Introduction The scientific merit of a paper and its ability to reach broader audiences is essential for scientific impact. Thus, scientific merit measurements are made by scientometric indexes, and journals are increasingly using published papers as open access (OA). In this study, we present the scientometric data for journals published in clinical allergy and immunology and compare the scientometric data of journals in terms of their all-OA and hybrid-OA publication policies. Methods Data were obtained from Clarivate Analytics InCites, Scimago Journal & Country Rank, and journal websites. A total of 35 journals were evaluated for bibliometric data, journal impact factor (JIF), scientific journal ranking (SJR), Eigenfactor score (ES), and Hirsch index (h-index). US dollars (USD) were used for the requested article publishing charge (APC). Results The most common publication policy was hybrid-OA (n = 20). The median OA publishing APC was 3000 USD. Hybrid-OA journals charged a higher APC than all-OA journals (3570 USD vs. 675 USD, p = 0.0001). Very strong positive correlations were observed between SJR and JIF and between ES and h-index. All the journals in the h-index and ES first quartiles were hybrid-OA journals. Conclusion Based on these results, we recommend the use of SJR and ES together to evaluate journals in clinical allergy and immunology. Although there is a wide APC gap between all-OA and hybrid-OA journals, all journals within the first quartiles for h-index and ES were hybrid-OA. Our results conflict with the literature stating that the OA publication model's usage causes an increase in citation counts.

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Objective: Chronic urticaria (CU), a common disease characterized by itching wheals, leads to a negative effect of on quality of life (QoL). It may cause anxiety and depression or result in exacerbation of these. We aimed to i) evaluate depression, anxiety levels and QoL in patients with CU and compare these with those of controls, ii) show whether there is any correlation between disease activity and QoL, anxiety, and depression. Materials and Methods: A total of 105 CU patients and 86 controls, all above the age of 18 years, were included. Levels of anxiety, depression, and disease activity in patients and controls were measured with the Spielberger State/Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S/T), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Urticaria Activity Score 7 (UAS7). QoL was evaluated with the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DQLI) for CU patients. Data were analyzed with SPSS 24.0. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: STAI-S showed that the anxiety rate was nearly twofold in patients with CU compared to the controls (63.4% vs. 35.1%, p=0.001). When BDI scores were categorized, a higher fraction of controls had minimal BDI scores, compared to the patients who had moderate to severe depression (75.2% vs. 39%, p=0.0001). A positive, but low-to-moderate correlation was determined between disease activity and impaired QoL (R: 0.448, p: 0.001). Conclusion: Anxiety and depression levels were higher in CU patients. DQLI was low-to-moderately correlated with disease activity; patients with higher disease activity had higher levels of impairment in the quality of life. A psychological pre-assessment and psychiatric consultation in necessary cases could make a significant improvement in the management of CU.

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ÖzetAmaç: Son yıllarda yapılan çalışmalarda Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) negatif peptik ülser oranlarında artış olduğu bildirilmektedir. Bölgemizdeki peptik ülser ve gastritli hastalardaki H. pylori sıklığını araştırdık. Gereç ve