A bibliometric analysis of the editorial boards of ophthalmology journals in Türkiye: Academic productivity, institutional affiliations, gender distributions, subspecialties, and geographical distributions

PURPOSE: This research examines the current status of nine ophthalmology journals in Türkiye by analyzing their editorial and advisory boards in terms of gender representation, geographical distributions, academic seniority, and subspecialty areas.
METHODS: This study examined the editorial and advisory boards of nine Turkish ophthalmology journals by analyzing demographic profiles and publication records obtained from institutional websites and bibliometric databases, National Institutes of Health iCite, and Dimensions.ai. Information regarding the subspecialties of Turkish academics was sourced from the Turkish Ophthalmological Association website. The iCite data provided metrics such as total publications, publications per year, total citations, citations per year, and relative citation ratio (RCR), while the dimensions database yielded complementary metrics, including total publications, total citations, mean citations per publication, field citation ratio, RCR, and percentage of cited publications.
RESULTS: Professors constituted the majority (75.66%) of the 393 editors and advisory board members, and 37.25% were women. Geographically, 87.25% of editors were based in Türkiye, with major concentrations in Ankara (31.61%), Istanbul (21.47%), and Izmir (13.12%). Institutional analysis demonstrated diverse affiliations, with independent and private practice physicians constituting 8.10% (n=40) of the members, followed by physicians affiliated with private hospitals at 6.48% (n=32). Performance metrics from the iCite and dimensions databases identified the Turkish Journal of Ophthalmology as the leading body, with 88.71±84.5 publications, 2108.92±3046.14 citations, and an RCR of 1.24±0.86.
CONCLUSION: Enhancing the global impact of Turkish ophthalmology journals involves increasing transparency in editorial selection, promoting gender-balanced representation, fostering international collaboration, and addressing regional disparities through strategic diversity initiatives.

Keywords: Academic titles, bibliometric analysis, citation metrics, editorial boards, gender distribution, geographical distribution, ophthalmology journals