Background: 

As the foot and ankle subspecialty continues to grow in orthopaedics, trends in published literature provide valuable insights to help understand and strengthen the field. The current study evaluates the changes in the characteristics of foot and ankle articles in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery (American Volume) (JBJS-A) from 2004 to 2018.

Methods: 

Foot and ankle-related articles in JBJS-A from 2004 to 2018 were identified and categorized by type of study, level of evidence, number of authors, academic degree(s) of the first and last authors, male and female authorship, number of citations, number of references, region of publication, and use of patient-reported outcomes (PROs).

Results: 

A total of 336 foot and ankle articles from 2004 to 2018 were reviewed. The type of study published has changed over time, with more clinical therapeutic evidence and less case reports. The level of evidence grades, as rated by JBJS-A and objective evaluators, have increased over the past 15 years. The total number of authors per article has increased, and female authorship has increased significantly. The number of references per article has increased, and the number of citations per year has decreased. The field of foot and ankle surgery has seen an increase in global publications.

Conclusions: 

The results of this study suggest that the foot and ankle literature that has been published in JBJS-A has continued to increase in quality and diversity over the past 15 years.

中文翻译：

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在15年的时间间隔内发表脚和踝关节研究的特征：综述：《骨与关节外科杂志》：2004年至2018年

背景： 

随着足踝亚专业在骨科领域的不断发展，已发表的文献中的趋势提供了宝贵的见解，有助于理解和加强这一领域。本研究评估了2004年至2018年《骨与关节外科杂志》（美国版）（JBJS-A）中足踝文章的特征变化。

方法： 

根据研究类型，证据水平，作者数量，第一作者和最后一位作者的学历，男性和女性作者，男性作者数量，作者数量，2004年至2018年JBJS-A中与脚和脚踝有关的文章进行识别和分类。引文，参考文献数量，发表地区以及患者报告结果（PRO）的使用。

结果： 

从2004年到2018年，共对336篇脚和脚踝文章进行了审查。随着时间的推移，已发表的研究类型发生了变化，具有更多的临床治疗证据和更少的病例报告。在过去15年中，由JBJS-A和客观评估人员评定的证据等级水平有所提高。每篇文章的作者总数增加了，女性作者人数也大大增加了。每篇文章的参考文献数量增加，每年的引用次数减少。足踝手术领域的全球出版物有所增加。

结论： 

这项研究的结果表明，在过去的15年中，JBJS-A上发表的脚踝文献一直在质量和多样性上不断提高。