Comparison of performances of top emergency medicine journals in terms of COVID-19 publications in 2020

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study is to evaluate the qualitative and quantitative contribution of Emergency Medicine (EM) journals to scientific literature on COVID-19 and compare the journals in terms of publications. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We performed a comparison of top EM journals by hand-search in terms of COVID-19 publications and citations between January 1st and December 31st, 2020. Publications were also categorized according to research field, country and article types. Data were given as numbers and percentages. RESULTS: Among 18 EM journals, Resuscitation ranked in the first place and American Journal of Emergency Medicine ranked in the last place according to Impact Factor. In these journals, 512 (12.2%) articles related to COVID-19 were published. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine and Internal and Emergency Medicine published the greatest amount of publications related to COVID-19 (n = 71). The American Journal of Emergency Medicine was also the leading journal in terms of “Total Citations to COVID-19 Articles” (n = 1192). Western Journal of Emergency Medicine published the greatest proportion of COVID-19 articles (Total COVID-19 Articles/Total Articles = 0.3). World Journal of Emergency Surgery ranked in the first place in terms of citations per COVID-19 articles (n = 33.2). The most common studied field was Effects of COVID-19 on the Health System (n = 222). The US was the most productive country with 188 COVID-19 publications and 1411 citations to these publications, followed by Italy. CONCLUSION: The contribution of EM journals to COVID-19 literature is controversial. “Effects of COVID-19 on the Health System” is the most studied field. “Clinical Properties, Ethical Issues and Treatment Methods” are neglected fields in EM journals.