Scientific publication in orthopedics journals from Chinese authors: a survey of 10-year survey of the literature

In the scientific community, a scientist's productivity is usually measured by his scientific output. The productivity of a group, an institution or, on a larger scale, a country can be assessed in similar manner. This study aims to show the contribution of Chinese authors to orthopedics research, from three major regions, namely Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Articles published in 63 orthopedics journals originating from Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong from 2003 to 2012 were retrieved from the PubMed database and Journal Citation Report. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted for the total number of articles, clinical trials, randomized controlled trails, case reports, impact factors (IF), citations, and articles published in high-impact journals. There were totally 3473 articles from Mainland China (1859), Taiwan (1111), and Hong Kong (503) from 2003 to 2012, showing gradual increase from 2003 to 2012. From 2006 onward, the number of published articles from Mainland China exceeded that from Hong Kong and exceeded that from Taiwan in 2008. The accumulated IF of articles from Mainland China (3746.21) was higher than that from Taiwan (2466.74) and that from Hong Kong (1089.35). However, Taiwan witnessed the highest mean IF (2.22), followed by Hong Kong (2.17), and Mainland China (2.02). Hong Kong displayed the highest mean citations of each article (9.35), followed by Taiwan (9.12), and Mainland China (5.71). By contract, Spine was the most popular journal to choose in these three regions. The total number of orthopedics articles in China increased markedly from 2003 to 2012. Of the three regions, Mainland China published the most articles, clinical trials, randomized controlled trails, and case reports. In general, Spine was the most popular journal to choose in the three regions.