition, one or more of the authors or a member of his or her immediate family received, in any one year, payments or other benefits in excess of $10,000 or a commitment or agreement to provide such benefits from a commercial entity (The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery). One author received research funding in excess of $10,000 from the National Institutes of Health, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Orthopaedic Trauma Association, Stryker, and Smith and Nephew. Also, a commercial entity (DePuy Spine) paid or directed in any one year, or agreed to pay or direct, benefits in excess of $10,000 to a research fund, foundation, division, center, clinical practice, or other charitable or nonprofit organization with which one or more of the authors, or a member of his or her immediate family, is affiliated or associated.

Background: While it is widely accepted that scientific factors may render a study more likely to be accepted for publication, it is less clear whether nonscientific factors may also be associated with publication. The purpose of this study was to identify the nonscientific factors associated with acceptance for publication by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American Volume).

Methods: A total of 1173 manuscripts submitted to The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery between January 1, 2004, and June 30, 2005, for publication as scientific articles were analyzed as part of a study on publication bias in the editorial decision-making process. Information was collected on nonscientific factors plausibly associated with acceptance for publication, including study location, conflict-of-interest disclosure, sex of the author, primary language, and the number of prior publications by the corresponding author in frequently cited orthopaedic journals. The final disposition term (acceptance or rejection) was recorded, and logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with acceptance for publication.

Results: Manuscripts from countries other than the United States or Canada were significantly less likely to be accepted (odds ratio, 0.51; 95% confidence interval, 0.28 to 0.92; p = 0.026). Factors positively associated with acceptance for publication were conflict-of-interest disclosure involving a nonprofit entity (odds ratio, 1.92; 95% confidence interval, 1.35 to 2.73; p < 0.001) and ten or more prior publications in frequently cited orthopaedic journals by the corresponding author (odds ratio, 2.01; 95% confidence interval, 1.33 to 3.05; p = 0.001). We did not find a significant association between acceptance and conflict-of-interest disclosure involving a for-profit company, sex of the corresponding author, or primary language.

Conclusions: Manuscripts submitted to The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery were more likely to be accepted if they were from the United States or Canada, reported a conflict of interest related to a nonprofit entity, or were authored by an individual with ten or more prior publications in frequently cited orthopaedic journals.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?