AJR:177, December 2001 1281 Technology and Archives in Radiology Research: A Sampling Analysis of Articles Published in the AJR and Radiology OBJECTIVE. Our aim was to determine the use of advanced technology and archiving and the contribution of countries other than United States in the articles published in the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR) and Radiology . We analyzed the association of these features with the type of research, the main technical features of the modalities used, and the countries of origin. MATERIALS AND METHODS. We determined the proportion of articles published in 18 randomly selected issues of the AJR and Radiology that required advanced imaging techniques and relied on the analysis of archived data. “Advanced technology” was defined as imaging techniques that serve a purpose other than simple anatomic imaging or that are not widely available because of the high cost of the technology, such as functional imaging and computer programming designed for an individual study or simulation studies. We ana- lyzed the association of these features with the country of origin, the topic, and the method- ology used. RESU LT S. Sixteen percent of the studies required advanced technology. MR imaging, CT, and sonography were the most frequently used modalities (31%, 27%, and 15% of stud- ies, respectively). Archiving was used in 37% of the studies, and 67% of the original articles were prospective. The articles most commonly originated in North America (67%), Europe (20%), and Asia (12%). CONCLUSION. Only a small percentage of published research studies required ad- vanced technology and approximately one third of the studies used archiving. These results may suggest that other criteria, such as the design of the study, its relevance for daily clinical use, and the originality of the paper, have a major impact on the acceptance of papers in clini- cally oriented radiology journals. ith the persistent advance of medical technology, radiolo- gists are continuously chal- lenged by newer, more specialized, and more advanced imaging techniques [1, 2]. The im- pact of these advanced techniques is reflected in radiology publications [3]. The number of articles dealing with these techniques that are published in major journals and the conse- quences for clinical use appear to be increasing. Radiologists from clinics with limited financial resources may feel challenged to keep up with this rate of progress [4]. These radiologists must compete in the same scientific arena as those who have access to advanced equipment, extensive technical support, and sophisticated data archiving. Scientists in developing coun- tries may feel excluded from advanced research by not having the latest technology and ar- chiving, and therefore may be discouraged from pursuing research. In an attempt to provide data for such in- vestigators, we classified the leading features of the articles, such as using advanced radio- logic techniques and archiving. Several addi- tional features, including country of study, type of article and research, type of study de- sign (whether retrospective or prospective), and the technical features of the modalities used in these articles, were also studied. Our results may help in designing studies and may enlighten the editorial policy of all journals. “Advanced technology” was defined as imag- ing techniques that serve a purpose other than simple anatomic imaging or that are not widely available because of the high cost of Yelda Özsunar 1,2 Alparslan Unsal 2 Alev Akdilli 2 Can Karaman 2 Thierry A. G. M. Huisman 1 A. Gregory Sorensen 1 Received April 17, 2001; accepted after revision June 18, 2001. Presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, Chicago, November 2000. 1 Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, MGH-NMR Center, Bldg. 149, 13th St., M ailcode 149(2301), Charlestown, M A 02129–2060. 2 Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Adnan Menderes University, 09100, Aydin, Turkiye. Address correspondence to Y. Özsunar. AJR 2001;177:1281–1284 0361–803X/01/1776–1281 © American Roentgen Ray Society W Downloaded from www.ajronline.org by 52.73.204.196 on 05/17/22 from IP address 52.73.204.196. Copyright ARRS. For personal use only; all rights reserved