Scot Med J
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Comparative Study
Disparities in the geographical distribution of authorship between invited and peer reviewed papers.
Fifty issues of the British Medical Journal (BMJ), The Lancet, The British Journal of Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine were scrutinized. Papers were designated as invited or peer reviewed and the geographical location of the first author was recorded. For UK-based authors, the latitude and longitude of the host institution was noted and was allocated to one of the UK regions. ⋯ For individual Journals, the Lancet and the British Journal of Psychiatry showed fewer regional disparities in authorship than the BMJ and Psychological Medicine. These disparities may lead to nationalism and parochiality in the content of invited papers. Journal editors may wish to review selection practices for authorship of invited papers.
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A postal survey of all senior anaesthetists with routine commitment to an acute trauma list in 13 Scottish hospitals was conducted to delineate contemporary anaesthetic practice for hip fracture surgery. Almost equal use of general and regional anaesthesia was reported, however the techniques used for general anaesthesia were different from those described in previous literature in this group. ⋯ However these conclusions relate to techniques and drugs which are now rarely used during general anaesthesia for hip fracture surgery. Further work to assess the impact of new techniques and agents on outcome for this group of patients may be required.