REVIEW   

Minerva Obstetrics and Gynecology 2024 Mar 27

DOI: 10.23736/S2724-606X.23.05451-9

Copyright © 2023 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

The value of multicenter collaboration in Gynecologic Oncology research

Gabriel LEVIN ¹ ✉, Yoav BREZINOV ², Raanan MEYER ³, Susie LAU ¹, Shannon SALVADOR ¹, Walter H. GOTLIEB ¹

¹ Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada; ² Lady Davis Institute for Cancer Research, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada; ³ Division of Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cedar Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA

INTRODUCTION: Canadian gynecological oncology (GYNONC) is constantly evolving. We aim to study the patterns in Canadian GYNONC research using a systematic search approach and bibliometric analysis.
EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: We used Web of Science to identify all relevant publications in the field of GYNONC by Canadian. We analyzed bibliometric data obtained from the iCite database. Publications were evaluated for specific characteristics including the province of all co-authors. We compared bibliometric metrics among provinces.
EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Overall, 1511 publications, published in 138 different journals during 1973-2022 were analyzed. Of those, 23.5% (N.=355) were of interprovincial origin. Interprovincial publications were constantly increasing, now reaching 34.1%. Publications of interprovincial setting had higher RCR, CPY, FCR and NIH percentile scores when compared to any single province (P=0.009, P>0.001, P<0.001, and P<0.001, respectively). The proportion of publications in high impact factor journals were higher in the interprovincial setting: 35 (9.9%) vs. 48 (4.2%), P<0.001. Excluding the interprovincial publications there were 1156 publications. Half of the publications were authored by authors from Ontario (N.=587, 50.6%), 278 (24.1%) by authors from Quebec, and 161 (14.0%) by authors from British Columbia. The mean FCR was higher in British Columbia as compared to Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba (6.0±2.1 vs. 5.3±2.1, 5.3±1.5, and 4.1±3.0 respectively; P=0.006, P=0.034, and 0.037, respectively). Only Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta had publications in high impact factor journals, with similar rate (P=0.806).
CONCLUSIONS: Interprovincial publications have the highest citation metrics in all domains. This underscores the importance of collaboration for the purpose of impactful research.

KEY WORDS: Bibliometrics; Canada; Bibliographic databases; Gynecology; Medical oncology