Why publish a survey of orthopaedic scientific production from China?

from China. Orthop Traumatol Surg Res 2012;98: in press, The editorial board of Orthopaedics and Traumatology Surgery and Research has the opportunity to publish a manuscript comparing the evolution of orthopaedic publications from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong over the last 10 years [1]. Many of our readers may wonder why this paper is being published, considering its general scope and low likelihood of inducing substantial changes in everyday orthopaedic practice. Several considerations led the editorial board to accept this survey for publication. Firstly, developing a clear picture of worldwide changes in scientific data over time is crucial. One recent and remarkable change is the explosion in scientific production from East Asia. This phenomenon started in the 1970s with robust scientific production from Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea. More recently, a strong increase in scientific publications from emerging countries dramatically reduced the proportion of published scientific data from Europe and North America [2]. More specifically, research activities in China and India are sufficiently strong to result in publications in major international orthopaedic journals and to support the creation of new journals whose impact factors can be expected to increase rapidly in the near future. For instance, the Indian Journal of Orthopaedics has been indexed in PubMed since 2007 (impact factor, 0.285), the Chinese Journal of Reparative and Reconstructive Surgery (Zhongguo Xiu Fu Chong Jian Wai Ke Za Zhi) since 1997 (impact factor, 1.17), and the China Journal of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (Zhongguo gu shang) since 2008 (impact factorn 0.7). From 1997 to 2008, the Chinese Journal of Reparative and Reconstructive Surgery published 2129 papers, compared to only 1286 published in Orthopaedics and Traumatology Surgery and Research (impact factor, 0.26 in 2008). Secondly, a corollary of the rapid increase in scientific data from emerging countries in Asia and elsewhere is a need to understand the mechanisms underlying orthopaedic research and its publication in these parts of the world. The article in this issue of Orthopaedics and Traumatology Surgery and Research [1] underlines the [