Changing Publication Trends in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Introduction In this review, we aim to assess the categorical distribution of publications in 3 leading general OMS journals, British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (BJOMS), International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (IJOMS), Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (JOMS) over the span of 21-years. Method We examined all full-length publications between 1998 and 2018 in 3 OMS journals (IJOMS, BJOMS, JOMS) and categorised into 16 pre-determined categories. These included facial aesthetic, anatomical, craniofacial, implantology, pre-prosthetic, oncology, orthognathic, pathology, pharmacology, radiology, reconstruction, obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), technical notes, third molar, temporomandibular joint, and trauma. Statistical analysis was conducted to analyse the proportional changes in these categories over 2 time periods. Results A total of 14,324 articles were analysed. This included 3745 articles in IJOMS, 7229 from JOMS, and 3745 from BJOMS. The areas of greatest change were seen with a statistically significant increase in the field of orthodontics, OSA, and implantology in 2 of the 3 journals. There was a marked reduction proportion of case reports/series over this period. Conclusions The subject areas where there has been a proportional increase in publications included orthognathics, implantology, and sleep-related studies. Most other subject areas remain unchanged with a decrease noted in pathology-related articles.