Objective To observe the pattern of changes in citations and downloads of papers published in the Journal of Environmental and Occupational Medicine (JEOM) since its launch in 1984.
Methods From 1 May to 10 July 2014, information on total number, citation frequency, and download frequency of papers published in the JEOM from 1984 to 2013 were collected by searching through China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). The contents and characteristics of the most cited or downloaded papers were analyzed.
Results From 1984 to 2013, a total of 6 000 papers in 170 issues of 30 volumes published in the JEOM; the total citation frequency was 1 036, and the total download frequency was 10 721. The peaks of average citation and downloaded frequency were both located between 2002 and 2008. The annual average citation frequency of the papers published in 2000-2013 (709.3) was significantly higher than that in the 1990s (78.5) or 1980s (16.9). A positive correlation was found between citation frequency and download frequency (r=0.653, P < 0.01), while it had no correlation with citation frequency (r=0.218, P > 0.218). Highly cited or downloaded papers were focused on the following topics: associations between pesticide, dust, heavy metals or tumor and occupational populations as well as relevant detection technologies at workplaces; analysis on pollution levels of formaldehyde in decorative materials and plasticizers in edible oil; effect comparison of residential air purifiers; air and soil environment pollutions and health risk assessments, etc. Among the leading 150 cited papers, reviews, survey study, and experimental study ranked the top three (34.67%, 28.67%, and 23.33%, respectively), with the average citation frequencies of 29.12, 29.49, and 24.49 and the average download frequencies of 466.44, 216.67, and 165.86, respectively. The proportion of editorial board members in the leading contributing authors in all analyzed time intervals were higher than others. The EHP column was launched in 2013, and a total of 53 Chinese-translated EHP papers were published, of which 60% were the latest research on health effects of environmental pollution in vulnerable populations, such as children. The download frequency of the translated EHP papers was 1328, accounting for 11.6% of the annual downloads.
Conclusion Upward trends in number of paper published, citation frequency, and download frequency have been identified since the JEOM launched in 30 years ago. The leading cited or downloaded papers are significantly relevant to highly concerned public health issues, such as labor hygiene, environmental pollution, and food safety in corresponding years.
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