Bibliometric Analysis of Manuscript Title Characteristics Associated With Higher Citation Numbers: A Comparison of Three Major Radiology Journals, AJNR, AJR, and Radiology

Our purpose was to determine if associations exist between titles characteristics and citation numbers in Radiology, American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), and American Journal of Neuroradiology (AJNR). This retrospective study is Institutional Review Board exempt. We searched Web of Science for all original research and review articles in Radiology, AJR, and AJNR between 2006 and 2012 and tabulated number of words in the title, presence of a colon symbol, and presence of an acronym. We used a Poisson regression model to evaluate the association between number of citations and title characteristics. We then used the Wald test to detect pairwise differences in the effect of title characteristics on number of citations among the 3 journals. Between 2006 and 2012, Radiology published 2662, AJR 3998, and AJNR 2581 original research and review articles. There was a citation number increase per title word increase of 1.6% for AJNR and 2.6% for AJR and decrease of 0.8% for Radiology. For all, P < 0.001. A title colon was associated with citation increases for AJNR (16%), Radiology (14%), and AJR (7.4%). Title acronym was associated with citation increases for AJNR (10%), Radiology (14%), and AJR (13.3%). All P < 0.001. AJR had greatest effect for number of words in title vs Radiology and AJNR (P < 0.001), AJNR for presence of colon vs Radiology (P < 0.001), and AJR for presence of acronym vs AJNR (P = 0.028). Title characteristics investigated here showed a strong association with higher citation numbers in Radiology, AJR, and AJNR.