Manuscript Submission Patterns of Authors Publishing in Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Journals

Abstract

Background: Previous studies have examined the most cited articles in orthopaedic sports medicine research and the journals in which they were published. Purpose: To analyze the manuscript submission patterns of authors who published manuscripts in various orthopaedic sports medicine journals. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: All articles published in the March 2017 and April 2017 issues of Arthroscopy, the American Journal of Sports Medicine ( AJSM), Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy ( KSSTA), and the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine ( OJSM) were searched. In addition, the past 50 sports medicine–related articles published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery ( JBJS) dating back from April 2017 to May 2015 were searched. The corresponding author of each article was asked whether the publishing journal was the first journal of submission. If the article was previously submitted elsewhere, authors were asked which other journals, the dates of submission, and the order of submission. The proportion of articles that were initially submitted to each journal, the mean number of submissions prior to publication, and the mean duration from initial submission to date of publication were calculated for each journal. Results: A total of 298 articles were included in this study, and 221 (74%) corresponding authors responded to the survey. The mean number of submissions before acceptance was 1.05 for AJSM, 1.18 for JBJS, 1.20 for KSSTA, 1.38 for Arthroscopy, and 2.19 for OJSM. The percentage of articles that were submitted to their accepting journal first (ie, not previously submitted elsewhere) was 95% for AJSM, 85% for JBJS, 82% for KSSTA, 68% for Arthroscopy, and 13% for OJSM. Conclusion: Among the orthopaedic sports medicine journals included in this study, articles published in AJSM have the highest percentage of first submissions.