UNIVERSIDADE ESTADUAL PAULISTA

“JÚLIO DE MESQUITA FILHO”

Instituto de Ciência e Tecnologia

Campus de São José dos Campos

ORIGINAL ARTICLE DOI: https://doi.org/10.4322/bds.2023.e3570

Braz Dent Sci 2023 Apr/Jun;26 (2): e3570

Editorial endogamy in some Latin American dental journals

Endogamia autoral em algumas revistas odontológicas latino-americanas

Christian Renzo AQUINO CANCHARI

, Luis Arturo SANTIVAÑEZ ISLA

, Johan Rafael CASIMIRO RAMOS

,

Katia Medalith HUAMAN-CASTILLON



1 - Universidad Peruana los Andes (UPLA). Facultad de Medicina Humana. Sociedad Cientíca de Estudiantes de Medicina los Andes

(SOCIEMLA). Huancayo, Perú.

2 - Universidad Peruana los Andes (UPLA), Facultad de Odontología. Sociedad Cientíca de Estudiantes de Odontología Universidad

Peruana los Andes (SCEOUPLA), Huancayo, Perú.

3 - Universidad Continental (UCCI), Facultad de Medicina Humana, Huancayo, Perú.

How to cite: Aquino Canchari CR, Santivañez Isla LA, Casimiro Ramos JR, Huaman-Castillon KM. Editorial endogamy in some Latin

American dental journals. Braz Dent Sci. 2023;26(2):e3570. https://doi.org/10.4322/bds.2023.e3570

ABSTRACT

Objective: Scientic publication in a journal by a member of the editorial committee of the same journal is known as

authorial endogamy. To determine the presence of authorial endogamy in some Latin American dental journals. Material

and Methods: Observational, descriptive, retrospective study. Eight dental journals from Brazil, Cuba and Chile indexed

to Scopus in the period of 2018 - 2021 were analyzed. An evaluation was made of the manuscripts that include a member

of the editorial committee as author. The results were expressed in percentages and frequency measurements and for the

bivariate analysis, the Mann-Whitney U test and Fisher’s exact test were used (p<0.05). Results: A total of 2026 articles,

from which 14.52% (n=256), of authorial endogamy were found. The endogamy articles were mostly original articles 98.05%

(n=252), experimental design 39.70% (n=102), advisory council 49.36% (n=153), co-authorship position 58.97% (n=184),

with presence of 1 endogamic author per article 82.94% (n=214), the number of days from submission to acceptance were

statistically lower in endogamic articles (p=0.003). Conclusion: The presence of editorial endogamy in some dental journals

in Latin America was low, this nding is more frequent in original articles, mostly from the advisory board and as co-author.

Additionally; it was found that endogamic articles took less days in editorial process.

KEYWORDS

Editorial policies; Ethics in scientic publication; Electronic journals; Latin America; Endogamy authoral (DeCS).

RESUMO

Objetivo: A publicação cientíca em uma revista por um membro do comitê editorial da mesma revista é conhecido como

endogamia autoral. Determinar a presença de endogamia autoral em algumas revistas odontológicas na América Latina.

Material e Métodos: Estudo retrospectivo observacional e descritivo. Oito revistas odontológicas do Brasil, Cuba e Chile,

indexadas na Scopus no período entre 2018 - 2021 foram analisadas. Foi realizada uma avaliação dos artigos que incluíam

autores membros do comitê editorial. Os resultados foram expressos em porcentagem e medidas de frequência, e para a

análise de bivariância foram utilizados o teste de Mann-Whitney U e teste exato de Fisher (p<0,05). Resultados: Foi um

total de 2026 artigos, entre os quais 14,52% (n=256) foram detectados endogamia autoral. Os artigos endogâmicos foram,

em sua maioria, artigos originais 98,05% (n=252), desenho experimental 39,70% (n=102), conselho consultivo 49,36%

(n=153), em posição de co-autoria 58,97% (n=184), com a presença de 1 autor endogâmico por autor 82,94% (n=214),

e o número de dias desde a submissão até o aceite foram estatisticamente menores em artigos endogâmicos (p=0,003).

Conclusão: A presença de endogamia editorial em algumas revistas odontológicas na América Latina foi baixa, sendo este

achado mais frequente em artigos originais, predominantemente em conselho consultivo e como co-autor. Adicionalmente,

foi observado que artigos endogâmicos levaram menos dias no processo editorial.

PALAVRAS-CHAVE

Políticas editoriais; Ética na publicação cientíca; Periódicos eletrônicos; América Latina; Autoria endogâmica (DeCS).

Braz Dent Sci 2023 Apr/Jun;26 (2): e3570

Aquino Canchari CR

Editorial endogamy in some Latin American dental journals

Aquino Canchari CR

Editorial endogamy in some Latin American dental journals

INTRODUCTION

The importance of evidence-based dentistry

is recognized, since current times demand ethical

and high-quality articles [1]. The main purpose

of an investigation is the search and generation

of knowledge. It can also be a primary tool in

dental education to train the next generation of

leaders in oral health care [2].

Dentistry is a medical discipline with a

growing scientic production in recent years [3],

this increase has also been reected in the last

20 years in Latin America and the Caribbean,

but it is still one of the regions with the lowest

publication in the world [4]. According to

the Scimago Journal & Country Rank in its

2022 edition, 39,133 articles were produced

in Latin America in the period from 1996 to

2021 [5].

If the results of the research are not published,

and/or the place where they are published also

has an important impact, since other researchers

will not be able to appreciate the value of

the scientific evidence generated, causing a

negative impact on the development and growth

of dentistry [6]. Currently, scientific journals

play a fundamental role in such commendable

work, since it is considered the main means of

disseminating research [7].

Endogamy is dened as «social attitude of

refusal to integrate members outside the own

group or institution» [8]. There are behaviors

that can be considered endogamic. First would

be to prefer research by the editors themselves

or by researchers from their circle, from the

university itself, instead of other articles that may

have greater scientic value, but that lack a link

with the journal. With what privileges the person

against the scientic value, and in second place

the self-citations [9].

Scientific publication in a journal by a

member of the editorial committee of the

same journal is known as either authorial

endogamy [10] or endogenous publication [11]

self-publishing [12], lately open science and

editorial policies mention the degree of endogamy

of scientific journals that do not escape the

observation of the authors to decide to publish

in a specic journal [13].

Previous studies have studied this

particularity in original articles from a Peruvian

public health journal, nding a prevalence of

23.17% [14]. However; there is still no research

in the literature that evaluates editorial endogamy

in dental journals in Latin America.

Therefore, the objective of the present

study was to estimate the presence of editorial

endogamy in some dental journals in Latin

America, during 2018 to 2021.

METHODS

Design

Observational, descriptive, retrospective

study.

Population and sample

Scientic dental journals belonging to Latin

America indexed to the Scopus database were

analyzed during the period from 2018 to 2021.

Journals that have published at least one rst

volume number published in the period 2018 to

2021 and articles of type were included. original.

Journals that did not present the composition of

their editorial committee on their website were

excluded.

Process

A search was performed on the virtual

platform of Scimago Journal & Country Rank (SJR)

(https://www.scimagojr.com), of all the journal

titles belonging to the area of «dentistry», in «all

categories», region of «Latin America» and type

«journals», the access date was February 03, 2022.

To specify the composition of the members of the

editorial committees of the journals, their web page

was accessed in the section «Editorial committee»

Likewise, to establish some variation of the editorial

committees in the years evaluated, it was used the

Wayback Machine tool (https://archive.org/web/),

which allows evaluating web pages in different

periods of time [15].

Variables

The variables were: study design: descriptive,

analytical and experimental, conict of interest:

none, pharmacist, labor, editorial committee and

unmentioned, the number of members of the

editorial committee: including all the members listed

in the section «editorial committee» of its website,

categorized as editor-in-chief, editorial board

(associate and/or deputy editors) and advisory

Braz Dent Sci 2023 Apr/Jun;26 (2): e3570

Aquino Canchari CR

Editorial endogamy in some Latin American dental journals

Aquino Canchari CR

Editorial endogamy in some Latin American dental journals

board (students and/or professionals of recognized

expertise whose purpose is to answer editorial

questions or reviewers); the position they occupied

within the article: rst author, corresponding author

or co-author, and the proportion of endogamy

publication by number and by year.

Data collection

12 dental journals distributed in Latin

American countries were included, of which

2 were excluded because they were not current

in the evaluation period (Brazilian Research in

Pediatric Dentistry and Integrated Clinic, Odonto

Science Journal), and another 2 for not having

access to its editorial committee (Clinical Journal

of Orthodontics Dental Press, Dental Press

Endodontics).

The data was collected in a file of the

Microsoft Excel program version 2019, the articles

were evaluated by 3 researchers. The degree of

kappa interobserver agreement between the

3 authors was 0.89 for the agreement of the

selection of the study variables. The degree of

intraobserver agreement for each evaluator was

0.89, 0.87, 0.89. Both evaluation parameters

indicated excellent agreement.

Analysis of data

Statistical quantification was performed

through the statistical package STATA v 17.0 (Stata

Corp. TX, USA), measures of central tendency

(median, interquartile range) were obtained,

percentages and frequency measures were

obtained for univariate analysis. For bivariate

analysis, the Mann-Whitney U test and Fisher’s

exact test (p<0.05) were used.

Regulatory statement

The data analyzed are publicly available and

freely accessible, so prior approval by an institutional

ethics committee is not considered necessary.

RESULTS

2026 articles from 8 dental journals were

analyzed, nding a presence of editorial endogamy

of 14.52% (n=256), being the journal with the

highest contribution Dental Press Journal of

Orthodontics (n=55), followed by Brazilian

Dental Journal (n=48). Table I

The type of article with the greatest

presence of editorial endogamy was the original

Table I - Characteristics of the dental journals selected for the study

Journal H-index CiteScore Country

Number of edito-

rial committee

members

Total, original

articles

Number of

articles with

authorial en-

dogamy

Position in

the editorial

committee with

greater authorial

endogamy

Authorship

position with

greater authorial

endogamy

Revista

Cubana de

Estomatología

7 0.30 32 110 27

Consultive

Advice

Co-author

Brazilian Oral

Research

50 4.10 32 414 47

Consultive

Advice

Co-author

Journal of

Applied Oral

Science

49 4.80 15 337 24

Consultive

Advice

Co-author

Brazilian

Dental Journal

54 3.00 28 326 48

Consultive

Advice

Co-author

Dental Press

Journal of

Orthodontics

26 1.90 111 158 55

Consultive

Advice

Corresponding

Author

Brazilian

Dental Science

7 1.50 53 291 40 Editorial Board

Corresponding

Author

Journal of Oral

Research

6 0.50 15 165 7

Consultive

Advice

Corresponding

Author

Brazilian

Journal of Oral

Sciences

12 0.40 39 225 9

Consultive

Advice and

Editorial Board

Corresponding

Author

Braz Dent Sci 2023 Apr/Jun;26 (2): e3570

Aquino Canchari CR

Editorial endogamy in some Latin American dental journals

Aquino Canchari CR

Editorial endogamy in some Latin American dental journals

252 (98.05%), with an experimental study design

102 (39.70%), being more frequent in the year

2021 74 (28.79%), the majority did not report

any conict of interest 160 (62.25%). Likewise,

the time elapsed from the date of submission to

the publication of the article was statistically less

in inbred articles (p=0.003). Table II.

Regarding the characteristics of the articles

with editorial endogamy, it was evidenced that

the majority were co-authors 184 (58.97%),

members of the advisory council 153 (49.36%),

with a single author per article 214 (82.94%) and

from Brazil 223 (86.77%). Table III

DISCUSSION

Endogamy has various meanings and

perceptions, placing us in a certain conceptual

disparity; above all, when reecting on it from

an ethical point of view and even more so in the

scientic contribution. In the present investigation,

we started from the analysis of 2026 articles from

8 dental journals, nding the presence of editorial

endogamy in 14.52%, agreeing with the research

performed by Arteaga-Livias et al. [14] who

mentions that editorial endogamy in the Peruvian

Journal of Experimental Medicine and Public

Health (RPMESP) between 2016 and 2018 is

below 25.00%, likewise; it is concentrated between

the editorial committee and the advisory council.

Likewise, the review by Arteaga-Livias et al. [16]

and Zdeněk [17] corroborate the data obtained

Table III - Characteristics of articles with editorial endogamy in

some dental journals in Latin America, 2019-2021

Characteristics n %

Authorship position

First author 27 8.65

Corresponding Author 101 32.37

Co-author 184 58.97

Editorial Committee Membership

Editorial Board 124 40.00

Editor-in-chief and/or director 33 10.64

Consultive Advice 153 49.36

Endogamy authors/article

1 214 82.94

2 38 14.72

3 4 1.55

4 2 0.77

Origin

Brazil 223 86.77

Cuba 27 10.50

Chile 7 2.73

Table II - Presence of editorial endogamy in some Latin American dental journals 2018-2021

Characteristics of the articles

No Yes

-value

n % n %

Type

Original article 1740 98.36 252 98.05

0.611†

short original article 29 1.64 5 1.95

Original article study design

Descriptive 491 27.75 56 21.78

0.000†Analytical 498 28.15 99 38.52

Experimental 780 44.10 102 39.70

Interest conﬂict

None 876 49.51 160 62.25

0.000†

Unmentioned 893 50.49 97 37.75

Year of publication

2021 436 24.64 74 28.79

0.004

†

2020 466 26.34 62 24.12

2019 450 25.43 61 23.73

2018 417 23.59 60 23.36

Number of authors 5 4 - 7 6 5 – 7 0.000*

Number of days from the date of sending to publication 137 92 - 192 127 76 - 173 0.003*

* Mann-Whitney U. † Fisher’s exact test.

Braz Dent Sci 2023 Apr/Jun;26 (2): e3570

Aquino Canchari CR

Editorial endogamy in some Latin American dental journals

Aquino Canchari CR

Editorial endogamy in some Latin American dental journals

in our research, referring that they found journals

with editorial endogamy ranges from 0 to 91.00%

and the general endogamy of the group of

Peruvian journals in the health area was 18.00%.

Likewise, this result can be compared with that

obtained in the study by Paz-Enrique et al. [18]

who states that endogamy occurs in more than

25.00% with the participation of the scientic

council or the editorial committee of a publication

in the authorship or references.

Our study found that the Dental Press

Journals of Orthodontics was the one with the

greatest presence of editorial endogamy; a result

that contrasts with that obtained by Cáceres-

Claro and Torres-Suáre [19] in a Colombian

bibliometric study in 2020, who reports that the

journal with the greatest endogamy was Odontos,

followed by Ustasalud; which is endorsed by

Céspedes-Guillermo [20] obtaining the same

result. In the same way, Arteaga-Livias et al. [16]

found that the issues with the highest endogamy

were statistically higher in the journals from

Latindex directory.

On the other hand, regarding the type of

article with the highest frequency of editorial

endogamy, it was the original 252 (98.05%), with

an experimental study design 102 (39.70%), being

more frequent in the year 2021 74 (28.79%), a

result that was supported by the two studies by

Arteaga-Livias et al. [14,16] and Cáceres-Claro

and Torres-Suáre [19]. Regarding the time elapsed

from the date of submission to the publication of

the article, it was statistically lower in inbred

articles, a proposition that is supported by the

review by Arteaga-Livias et al. [14]; who suggests

that being a member of the editorial committee is

a characteristic that tends to shorten the time in

which manuscripts are published. Furthermore,

in their current review [16] it is noted that

inbred articles have a statistically lower median

days from submission to acceptance; giving as a

possible basis two opposite conclusions; the rst

that the quality of the articles of the editorial

authors could be higher than that of the others

due to their academic qualities that have led them

to be editors or, the second; that being members

of the editorial committee makes it easier for

them to publish their own research.

In relation to authorship, it was evidenced

that the majority were co-authors 184 (58.97%),

members of the advisory council 153 (49.36%),

the result could also be reected in the study

by Zdeněk [17], who reveals that the average

proportion of editorial board members who

publish in their own journals ranges between

5.60% and 24.40%. A similar result was obtained

by Cáceres-Claro and Torres-Suáre [19], who

observed a signicant proportion of endogamy

since more than half of the authors were

afliated with Colombian institutions; however,

it is explained by the nationality of the authors

of the nine journals analyzed and the little

international visibility that many of them have.

The two institutions with the highest afliation

of authors were the Universidad del Valle

and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

For this reason, Dominguez-Omonte [10]

suggests that in order to comply with the code

of ethics, editors, reviewers or members of the

editorial committee as authors should not be

involved in the editorial process and should

be excluded from decisions about manuscripts

in which they are corresponding authors or

authors. who contributes as authors. When

comparing this result with the study by Arteaga-

Livias et al. [14]; a concordance was found

because, of the 2,885 manuscripts reviewed in his

study, 520 had editorial committee members as

authors. Additionally; in his previous review [14]

of the 164 articles published, between originals

and brief originals, 30 had a single author

and eight had two authors belonging to the

editorial committee of the Peruvian Journal of

Experimental Medicine. Reviewers or editorial

board members as authors should not be involved

in the editorial process and should be excluded

from decisions about manuscripts for which they

are corresponding or contributing authors.

In the analysis based on the number of

authors related to editorial endogamy, our

research resulted in a higher proportion with a

single author per article 214 (82.94%). The study

conducted by Arteaga-Livias et al. [14] made it

possible to demonstrate that of the 164 articles

reviewed, 30 had a single author and eight had

two authors. Contradictory to his new publication

of 2021 [14] in which he stated that the number of

authors was found to be higher in inbred articles.

For Cáceres-Claro [19], the results of his research

reect that a range between 1 and 12 authors was

found, with a median of four authors per article.

This result could also be reected in what was

described by Céspedes-Guillermo [20], nding

similar results in the Colombian dental journals

analyzed in the present study,

Braz Dent Sci 2023 Apr/Jun;26 (2): e3570

Aquino Canchari CR

Editorial endogamy in some Latin American dental journals

Aquino Canchari CR

Editorial endogamy in some Latin American dental journals

Finally; regarding the conict of interest

and importance of this study, it is imperative to

mention that editorial endogamy is one of the

factors that most inuences the indexing or not

of serial publications; In addition, the abusive

use of endogamy brings negative consequences

for publications. However; we must focus on the

nal good of any publication, which ends up on

benet of students, users, technicians and health

professionals involved in scientic growth.

CONCLUSION

The presence of editorial endogamy in

some dental journals in Latin America was low,

this nding is more frequent in original articles,

mostly from the advisory board and as co-author.

Additionally; it was found that endogamic articles

took less days in editorial process.

Author’s Contributions

CRAC: Conceptualization, Methodology,

Software, Formal Analysis, Investigation,

Resources, Writing – Original Draft Preparation,

Writing – Review & Editing, Visualization,

Supervision, Project Administration.

LASI: Validation, Investigation, Resources,

Data Curation, Writing – Original Draft

Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing,

Visualization, Supervision. JRCR: Validation,

Investigation, Resources, Data Curation, Writing

– Original Draft Preparation, Writing – Review

& Editing, Visualization. KMHC: Investigation,

Resources, Data Curation, Writing – Original

Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing,

Visualization, Supervision.

Conict of Interest

The authors declare no conict of interest.

Funding

The present study was self-nanced by the

authors.

Regulatory Statement

The data analyzed are publicly available

and freely accessible, so prior approval by an

institutional ethics committee is not considered

necessary.

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Aquino Canchari CR

Editorial endogamy in some Latin American dental journals

Aquino Canchari CR

Editorial endogamy in some Latin American dental journals

Date submitted: 2022 July 11

Accept submission 2022 Nov 23

Christian Renzo Aquino Canchari

(Corresponding address)

Universidad Peruana los Andes (UPLA). Facultad de Medicina Humana,

Huancayo, Perú.

Email: christian.aquino.canchari@gmail.com

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