What are we reading? An analysis of the orthodontic literature 1999 to 2008

IntroductionThe purpose of this study was to assess differences between articles published in the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics (AJO-DO), the Angle Orthodontist (AO), the European Journal of Orthodontics (EJO), and the Journal of Orthodontics (JO) from 1999 to 2008.MethodsAll journals were hand-searched and 4301 eligible articles were identified. A random sample of 425 articles was obtained to provide 80% power to detect a 100% increase in the number of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) at the 5% level of significance. Each article was classified according to predetermined criteria. Variations between journals were assessed using the χ2 test or odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).ResultsThe AJO-DO published 45.6% of the articles in the final sample, 27.7% were from the AO, 17.4% were from the EJO, and 9.2% were from the JO. Statistically significant differences were found between the type (P <0.001), subject (P <0.001), setting (P <0.03), and method (P <0.001) of articles published in the 4 journals. The increase in the proportion of RCTs published between 1999 and 2003 and 2004 to 2008 was not statistically significant (OR 0.64; 95% CI, 0.29, 1.43).ConclusionsStatistically significant differences were found in the publication profiles of the 4 orthodontic journals examined, but the increase in RCTs was lower than anticipated.