Tendencies in Clinical Pharmacy Journal Publications Over the Past Twenty Years

Objective. The objective of the study is to evaluate pharmacy specific journals to determine publishing rates between original research, case reports, and review articles over the previous twenty years. Background. In the past 20 years, numbers of pharmacy faculty have dramatically increased. Additionally, scholarship requirements of pharmacy faculty have increased. It is unknown, however, to what degree research articles have increased. Methods. Pharmacy journals in print for at least 20 years, indexed in Medline, and authored primarily by pharmacists were evaluated. All publications were categorized either as research, case reports, reviews, letters/editorials, or other based on the publication types classification system used by PubMed. Descriptive statistics were described. Additionally, data were analyzed for statistical significance utilizing ANOVA with significance at p < 0.05. Results. Three journals meeting inclusion criteria were the American Journal of Health-Systems Pharmacy (AJHP), Annals of Pharmacotherapy, and Pharmacotherapy. The total publication rate from 1988-1989 to 2008- 2009 increased from 1201 to 2096 (74%) (p < 0.05). The rate of original research articles increased from 15% to 19% (NS). The rate of case reports decreased from 13% to 11% (NS). The rate of review articles increased from 12% to 18% (NS). However, individually AJHP and Pharmacotherapy decreased in terms of research publications while Annals of Pharmacotherapy increased. Annals of Pharmacotherapy also decreased the total number of review articles published whereas AJHP and Pharmacotherapy increased. Conclusion. Despite significant increase in publications in pharmacy specific journals, there appears to be minimal increases in original research, case reports, and review articles published. Grants. N/A