Page 22 - Focus on REPRODUCTION SEP 2015

The maturity of reproductive medicine
. . . as seen through the medical journals
The continuing rise in impact factor for our major journals in reproductive medicine reflects a new growth and maturity. High-class research, a new study suggests, requires high-impact journals.
Aremarkable analysis of publications in reproductive medicine over the past ten years detects a maturity of clinical development which now renders its ‘sub-specialty’ status outdated and redundant.1 Indeed, with the leading O&G journal now for the first time passing into the hallowed realm of double-digit impact factors, reproductive medicine can surely stand shoulder-to- shoulder alongside such established specialties as psychiatry, rheumatology and - dare we say it - cardiology. It was only four years ago that Europe’s leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal, finally hauled its impact factor beyond the psychological barrier of 10.
Two of the three authors of this ‘bibliometric’ analysis are leading and much cited investigators themselves, and one of them, Bart Fauser, was identified as the most cited in a total of 4010 papers analysed. Fauser, a former editor-in-chief of Human Reproduction Update and soon-to-be editor of Reproductive BioMedicine Online, was followed in the citation pecking order (in all scientific areas) by Ricardo Azziz (with work in PCOS) and Paul Devroey, recently awarded honorary membership of ESHRE.
The number of published articles also spotlighted Devroey (n = 221), Wim Mol (184), and Antonio Pellicer (164), currently one of the two editors-in-chief of Fertility and Sterility. Fauser also led the citations in reproductive biology (5457), followed by Devroey (5263).
Markers of maturity
As a further marker of maturity, the analysis showed that the two Web of Science categories of O&G and Reproductive Biology were each dominated by journals in reproductive medicine, both in terms of impact factor and articles published. Human Reproduction ran the most articles in the ten years of analysis (980), followed by Fertility and Sterility (891). The first non–reproductive medicine journal, the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, languished way behind with 288 articles, and the second, the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, was even further back with just 77.
However, not every paper in the field was necessarily reserved for its most applicable journals. Around one- third of all high-ranking citations were in journals belonging to categories outside reproduction, such as
22 Focus on Reproduction // SEPTEMBER 2015