An analysis of the structure and content of the abstracts and main text in review articles in the field of aesthetic medicine and cosmetology

Zabiegala, Agnieszka; Potempa, Barbara; Spiewak, Radoslaw

doi:10.14320/EMK.2012.018

Estetologia Medyczna i Kosmetologia

An analysis of the structure and content of the abstracts and main text in review articles in the field of aesthetic medicine and cosmetology

Agnieszka Zabiegala, Barbara Potempa, Radoslaw Spiewak

Recommended citation format: Zabiegala A, Potempa B, Spiewak R: Analiza struktury abstraktow i tresci artykulow przegladowych z zakresu medycyny estetycznej i kosmetologii. Estetol Med Kosmetol 2012; 2(3): 89-93. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.14320/EMK.2012.018

Abstract

Review articles serve the synthesis and systematization of results from numerous studies in order to summarize the current state of knowledge, chart new directions for research, and create algorithms for conduct or propose new solutions. Aim: To investigate the features of review articles in Polish and foreign journals in the field of aesthetic medicine and cosmetology. Material and methods: Based on the results of a query in the online catalogue of the National Library, we selected Polish and foreign journals with titles containing the Polish terms: "estet", "kosmet", "cosmet", "aesthet" ("esthet"). The analysis covered all Polish scientific journals in this field published between 2008-2011, as well as English-language journals that were indexed in the databases PubMed, EMBASE or Scopus, and available in full-text at our university's library. Finally, the analysis comprised four Polish and five foreign journals containing a total of 296 review articles (148 in Polish and 148 in English). As a reference, we analyzed two Polish and two international journals in the field of allergy and dermatology, with 282 review articles (93 in Polish and 189 in English). The articles were analyzed for the presence of features characteristic of a review article. Results: Of the 54 analyzed features, only one (the presence of an abstract) was fulfilled in nearly 100% articles, both Polish- and English-language. Of the 148 Polish-language reviews on aesthetic medicine or cosmetology, only 5.2% contained any mention of the method of collecting the source literature (method and criteria for searching databases, key words used, types of studies selected for review, language or date of publication). English-language articles contained this information more often (10.8 - 21.6% analyzed articles, p<0.001). Conclusions: Most of the articles in the field of aesthetic medicine and cosmetology published as reviews essentially are non-systematic, unstructured essays, which brings their scientific value into question.

Keywords: review article, literature review, systematic review, aesthetic medicine, cosmetology

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Estetologia Medyczna i Kosmetologia online - www.estetologia.pl
Open Access, online ISSN 2084-2007; print ISSN 2084-199X, DOI: 10.14320/EstetolMedKosmetol
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Document created: 5 December 2012, last updated: 16 May 2025
© Radosław Śpiewak Instytut Dermatologii