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. 2023 Mar 27;1(2):e12004.
doi: 10.1002/cesm.12004. eCollection 2023 Apr.

Criteria adherence and citation impact of urologic Cochrane review co-publications

Ranveer Vasdev  1 , Zahrah Shakur  1 , Philipp Dahm  2   3
Affiliations

Criteria adherence and citation impact of urologic Cochrane review co-publications

Ranveer Vasdev et al. Cochrane Evid Synth Methods. .

Abstract

Introduction: Cochrane systematic reviews are widely recognized as authoritative sources of evidence. To improve dissemination and impact, editorial groups often encourage co-publication of their reviews in other journals. Our study aimed to analyze urology-relevant co-publications and determine their adherence to Cochrane's four co-publication criteria and impact using citation analysis.

Methods: We systematically identified all Cochrane reviews published by the Urology, Incontinence, Renal, and Transplantation Groups from 1998 to 2021 as well as subsequent co-publications using MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases. We also determined adherence to Cochrane's four co-publication criteria and analyzed citation rates.

Results: Of the 202 Cochrane reviews included, 52 (25.7%) had an associated co-publication. The majority of the co-publications corresponded to the Urology Group (39; 76.9%), followed by the Incontinence (9; 17.3%) and Kidney and Transplant Group (3; 5.8%). Only 21 (40.0%) co-publications met all four co-publication criteria, with the most common criteria not satisfied was inclusion of the word "Cochrane" in the co-publication title (50% adherence). The proportion adhering to a subset of criteria significantly increased for reviews published between 2013 and 2021 compared to those from 1998 to 2012. Compared to corresponding Cochrane reviews, there was no significant difference in the number of citations of co-publications across all sampled databases, although co-publication citations were usually less than those of original reviews.

Conclusion: Approximately one in four urology-related Cochrane reviews are co-published. Though co-publications garnered a considerable number of citations that could help in the dissemination of Cochrane reviews, many are not readily identifiable as such.

Keywords: Cochrane reviews; co‐publication; evidence based medicine; urology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Proportion of co‐publications satisfying individual criterion Criteria 1: the co‐publication faithfully reflects the data and interpretation of the Cochrane version. Criteria 2: the title of the co‐publication indicates that it is a secondary publication of the Cochrane review. Criteria 3: the co‐publication acknowledges the Cochrane review group in an appropriate place. Criteria 4: the co‐publication cities the Cochrane review in its reference list [2].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Citations of co‐publications and reviews by author, year, and co‐publication journal. Co‐publication journal names were abbreviated according to the National Library of Medicine Catalogue. Two co‐publications were associated with the same series of Cochrane review (one with the original review and one with the updated review). As we are comparing the number of citations of co‐publications compared to citations of any review (original or updated), the co‐publication associated with the updated review was excluded from this figure to allow for comparisons for all other co‐publication and review pairs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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