Table 2.
Citing database references among included studies
| Reporting item | Total | Journal type | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (n = 222) | Top 5 general medicine (n = 19) |
Non-top-5 general medicine (n = 203) |
P value | |
| Citing database references, n(%) | 137(61.7) | 15(78.9) | 122(60.1) | 0.171 |
| Type of references, n (%) | 0.052 | |||
| Exclusively cited studies published in journals | 71(32.0) | 8(42.1) | 63(31.0) | |
| Exclusively cited other type of reference* | 50(22.5) | 3(15.8) | 47(23.2) | |
| Both type of reference | 16(7.2) | 4(21.1) | 12(0.1) | |
| Referenced studies published in journals, n (%) | 87(39.2) | 12(63.2) | 75(36.9) | 0.046 |
| Study regarding data source profile | 33(14.9) | 7(36.8) | 26(12.8) | 0.012 |
| Validation study | 24(10.8) | 5(26.3) | 19(9.4) | 0.039 |
| Case study | 46(20.7) | 5(26.3) | 41(20.2) | 0.556 |
| Published time of referenced studies † | 2015 (2012, 2016) | 2015 (2010, 2015) | 2015 (2012, 2017) | — |
* Other types of reference such as website and statistical files
†We recorded the lasted time if multiple published times were reported