A Comparison of Academic Journal Impact in Dermatology vs. Similarly Sized Medical Specialties

Abstract

Purpose of review

A dearth of research exists on how dermatology compares to similarly sized medical specialties in terms of number of papers published and scholarly impact of top journals. We investigate the impact factor, 5-year impact factor, number of journals with impact factor greater than 2, total documents published, and H5-index of the top 5 journals in dermatology.

Recent findings

The impact of journals in dermatology has not been well described in the literature. We review the methods by which the impact of publications can be assessed and present an approach to interpreting the scope and impact of journal publications. We further identify how dermatology compares to similarly sized specialties in terms of such metrics.

Summary

Our results reveal that the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, the highest-ranking dermatology journal for both impact factor (7.2) and SCImago Journal Rank (2.6), ranked second to last among top journals of comparable size. Lancet Neurology and Gastroenterology, by comparison, had impact factors of 21.9 and 16.7, respectively. These findings may result from the relatively low number of academic and fellowship-trained dermatologists, as well as the outpatient nature of dermatology. A positive correlation was observed between total number of academic physicians in a field and impact factor, 5-year impact factor, Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP), percentage of journals with an impact factor greater than 2, and H5-index. Further studies could investigate ways to address barriers to research in dermatology to allow for increased scientific impact.