The Dynamics of Medical Student Journals: Effects of Journal Indexing on Content Visibility

ABSTRACT

Background: There has been a recent increase in the number of journals run by medical students. However, almost none of such journals is currently indexed by known bibliographic databases. While this interest in research by medical students is to be encouraged and fostered, one cannot help but question the visibility of research published in such journals to the scientific community.

Methods: All articles published in Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine (YJBM; MEDLINE-indexed) and the Student BMJ (sBMJ; non-MEDLINE-indexed) in the five-year period between 2006 and 2010 were reviewed.

Results: The mean number of citations of YJBM articles was more than seven times that of sBMJ articles. The number of student and senior authors-per-article was not significantly different between the two journals.

Conclusions: Whilst a number of factors may be contributing, journal indexing evidently plays a major role on its articles’ subsequent citations. Established indexed journals with “student corners” may offer an alternative avenue for medical students to publish their research findings.

KEYWORDS:

• Indexing
• journal
• Medical student
• PubMed
• research

Notes

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