Research ArticleSpecial Communications

Research Published in 2003 by U.S. Family Medicine Authors

Donald E. Pathman, Anthony J. Viera and Warren P. Newton
The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine January 2008, 21 (1) 6-16; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.2008.01.070148

Article Figures & Data

Figures

  • Figure 1.
    Figure 1.

    Sequence of steps taken to identify US family medicine's 2003 research articles and the number of new articles found at each step.

Tables

  • Table 1.

    Eligibility Criteria for US Family Medicine's Research Articles in 2000 and 2003

    Eligible articles must be (1) published in eligible journals, (2) eligible as research, and (3) authored or co-authored by a US family medicine researcher-author
    Eligible Journals
        Scholarly journals published in English in an issue with a 2003 publication date

    • Includes journals published in hard copy and electronic formats

    • Includes journals published in the United States and internationally

    • Includes journals whether peer-reviewed or indexed on Medline

    • Excludes popular magazines, news and general interest periodicals, books, and unpublished reports

    Articles Eligible as Research
        Articles formally reporting data that were systematically gathered and analyzed

    • Includes descriptive and hypothesis-driven studies, evaluations of educational and service programs, and literature syntheses using systematic and formal analyses

    • Excludes nonsystematic clinical reviews, editorials, book reviews, synopses of articles published elsewhere, most letters to the editor

    • Excludes case reports but includes case series and case studies

    • Study methods, subject matter, and quality not considered in eligibility determination

    Authors Eligible as "Family Medicine Researcher-Authors"
        Authors who work in US family medicine organizations or who are family physicians

    • Includes those working in academic family medicine departments; family medicine divisions of joint academic departments (e.g., departments of family and community medicine); non-university, hospital-based family medicine residencies; other family medicine organizations (e.g., AAFP); and clinicians in family medicine practices

    • Includes those working in allopathic and osteopathic organizations

    • Includes family physicians, other physicians and nonphysicians working in eligible family medicine organizations

    • Includes those with secondary appointments in academic family medicine departments, but excludes those with adjunct appointments

  • Table 2.

    Numbers of Family Medicine Researcher-Authors and the Number of Articles they Authored in 2003

    Family medicine researcher-authors (n)801
    Family-medicine researchers who were lead authors on one or more papers (n)344
    Articles per family medicine researcher-author (n, mean)1.875
    Family medicine researchers (n [%]) who authored:
        1 article510 (63.7)
        2 articles138 (17.2)
        3 or 4 articles96 (12.0)
        5–7 articles42 (5.2)
        ≥8 articles15 (1.9)
        Total801 (100)
    Distribution of academic degrees of family medicine researcher-authors (n [%])
        MD292 (36.5)
        MD with masters (MPH, MS, etc.)132 (16.5)
        MD with doctorate (PhD, DrPH, etc.)24 (3.0)
        DO, MBBS or MB, with or without other     masters or doctorate19 (2.4)
        Doctorates (among non-physicians)185 (23.1)
        Masters (among non-physicians)69 (8.6)
        Bachelors (BA, BS, BSN, etc.)22 (2.7)
        No degree or information missing58 (7.2)
        Total801 (100)
  • Table 3.

    Journals Publishing Family Medicine Research Articles in 2003

    Journals (n)
    Number of journals publishing:
        1 article159
        2 articles55
        3–5 articles42
        6–11 articles21
        ≥12 articles8
        Total285
    Articles (n)
    Journals publishing ≥12 family medicine research articles in 2003
        Family Medicine69
        Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine27
        Academic Medicine27
        Annals of Family Medicine20
        Journal of Rural Health19
        American Journal of Public Health13
        Journal of the American Geriatric Society12
        Journal of Women's Health12
    Articles in "family medicine" journals (American Family Physician, Annals of Family Medicine,Archives of Family Medicine, BMC Family Practice, Family Medicine, Family Practice, Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine)142 (18.0%)
    Articles in 5 weekly general medicine journals (Journal of the American Medical Association, New England Journal of Medicine, BMJ, Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine)22
  • Table 4.

    Number and Percentages * of Family Medicine Research Articles from the Various Types of Organizations in 2003

    Academic family medicine department699 (88.5)
    Family medicine residency based in non-university hospital49 (6.2)
    Family physician in clinical practice19 (2.4)
    Other family medicine organization28 (3.5)
    Family medicine military site7 (0.9)
    Family physician in non-family medicine organization36 (4.6)
    838 (106.1)

    • * Data presented as n (%). Summed numbers and percentages exceed the actual total number of articles and 100% because some articles were co-authored by individuals in 2 types of organizations.

  • Table 5.

    Research Article Output from Allopathic Academic Departments of Family Medicine in 2003

    Articles per Department (n)Allopathic Departments (n [%])
    1 or 228 (29)
    3–524 (24)
    6–1019 (19)
    11–1514 (14)
    ≥1613 (13)
    Total98 (100)
  • Table 6.

    Comparisons of Articles, Authors, Journals, and Departments for 2000* and 2003†

    20002003Change (%)
    Total articles (n)499790+58
    Articles with family medicine-researcher as lead author (n [%])328 (66)477 (60)+45 (−5)
    Total family medicine researcher-authors (n)569801+41
    Articles per family medicine researcher-author (n, mean)1.6981.875+10
    Physicians (MD, DO, MBBS, MB) among family medicine researcher-authors (n [%])361 (63)467 (58)+106 (−5)
    Total journals (n)157285+82
    Journals publishing 1 article (n)94159+69
    Journals publishing 6 or more articles (n)1629+81
    Articles in "family medicine" journals (n [%])176 (35)142 (18)−24 (−17)
    Articles in top-tier general medical journals (n)1422+57
    Articles listing an author from an academic family medicine departments (n [%])443 (89)699 (89)+58 (0)

    • * Data for 2000 are from an earlier study of research published in 1999 and 2000.22,23

    • † There are some differences in the study article search approaches for the 2 time periods, as described in the Methods and Limitations sections.

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