Externalities and article citations: experience of a national public health journal (Gaceta Sanitaria)

• Articles selected for a press release may increase the number of citations.
• The number of papers published by a corresponding author could increase citations.
• Editors should learn how to manage this information to increase citations.

PurposeThe purpose of the study was to analyze the determinants of citations such as publication year, article type, article topic, article selected for a press release, number of articles previously published by the corresponding author, and publication language in a Spanish journal of public health.MethodsObservational study including all articles published in Gaceta Sanitaria during 2007–2011. We retrieved the number of citations from the ISI Web of Knowledge database in June 2013 and also information on other variables such as number of articles published by the corresponding author in the previous 5 years (searched through PubMed), selection for a press release, publication language, article type and topic, and others.ResultsWe included 542 articles. Of these, 62.5% were cited in the period considered. We observed an increased odds ratio of citations for articles selected for a press release and also with the number of articles published previously by the corresponding author. Articles published in English do not seem to increase their citations.ConclusionsCertain externalities such as number of articles published by the corresponding author and being selected for a press release seem to influence the number of citations in national journals.