Gynecomastia: Evolving Paradigm of Management and Comparison of Techniques

Sir: We read with interest the article by Petty et al. entitled “Gynecomastia: Evolving Paradigm of Management and Comparison of Techniques.” Under a perfect title, we found this article precise and easy to read, most of all, because of its conclusion: arthroscopic mastectomy for gynecomastia is a safe and effective technique, with excellent cosmetic results and an acceptable complication rate. We found a major flaw in this retrospective study, namely, “undercitation,” which many of us consider to be a serious offense in scientific misconduct for not giving credit to previous publications.1,2 This operation, described in 2005 as an arthroscopic mastectomy for gynecomastia, was published before in this same Journal (Techniques in Cosmetic Surgery) under the title “Minimal Surgical Access to Treat Gynecomastia with the Use of a Power-Assisted Arthroscopic-Endoscopic Cartilage Shaver” by Prado and Castillo1 and assessed by another publication in 2009 by Benito-Ruiz et al.2 Without a better measure of the impact factor that places Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery as a leader in publications of our specialty in the world, the citation index will continue to be used as a reflection of a journal's popularity.3 As a consequence, undercitation could eventually affect the impression of this Journal. Reviewers must take the responsibility of checking every citation reference, the accuracy of reference content, and the accuracy of cited material, and evaluating possible missing citations, because the most crucial part of the review process is to “check the accuracy of the content.” A big help for this job are such reference managers as Endnote/EndLink that are related to PubMed/MEDLINE. Arturo S. Prado, M.D. Paulo Castillo, M.D. School of Medicine Postgraduate School Plastic Surgery University of Chile Santiago, Chile DISCLOSURE The authors have no financial interest to declare in relation to the content of this communication.