Adoption of Recent Biostatistical Methods Into General/Internal Medicine Research

• Activity Number: 615
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 2, 2012 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Biometrics Section
• Author(s): Paul Nietert*+ and Amy E Wahlquist and Teri Lynn Herbert
• Companies: Medical University of South Carolina and Medical University of South Carolina and Medical University of South Carolina
• Keywords: bibliometrics ; biostatistical methods ; general/internal medicine ; journal impact factor

Abstract

Background: It is unclear what factors contribute to novel biostatistics methods being adopted by researchers publishing in general/internal medicine (GIM) journals. Our goal was to highlight statistical journal articles, statistical journals, and types of statistical methods that have been cited in GIM journals in the past decade.

Methods: Descriptive techniques and analyses of keywords and controlled vocabulary terms were used to characterize articles published in statistics and probability journals that were subsequently referenced in GIM journal articles from 2000 to 2009.

Results: A total of 597 unique articles were identified as being cited by 900 (out of 10,501) unique GIM journal articles. Frequently cited statistical topics included general/other statistical methods, followed by epidemiologic methods, randomized trials, generalized linear models, meta-analysis, and missing data.

Conclusions: Statisticians should continue to develop and refine techniques to ensure accurate analyses and efficient uses of resources; however, they should also be mindful of promoting and marketing their methods so that their effort for having developed the methods is not carried out in va