The 5 year analysis of four national otorhinolaringology journals and their evaluatioa in respect to evidence based medicine

Aim: Evaluation of articles which were published in 4 national journals, ?Türk Otolarengoloji Arşivi?, ?Kulak Burun Boğaz ve Baş Boyun Cerrahisi Dergisi?, ?Kulak Burun Boğaz İhtisas Dergisi? and ?KBB Forum? between 2004 and 2008, and assessment of national otorhinolaryngology journalism by comparing to 2008 issues of Laryngoscope which is an international journal with a high impact factor.Method: While the articles published in these national journals were analyzed in respect to the year of publishing, the number of authors, the number of female authors, the institution of study, the study subject, the number of references, the number of native references and the evidence levels of the studies, the articles in the 2008 issues of Laryngoscope were analysed in respect to the number of authors, the study subject, the number of references, and the evidence levels of the studies. Then, the national journals were compared with Laryngoscope. Studies were categorized under six main titles according to their subjects. These are otology-audiology, head and neck, rhinology, oncology, laryngology and general subjects. Except the experimental studies, all the others were ranked according to their evidence levels.Results: 731 articles within 4 national otorhinolaryngology journals were evaluated. The highest number of articles was in ?KBB İhtisas journal? by 255. It was determined that the ?rhinology? category is the most crowded one. The 52% of all papers consists of case presentations/series. The relatively low number was seen in experimental and high evidence level studies. It was found that the average number of authors and the number of female researchers have increased in the last 10 years. In Laryngoscope, it was observed that there were more studies in oncology and otology-audiology fields while more high evidence level publications came up and case presentations composed only 15% of all the studies.Conclusion: It was determined that the number of case presentations in 4 national otorhinolaryngology journals were high in particular, while the number of high evidence level publications and experimental studies was not sufficient. While a significant increase in number and ratio of female researchers was observed, the number of references used in the studies increased as well. Every sector should fulfill their incumbent duties for national publishing to develop. We believe that periodical studies concerning journals and published papers should be conducted more frequently in order to improve and develop otorhinolaryngology journals and journalism in our country.