OBJECTIVE
To determine whether availability of journals on MEDLINE as FUTON (full text on the
Net) affects their impact factor.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
A comprehensive search identified 324 cardiology, nephrology, and rheumatology/immunology
journals on-line until May 2003. The status of these journals was ascertained in MEDLINE
as having FUTON, abstracts only, and NAA (no abstract available). Impact factors for
all available journals from the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) were abstracted.
RESULTS
Of the 324 journals, 124 (38.3%) were FUTON, 138 (42.6%) had abstracts only, and 62
(19.1%) had NAA. The mean (±SEM) impact factor was 3.24 (±0.32), 1.64 (±0.30), and
0.14 (±0.45), respectively. Of the 324 current journals, 159 existed in both the pre-
and the post-Internet era. An analysis of the change (ie, δ) in impact factor from
the pre- to post-Internet era revealed a trend between journals with FUTON and abstracts
only (P=.17, Wilcoxon rank sum test). Similar analyses of the δ of cardiology journals revealed
a statistically significant difference between journals with FUTON and abstracts only
(P=.04, Wilcoxon rank sum test).
CONCLUSION
FUTON bias is the tendency to peruse what is more readily available. This is the first
study to show that on-line availability of medical literature may increase the impact
factor and that such increase tends to be greater in FUTON journals. Failure to consider
this bias may affect a journal's impact factor. Also, it could limit consideration
of medical literature by ignoring relevant NAA articles and thereby influence medical
education akin to publication or language bias.
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Article Info
Footnotes
Presented in part at the following national and international meetings: Second International Conference of Evidence Based Health-Care Teachers and Developers, Palermo, Italy, September 12, 2003; 20th Midwest SGIM Regional Meeting, Chicago, Ill, September 20, 2003; American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals, Annual Scientific Meeting, Orlando, Fla, October 26, 2003; Annual Minnesota American College of Physicians Chapter Meeting, Minneapolis, Minn, November 7, 2003; and National American Society of Nephrology, San Diego, Calif, November 15, 2003.
Identification
Copyright
© 2004 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
