Consider which metrics are important to you when choosing a journal in which to publish
Where is it indexed? Could you find your own article?
It can’t be cited if it can’t be found. A low citation count affects multiple metrics.
If the article, or citing articles, are not indexed in the database from which you are drawing your H-index or other metrics of interest, the citations will not improve your metrics.
If the Journal Impact Factor is important to you, your department chair, your tenure and promotion committee, etc., make sure the journal is included in Journal Citation Reports (JCR). If it is not, it will not have a JIF.
Follow Reporting Standards
Reporting standards are an excellent resource to aid with writing publishable articles. These are guidelines which list the items you should include in an article reporting your research findings. They are study design specific.
Where to find:
Equator Network: Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research
Reporting Guidelines
The CONSORT (CONsolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) guidelines cover parallel group RCTs. They provide a 25-item checklist, a flow diagram, and a document explaining and elaborating on the items in the guidelines. The 2010 version is the most current: http://www.consort-statement.org/
In addition to the general statement, the guidelines have been extended to more specialized areas as well, including non-pharmacological trials, orthodontic trials, pragmatic trials, feasibility and pilot randomized trials, etc. The EQUATOR Network has an excellent site with links to all of these: http://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/consort/
My suggestion is that you become familiar with these early and not wait until you are ready to report your study results. If they are reviewed in the planning phases of the study you can be sure to include critical design elements on which you need to report; these are easy to address up front, but may be impossible to correct after the study has been conducted.
For systematic reviews and meta-analyses, see PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items in Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses): http://www.prisma-statement.org/PRISMAStatement/Default.aspx
- Like CONSORT, they have a checklist, flow diagram, and explanatory documents.
For case studies, CARE (CAse REports): http://www.care-statement.org/
For observational studies, STROBE (STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology): https://www.strobe-statement.org/index.php?id=strobe-publications
Study Quality Assessment / Strength of Evidence
AHRQ publication from 2002 assessing study quality scales/checklists for individual studies and grading systems for bodies of evidence on a specific subject: http://www.thecre.com/pdf/ahrq-system-strength.pdf
For evaluating evidence across studies, GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations): http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/x/set/static/ebm/learn/665072.html; http://www.gradeworkinggroup.org/
Other Tools
The Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) has a scale applicable to PT therapies, such as exercise, that is included in their database: https://www.pedro.org.au/english/downloads/pedro-scale/
The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool is also useful: http://methods.cochrane.org/bias/assessing-risk-bias-included-studies#The%20Cochrane%20Risk%20of%20Bias%20Tool
PCORI Methodology Standards: http://www.pcori.org/research-results/about-our-research/research-methodology/pcori-methodology-standards?utm_source=May+2017+Newsletter&utm_campaign=April+2017+Newsletter&utm_medium=email
FDA Guidance Documents: https://www.fda.gov/RegulatoryInformation/Guidances/default.htm
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