Publications by Indian Orthodontists Making Global Waves: An Analysis from 2017 to 2023—Before, During, and After the Pandemic

Abstract

Aim: This article seeks to evaluate the shifts in publication rates and the participation of Indian orthodontists in different quartiles of orthodontic journals before, during, and after the pandemic, spanning the years 2017–2023. Methods: The evaluation involved manually searching through archives of 15 journals divided into quartiles, that is, Q1, Q2, and Q3. Articles with at least one author affiliated with an Indian university were collected and tabulated into graphs. Results: In Q1 journals, “Progress in Orthodontics” achieved the highest Indian publication percentage at 4.66%, whereas the European Journal of Orthodontics recorded the lowest at 0.93%. Among Q2 journals, the Journal of Orthodontic Science led with a maximum publication rate of 35.83%, while the Korean Journal of Orthodontics had the least, accounting for only 0.36%. In Q3 journals, the highest contribution of 31.16% was observed in APOS Trends in Orthodontics, while International Orthodontics had the lowest contribution at 8.24%. Conclusion: The examination of 15 orthodontic journals spanning the 7 years from 2017 to 2023 revealed that the publication trends remained largely unchanged in the majority of journals across all three time periods: pre-COVID-19, during the pandemic, and post-COVID-19. Notable exceptions included a slight increase in publications observed during and after the pandemic, specifically in the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics (Q1 journal), Journal of Orthodontic Science (Q2 journal), APOS Trends in Orthodontics (Q3 journal), and International Orthodontics (Q3 journal).