Department of Medicine, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Department of Medicine, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
BMJ Open. 2020 Jun 17;10(6):e034550. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-034550.
To analyse variables associated with article placement order in serial rheumatology journals.
Content analysis.
Original articles published in seven rheumatology journals from 2013 to 2018.
The following data were extracted from 6787 articles: order number of article in issue, gender of first and last author, geographical region, industry funding, research design and disease category. Cumulative density function plots were used to determine whether article placement distribution was different from the expected distribution. ORs for articles published in the first three places of an issue compared with the last three places were calculated. Altmetric Score and downloads were meta-analysed.
Article placement order did not associate with author gender or geographical region but was associated with funding source and research design. In addition, articles about rheumatoid arthritis were more likely to be ordered at the front of issues (p<0.001). Articles about crystal arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, vasculitis, pain syndromes and paediatric rheumatic diseases were more likely to be ordered at the end of issues (all p<0.001). Association of article placement order with disease category was observed only in journals with tables of contents grouped by disease. Articles ordered in the first three places had higher Altmetric and download rates, than articles in the last three places.
Author gender and geographical region do not influence article placement order in serial rheumatology journals. However, bias for certain disease categories is reflected in article placement order. Editorial decisions about article placement order can influence the prominence of diseases.
分析与系列风湿病学杂志文章排列顺序相关的变量。
内容分析。
2013 年至 2018 年在七本风湿病学杂志上发表的原始文章。
从 6787 篇文章中提取以下数据：问题中文章的序号、第一作者和最后作者的性别、地理位置、行业资助、研究设计和疾病类别。使用累积密度函数图确定文章排列分布是否与预期分布不同。计算文章在问题前三位与后三位发表的比值比（OR）。对 Altmetric 分数和下载量进行荟萃分析。
文章排列顺序与作者性别或地理位置无关，但与资金来源和研究设计有关。此外，关于类风湿关节炎的文章更有可能排在问题的前面（p<0.001）。关于晶体关节炎、系统性红斑狼疮、血管炎、疼痛综合征和儿科风湿病的文章更有可能排在问题的后面（均 p<0.001）。仅在按疾病分组的目录期刊中观察到文章排列顺序与疾病类别之间的关联。排在前三位的文章的 Altmetric 和下载率高于排在后三位的文章。
作者性别和地理位置不会影响系列风湿病学杂志中的文章排列顺序。然而，文章排列顺序反映了某些疾病类别的偏见。关于文章排列顺序的编辑决策可以影响疾病的突出程度。
