| The objectives were to (1) determine if article-first-authors (afa) in 8 journals published in 1998 and 2002 affiliated with North America (NA), Europe (EU), Oceania (OC = SE Asia), or other regions cited references with first authors (rfa) with differing frequencies and (2) contrast the influence of journal geographic origin (NA = JDR, JPD, OD, AJD; EU = EJOS, DM, CR, JD) on these patterns. Articles (n = 653) and references (excluding case reports, reviews and non-research items) were classified (using ISI and PubMed databases) by first author geographic affiliation. Results for both years (1998, 2002) were identical. Articles from NA and EU cited reference-first-authors from their own continent-of-origin more frequently (p<0.001). Pooled journals (NA versus EU) showed geographic differences. Geographic bias may affect reader impressions of the pertinent literature and distort key indexes of citations such as scientific impact factors. |
