Kenkel William M
Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United States.
Front Integr Neurosci. 2019 Jul 3;13:18. doi: 10.3389/fnint.2019.00018. eCollection 2019.
A field's priorities are reflected by the contents of its high-impact journals. Researchers in turn may choose to pursue research objectives based on what is believed to be most highly valued by their peers. However, these assessments of the field's priorities are often subjective, owing to a lack of formal quantification of high-impact journals' contents. By compiling a corpus of abstracts from within the field neuroscience, I was able to analyze which terms had differential frequencies between 13 high-impact and 14 medium-impact journals. Approximately 50,000 neuroscience abstracts were analyzed over the years 2014-2018. Several broad trends emerged from the analysis of which terms were biased toward high-impact journals. Generally speaking, high-impact journals tended to feature: genetic studies, use of the latest and most sophisticated methods, examinations of the orbitofrontal cortex or amygdala, and/or use of human or non-mammalian subjects. Medium-impact journals tended to feature motor or cardiovascular studies, use of older methods, examinations of caudal brain regions, and/or rats as subjects. This approach also allowed for the comparison of high-impact bias among: brain regions, methods, neurotransmitters, study species, and broad themes within neuroscience. A systematic approach to the contents of high-impact journals offers the field an objective view of itself.
一个领域的优先事项通过其高影响力期刊的内容得以体现。反过来，研究人员可能会根据同行认为最有价值的内容来选择研究目标。然而，由于缺乏对高影响力期刊内容的正式量化，对该领域优先事项的这些评估往往是主观的。通过汇编神经科学领域内的摘要语料库，我能够分析出哪些术语在13种高影响力期刊和14种中等影响力期刊之间存在不同的出现频率。在2014年至2018年期间，对大约50000篇神经科学摘要进行了分析。从对哪些术语偏向于高影响力期刊的分析中出现了几个广泛的趋势。一般来说，高影响力期刊倾向于具有以下特点：基因研究、使用最新和最复杂的方法、对眶额皮质或杏仁核的研究，以及/或者使用人类或非哺乳动物作为研究对象。中等影响力期刊倾向于具有以下特点：运动或心血管研究、使用较旧的方法、对脑尾区域的研究，以及/或者以大鼠作为研究对象。这种方法还允许对神经科学领域内的以下方面进行高影响力偏向的比较：脑区、方法、神经递质、研究物种和广泛主题。一种对高影响力期刊内容的系统方法为该领域提供了一个客观的自我视角。
