Trends in endocrinology related research articles in a medical journal from India

BACKGROUND: The details about the research productivity in the specialty of endocrinology from India is lacking. We plan to assess the publishing trends and the research productivity of Endocrinology related research articles published in the Journal of the Association of Physicians of India (JAPI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We carried the bibliometric analysis of endocrinology related articles from JAPI. The data were obtained from the JAPI website for the publications between 2000 and 2011. The articles were analyzed for the type (original article, case reports, correspondence, and pictorial image), subspecialty (diabetes, thyroid, etc.), and place of the research. Data were presented with descriptive statistics in numbers and percentages. RESULTS: Out of a total 2977 articles published by JAPI, 312 articles belong to endocrine subspecialty. Endocrinology related articles constitute about 11.2%–23.2% of the published articles per year in JAPI and the percentage is increasing every year. Original articles (52%) and case reports (27%) constituite the majority, while the rest were letters to editor (9%) and pictorial images (12%). Diabetes (57%) and metabolic bone disorders (16%) lead the subspecialty articles, followed by thyroid (9%), adrenal and gonad (8%), and pituitary (8%). Chennai (20%), Mumbai (14%), and Delhi (9%) are the top 3 places contributing to the articles followed by Chandigarh and Varanasi. CONCLUSION: Majority of endocrinology related research productivity is seen in form of original articles and case reports. Diabetes is the leading disease with maximum research articles from Chennai and other glands are equally represented in the research productivity.