Academic Family Medicine - Research and Impact Factors

[Faebinder]

I noted this article:

J Am Board Fam Med. 2006 Nov-Dec;19(6):633-6.

Where Should Family Medicine Papers be Published--Following the Impact Factor?Peleg R, Shvartzman P.
the Department of Family Medicine, Sial Family Medicine and Primary Care Research Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.

Academic institutions weigh the research contribution of family physicians and take this factor into account when determining eligibility for the candidates' promotion. Among other parameters, these institutions consider the journals in which family physicians publish. In this respect, the impact factor (IF) has gained a foothold as one of the most accepted means to measure this contribution. The IF may be a measure of the main importance of a scientific journal. IF has a huge, but controversial, influence on the perception and evaluation of published scientific research. It is important for family physicians to understand and be aware of the importance of the IF and the way it is calculated. The IF is one consideration in the decision-making process of a researcher as to where to publish because the IF of most family medicine journals is less than 2.0. Thus publication in these journals might not yield the proper "score" for academic promotion in many institutions. On the other hand, publication in journals with higher IF that are not necessarily widely read by primary care physicians could result in a small impact of their findings on direct patient care.

And so....

Here are some 2005 impact factors to note for commonly targeted journals for FM:

44.016 -- New Eng J Med
23.407 -- Lancet
23.332 -- JAMA
1.636 -- J AM BOARD FAM Practice
1.327 -- Journal of Family Practice
1.251 -- Am Fam Physician
1.167 -- Family Practice
1.043 -- Family Medicine


Annals of Family Medicine doesn't exist on the list I have. Meaning they are too low.

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[Faebinder]

(Got excited, just saw my third publication on pub med so I looked up some impact factors) FM subspecialty journals.. of note.

3.333 -- Sports Med
3.167 -- AM J PREV MED
2.831 -- MED SCI SPORT EXER
2.783 -- CLIN J SPORT MED
2.396 -- AM J SPORT MED
2.195 -- PREV MED
1.855 -- BRIT J SPORT MED
1.433 -- INT J SPORTS MED
1.340 -- CLIN GERIATR MED
1.120 -- CLIN SPORT MED
0.957 -- GERIATRICS
0.866 -- J RURAL HEALTH

 

[deleted87716]

Annals of Family Medicine doesn't exist on the list I have. Meaning they are too low.

That's a pretty new journal (first published in 2003), so it may take a while for it to make a blip. FWIW, I don't read it much myself...

 

[Faebinder]

I read the Annals of Family Medicine and I happen to like it...

I'm too young in this career to know how journals evolve... I mean as you can see from the article above.. "Purely" Family Medicine journals are not doing too well.

The blame falls partially on academic family medicine docs... their publications dont go to these journals... but i dont blame the assistant or associate professors... they are trying to go up the ladder... the problem is... I have yet to meet a full professor of family medicine who is not a PhD... Most are usually PhDs not MD/DOs. I am sure they exist out there... but those are the people who should be sending their huge experience articles to these journals.

 

[deleted87716]

"Purely" Family Medicine journals are not doing too well.

Not much worse than other specialty journals.

In medicine, many researchers choose to submit their latest findings to generalist medical journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, British Medical Journal and The Lancet, to ensure wide dissemination. Specialist medical journals often have a lower profile than general journals in the eyes of the medical research community.

Source: http://www.nature.com/bdj/journal/v189/n1/full/4800583a.html


Am J Hypertension 3.5
Am J Cardiology 3.0
Cancer 4.8
Diabetic Medicine 2.7
Preventive Medicine 2.2
Epidemiology and Infection 1.7
Nutrition 2.1

Source: http://epidemiologic.blogspot.com/2006/09/journal-impact-factors-in-2005.html

 

[Faebinder]

Not much worse than other specialty journals.


Source: http://www.nature.com/bdj/journal/v189/n1/full/4800583a.html


Am J Hypertension 3.5
Am J Cardiology 3.0
Cancer 4.8
Diabetic Medicine 2.7
Preventive Medicine 2.2
Epidemiology and Infection 1.7
Nutrition 2.1

Source: http://epidemiologic.blogspot.com/2006/09/journal-impact-factors-in-2005.html

The threshold is 2.0 Most pure FM are below 2.0 and as you can see.... the specialties are above that. Heck, the ones above that you mention are disease specific yet very well quoted. As the article stated... this is important for promotions in the universities.

 

[deleted87716]

Sounds like a classic "Catch-22" to me.