A bibliometric analysis on research authorship and collaboration patterns in radiography professional journals: A 10-year review

Introduction

Peer-reviewed journals are commonly used by health professionals, including radiographers to disseminate their research products. Understanding patterns like productivity and collaboration of authorship is crucial, enabling relevant stakeholders to chart better directions for professional journals. This bibliometric analysis updates previous works to explore current trends in authorship and collaborations within radiography professional journals.

Methods

This study was conducted on three radiography professional journals with predetermined eligibility criteria, investigating publications within a 10-year period (January 2013 - December 2022). Relevant data were collected and analysed both descriptively and using collaboration metrics.

Results

There were 1830 papers published across all journals and a linear increase in papers published per year, an average increase of 14.98 %. There are 1330 unique first authors publishing across all journals, however, 79.02 % (1051/1330) of unique authors only published a single paper. Academic authors published the most (55.36 %; 1013/1830) and had the most representation on a list of most published authors (15/20). There were 74 unique countries publishing across all journals and increase noted from international contributions, from 12.22 % in 2013 to 50.36 % in 2022. However, publications of authors from the host countries (UK, Canada, and Australia) of the journals predominates, and along with authors from the USA and Ireland, published 69.29 % of overall papers. There was good collaboration among authors with an average increase of 20.51 % across the years. Clinical-academics are more likely to publish in collaboration (32.93 %; 55/167).

Conclusions

Authors from academia still predominate in research productivity compared to those in the clinical, however the increased collaboration noted from clinical-academic authors shows the potential to close this gap in the future. More work is needed to encourage more international authorship contributions to radiography professional journals.