{"title":"Readability and Writing Quality in Radiation Oncology Journal Articles from 2004 to 2024.","authors":"Derek A Mumaw, Thomas J Quinn","doi":"10.1016/j.prro.2024.06.013","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Scientific literature is a vital tool that we rely on to communicate the findings of our studies; however, we rarely direct our study to the writing itself.</p><p><strong>Methods and materials: </strong>Here, we make use of modern natural language processing algorithms coupled with the large, open access PubMed Central corpus to analyze trends in writing complexity within the field of radiation oncology from 2004 to 2024. Changes in 1) required grade level to comprehend, 2) lexical complexity, and 3) information content were assessed. Articles were also classified, and then analyzed, by disease subsite.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We found significant increases in the 3 domains over the 20-year collection period. Genitourinary literature had the greatest readability, while gastrointestinal literature was the most complex.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This analysis reveals broad increases in the complexity of our writing. This study demonstrates metrics to use and benchmark values to refer to when evaluating the complexity of radiation oncology journal articles.</p>","PeriodicalId":54245,"journal":{"name":"Practical Radiation Oncology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Practical Radiation Oncology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prro.2024.06.013","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ONCOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose: Scientific literature is a vital tool that we rely on to communicate the findings of our studies; however, we rarely direct our study to the writing itself.
Methods and materials: Here, we make use of modern natural language processing algorithms coupled with the large, open access PubMed Central corpus to analyze trends in writing complexity within the field of radiation oncology from 2004 to 2024. Changes in 1) required grade level to comprehend, 2) lexical complexity, and 3) information content were assessed. Articles were also classified, and then analyzed, by disease subsite.
Results: We found significant increases in the 3 domains over the 20-year collection period. Genitourinary literature had the greatest readability, while gastrointestinal literature was the most complex.
Conclusions: This analysis reveals broad increases in the complexity of our writing. This study demonstrates metrics to use and benchmark values to refer to when evaluating the complexity of radiation oncology journal articles.
期刊介绍：
The overarching mission of Practical Radiation Oncology is to improve the quality of radiation oncology practice. PRO''s purpose is to document the state of current practice, providing background for those in training and continuing education for practitioners, through discussion and illustration of new techniques, evaluation of current practices, and publication of case reports. PRO strives to provide its readers content that emphasizes knowledge "with a purpose." The content of PRO includes:
Original articles focusing on patient safety, quality measurement, or quality improvement initiatives
Original articles focusing on imaging, contouring, target delineation, simulation, treatment planning, immobilization, organ motion, and other practical issues
ASTRO guidelines, position papers, and consensus statements
Essays that highlight enriching personal experiences in caring for cancer patients and their families.
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