Estimates of global research productivity in virology

Where does Hispanic Latin America stand in biomedical and life sciences literature production compared with other countries?

Objectives

to provide objective quantitative data about medical-related scientific production in Hispanic Latin America compared to different regions and identify demographic and political variables that could improve research.

Study design

This is an analytical, observational, cross-section bibliometric study about all fields of medical-related scientific production over five years in different regions and its relationship with demographic and political variables that could impact research and the health system quality.

Methods

Data on the total scientific production of all Hispanic Latin American countries and other countries representing almost 90% of mundial publications between 2017 and 2021 were retrieved from the PubMed database. Demographic and political data were obtained from open online databases. Counts of publications were rationed to population and analyzed with all other demographic, region, and language variables, using univariate Poisson regression and negative binomial regression (for over-disperse variables) analysis. Multivariate negative binomial regression was used to analyze the combined effect of variables related to the healthcare and research Sectors.

Results

Hispanic Latin America increased yearly from 29,445 publications in 2017 to 47,053 in 2021. This cumulative growth of almost 60% exceeded the 36% increment in all countries' publications and was only below that of Russia and China, which grew 92% and 87%, respectively. Negative binomial regression showed that the percentage of gross income dedicated to research (IRR 2.036, 95% CI: 1.624, 2.553, p< .001), life expectancy at birth (IRR 1.444, 95% CI: 1.338, 1.558, p< .001), and the number of medical doctors per inhabitant (IRR 1.581, 95% CI: 1.17, 2.13, p = .003) positively impacted scientific production. A higher mortality associated with chronic diseases between ages 30 and 70 (IRR 0.782, 95% CI: 0.743 0.822, p< .001) and a lower population with access to medicine (IRR 0.960, 95% CI: 0.933, 0.967, p< .001) were found to impact scientific production negatively. Hispanic Latin American countries published less than 20% of those with English as their native language (p< .001).

Conclusion

Hispanic Latin America has increased the gross number of publications by almost 60 % from 2017 to 2021. However, the number of publications per 100,000 inhabitants is still low compared to other countries. Our analysis highlights that this may be related to lower GDP, research investment, and less healthcare system quality.

A global bibliometric analysis of research productivity on vaccine hesitancy from 1974 to 2019

Vaccine hesitancy is a phenomenon where individuals delay or refuse to take some or all vaccines. The objective of this study was to conduct a global bibliometric analysis of research productivity and identify country level indicators that could be associated with publications on vaccine hesitancy. We searched PubMed and Web of Science for publications from 1974 to 2019, and selected articles focused on behavioral and social aspects of vaccination. Data on country-level indicators were obtained from the World Bank. We used Spearman’s correlation and zero-inflated negative-binomial regression models to ascertain the association between country level indicators and the number of publications. We identified 4314 articles, with 1099 eligible for inclusion. The United States of America (461 publications, 41.9%), Canada (84 publications, 7.6%) and the United Kingdom (68 publications, 6.2%) had the highest number of publications. Although various country indicators had significant correlations with vaccine hesitancy publications, only gross domestic product (GDP) and gross national income (GNI) per capita were independent positive predictors of the number of publications. When the number of publications were standardized by GDP, the Gambia, Somalia and Malawi ranked highest in decreasing order. The United States, Canada and United Kingdom ranked highest (in that order) when standardized by current health expenditure. Overall, high-income countries were more productive in vaccine hesitancy research than low-and-middle-income countries. There is a need for more investment in research on vaccine hesitancy in low-and-middle-income countries.

Bibliometric study of articles on skeletal Class II malocclusions published in four high impact factor journals

OBJECTIVE

Perform a bibliometric analysis of the orthodontic literature on skeletal Class II malocclusions during the first decade of the 21st century.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A retrospective, observational, and comprehensive study ranging from January the first 2001 to December 31 2010, based on the articles published in four high impact factor orthodontic journals: Angle Orthod, OCR, EJO, and AJODO (Quotation Report Newspaper of the Scientific Information Institute).

RESULTS

In the 4565 reviewed articles, only 338 were published on Class II malocclusions. Brazil, the United States, Turkey, and Germany are the nationalities, which have published the most. The cross-sectional descriptive studies represent 33%, randomized clinical trials (RCTs) 10.5%, meta-analyses 0.3%.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Kanavakis et al. (2006) reported 72.34% of original articles, 2.83% of synthetic reviews, 8.89% of case reports, and 15.75% of unclassifiable articles. In conclusion, searchers in Orthodontics are invited to publish more clinical trials on skeletal Class II malocclusions.

Temporal trend, geographic distribution, and publication quality in asbestos research

Asbestos is a well-known cause of cancer and respiratory diseases. The aim of the current study was to investigate the scientific production in asbestos research evaluating temporal trend, geographic distribution, impact factor (IF) of published literature, and taking into account socioeconomic variables. The PubMed database was searched starting from 1970. Publication numbers and IF were evaluated as absolute values and after standardization by population and gross domestic product (GDP). Six thousand nine hundred seven articles related to asbestos were retrieved. Publications grew steeply in the 1970s, leveled off in the 1980s, decreased in the 1990s, and then increased again. Mesothelioma, lung neoplasms, and occupational diseases are the most commonly used keywords. In the period of 1988-2011, 4220 citations were retrieved, 3187 of whom had an impact factor. The US, Italy, and the UK were the most productive countries. European countries published about 20 % more asbestos-related articles than the US, although the latter reached a higher mean IF, ranking second after Australia. When the national scientific production (sum of IF) was compared taking into account socioeconomic variables, Australia and Scandinavian countries performed very well, opposite to all main asbestos producers like Russia, China, and Brazil (except for Canada). The American Journal of Industrial Medicine and the Italian La Medicina del Lavoro published the highest numbers of articles. This study provides the first bibliometric analysis of scientific production in asbestos research. Interest appears to be higher in selected countries, with strong national features, and is growing again in the new millennium.

Increasing the value of health research in the WHO African Region beyond 2015--reflecting on the past, celebrating the present and building the future: a bibliometric analysis

OBJECTIVE

To assess the profile and determinants of health research productivity in Africa since the onset of the new millennium.

DESIGN

Bibliometric analysis.

DATA COLLECTION AND SYNTHESIS

In November 2014, we searched PubMed for articles published between 2000 and 2014 from the WHO African Region, and obtained country-level indicators from World Bank data. We used Poisson regression to examine time trends in research publications and negative binomial regression to explore determinants of research publications.

RESULTS

We identified 107,662 publications, with a median of 727 per country (range 25-31,757). Three countries (South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya) contributed 52% of the publications. The number of publications increased from 3623 in 2000 to 12,709 in 2014 (relative growth 251%). Similarly, the per cent share of worldwide research publications per year increased from 0.7% in 2000 to 1.3% in 2014. The trend analysis was also significant to confirm a continuous increase in health research publications from Africa, with productivity increasing by 10.3% per year (95% CIs +10.1% to +10.5%). The only independent predictor of publication outputs was national gross domestic product. For every one log US$ billion increase in gross domestic product, research publications rose by 105%: incidence rate ratio (IRR=2.05, 95% CI 1.39 to 3.04). The association of private health expenditure with publications was only marginally significant (IRR=1.86, 95% CI 1.00 to 3.47).

CONCLUSIONS

There has been a significant improvement in health research in the WHO African Region since 2000, with some individual countries already having strong research profiles. Countries of the region should implement the WHO Strategy on Research for Health: reinforcing the research culture (organisation); focusing research on key health challenges (priorities); strengthening national health research systems (capacity); encouraging good research practice (standards); and consolidating linkages between health research and action (translation).

Top-cited articles in environmental sciences: merits and demerits of citation analysis

The purpose of this study was to identify the top-cited articles published in environmental science journals listed in Journal Citation Reports (JCR). The Web of Science database was used to retrieve the top-cited articles having 500 or more total citations from their publication to 2010. The articles were analyzed with regard to institution and country of origin with five indicators including total number of top-cited articles, as well as independent, collaborative, first author, and corresponding author articles. Article life was also investigated for history of impact of articles. Results showed that 88 articles were cited more than 500 times. These articles appeared in 26 different journals, with 28% of all top-cited articles in Environmental Science & Technology, followed by Water Resources Research. The top-cited articles published since 1971 to 2002 were from 17 countries. The USA published the most of the articles and was ranked on top among the five indicators. The U.S. Geological Survey was the most productive institution while, the Brunel University, UK published the most inter-institutionally collaborative and corresponding author articles under environmental science category.

Bibliometric assessment of publication output of child and adolescent psychiatric/psychological affiliations between 2005 and 2010 based on the databases PubMed and Scopus

We aimed to determine the quantitative scientific publication output of child and adolescent psychiatric/psychological affiliations during 2005-2010 by country based on both, "PubMed" and "Scopus" and performed a bibliometric qualitative evaluation for 2009 using "PubMed". We performed our search by affiliation related to child and adolescent psychiatric/psychological institutions using "PubMed". For the quantitative analysis for 2005-2010, we counted the number of abstracts. For the qualitative analysis for 2009 we derived the impact factor of each abstract's journal from "Journal Citation Reports". We related total impact factor scores to the gross domestic product (GDP) and population size of each country. Additionally, we used "Scopus" to determine the number of abstracts for each country that was identified via "PubMed" for 2009 and compared the ranking of countries between the two databases. 61 % of the publications between 2005 and 2010 originated from European countries and 26 % from the USA. After adjustment for GDP and population size, the ranking positions changed in favor of smaller European countries with a population size of less than 20 million inhabitants. The ranking of countries for the count of articles in 2009 as derived from "Scopus" was similar to that identified via the "PubMed" search. The performed search revealed only minor differences between "Scopus" and "PubMed" related to the ranking of countries. Our data indicate a sharp difference between countries with a high versus low GDP with regard to scientific publication output in child and adolescent psychiatry/psychology.

Radiological research activity 1998-2007: relationship to gross domestic product, health expenditure and public expenditure on education

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship of the radiological research activity from 1998 to 2007 to the gross domestic product (GDP), health expenditure and public expenditure on education. METHODS: The population-adjusted research activity determined by the number of articles published, the cumulative impact factor (IF) and the cumulative IF per capita were correlated with per capita values of the GDP, health expenditure and public education expenditure. Linear regression analysis and multiple regression analysis were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The cumulative IF per capita correlated with the GDP per capita (R = 0.94, P < 0.0001), health expenditure per capita (R = 0.93, P < 0.0001) and public expenditure on education per capita (R = 0.93, P < 0.0001). Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that public expenditure on education was an independent predictor of radiological research activity (P < 0.001), whereas the year, GDP and health expenditure did not reach statistical significance (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Radiological research activity demonstrates a close relationship to the GDP, health expenditure and public expenditure on education. The last factor independently predicts research activity.

Estimates of global research productivity in gynecologic oncology

BACKGROUND

Societies worldwide invest considerably in research on oncological diseases of women. However, current literature lacks estimating this research production. We therefore evaluated quality and quantity of publications in gynecologic oncology.

METHODS

Revisit of 6119 peer-reviewed articles published in Gynecologic Oncology and the International Journal of Gynecological Cancer from January 1996 to December 2006. Descriptive data on disease origin, main topic, and country of origin were collected and analyzed separately. Research productivity was adjusted to the national population and nominal gross domestic product per capita.

RESULTS

Research production and international cooperative teamwork in the 2 main journals of gynecologic oncology increased within the 10 last years; 65.3% of all published articles dealt either with epithelial ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, or endometrial cancer. Endometrial cancer had the worst ratio number of publications to estimated national incidence (United States, 2007). The United States (41.15%) and Europe (29.72%) make up a striking 70.87% of the world's research production in the field of gynecologic oncology. However, the highest rate of increase shows in Turkey (22.5), the People's Republic of China (6.87), and South Korea (5.83). Adjusted to the national GDP per capita and population for the year 2006, research productivity seems best in Israel, Austria, and Turkey.

CONCLUSION

Quantitatively, most publications come from the presumed countries. Within the limits of the methodology used in this study, adjustment to population and GDP per capita provides information on research output. The scientific output on endometrial cancer is comparably low.

Headache Disorders in Developing Countries: Research Over The Past Decade

The majority of people with primary headache disorders live in the developing world. The contribution of low and middle income (LAMI) countries to headache research has not been previously characterized. A search was performed for clinical research publications between the years 1997 and 2006, using the search terms ‘headache’ OR ‘headache disorders’ AND ‘primary’ OR ‘migraine’ AND ‘each of the LAMI countries’ in 67 databases. Articles in English or with abstracts in English translation were included. These publications were scrutinized for study characteristics. Two hundred and twenty-seven publications from 32 LAMI countries were found. Half (50.2±) of these were from three middle-income countries (Brazil, Turkey and Iran), whereas 24 (10.6±) came from low-income countries. Most of the research focused on migraine. Only 29.5± of the articles involved treatment of headache. The understanding of headache disorders in LAMI countries is derived from a limited number of publications from relatively few countries. Identifying gaps in headache research in the developing world is strategic for targeting research policy.

Public health citation patterns: an analysis of the American Journal of Public Health, 2003-2005

OBJECTIVES

The research sought to determine the publication types cited most often in public health as well as the most heavily cited journal titles.

METHODS

From a pool of 33,449 citations in 934 articles published in the 2003-2005 issues of American Journal of Public Health, 2 random samples were drawn: one (n = 1,034) from the total set of citations and one (n = 1,016) from the citations to journal articles. For each sampled citation, investigators noted publication type, publication date, uniform resource locator (URL) citation (yes/no), and, for the journal article sample, journal titles. The cited journal titles were analyzed using Bradford zones.

RESULTS

The majority of cited items from the overall sample of 1,034 items were journal articles (64.4%, n = 666), followed by government documents (n = 130), books (n = 122), and miscellaneous sources (n = 116). Publication date ranged from 1826-2005 (mean = 1995, mode = 2002). Most cited items were between 0 and 5 years old (50.3%, n = 512). In the sample of 1,016 journal article citations, a total of 387 journal titles were cited.

DISCUSSION

Analysis of cited material types revealed results similar to citation analyses in specific public health disciplines, including use of materials from a wide range of disciplines, reliance on miscellaneous and government documents, and need for older publications.

A bibliometric analysis of scientific production in cancer molecular epidemiology

OBJECTIVES

The main purpose of this research was to compare the scientific production in the field of cancer molecular epidemiology among countries and to evaluate the publication trend between 1995 and 2004.

METHODS

A bibliometric study was carried out searching the PubMed database with a combined search strategy based on the keywords listed in the medical subject headings and a free text search. Only articles from a representative subset of 92 journals--accounting for 80% of papers identified--were selected for the analysis, and the resulting 13,240 abstracts were manually checked according to a list of basic inclusion criteria. The study evaluated the number of publications and the impact factor (mean and sum), absolute and normalized by country population and gross domestic product.

RESULTS

A total of 3,842 citations were finally selected for the analysis. Thirty-seven percent came from the European Union (UK, Germany, Italy, France and Sweden ranking at the top), 31.6% from USA and 9.7% from Japan. The highest mean impact factor was reported for Canada (6.3), USA (5.9), Finland (5.8) and UK (5.2). Finland, Sweden and Israel had the best ratio between scientific production and available resources. 'Genetic polymorphism, glutathione transferase, breast neoplasm, risk factors, case-control studies and polymerase chain reaction' were the most used keywords in each of the subgroups evaluated, although inclusion criteria may have privileged studies dealing with exogenous carcinogens.

CONCLUSION

Cancer molecular epidemiology is an expanding area attracting an increasing interest. The identification of an operative definition is a necessary condition to give to this discipline a unique scientific identity.

A bibliometric analysis by geographic area of published research in several biomedical fields, 1995-2003

We summarized the findings of several studies of ours to compare the quantity and quality of published research from around the world for the years 1995 to 2003. We evaluated the number of articles published and their mean journal impact factor. We also studied the research productivity of various areas adjusted for gross domestic product (GDP) and population. We found that Western Europe leads the world in published research on infectious diseases-microbiology (82,342 articles [38.8%]) and in cardiopulmonary medicine (67,783 articles [39.5%]), whereas the United States ranks first in the fields of preventive medicine, public health and epidemiology both in quantity (23,918 articles [49.1%]) and quality of published papers. However, after adjustments for GDP, Canada ranked first, with the United States and Oceania following closely behind. All of the developing regions had only small research contributions in all of the biomedical fields examined.

A bibliometric analysis of global trends of research productivity in tropical medicine

The field of tropical medicine has a long history due to the significance of the relevant diseases for the humanity. We estimated the contribution of different world regions to research published in the main journals of tropical medicine. Using the PubMed and the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) "Web of Science" databases, we retrieved articles from 12 journals included in the "Tropical Medicine" category of the "Journal Citation Reports" database of ISI for the period 1995-2003. Data on the country of origin of the research were available for 11,860 articles in PubMed (98.1% of all articles from the tropical medicine category). The contribution of different world regions during the studied period, as estimated by the location of the affiliation of the first author, was: Western Europe 22.7%, Africa 20.9%, Latin America and the Caribbean 20.7%, Asia (excluding Japan) 19.8%, USA 10.6%, Oceania 2.1%, Japan 1.5%, Eastern Europe 1.3%, and Canada 0.6%. The contribution of regions, estimated by the location of the affiliation of at least one author of the published papers (retrieved from the ISI database), was similar: Western Europe 36.6%, Africa 27.7%, Latin America and the Caribbean 24.4%, and Asia 23.3%. The mean impact factor of articles published in tropical medicine journals was highest for the USA (1.65). Our analysis suggests that the developing areas of the world produce a considerable amount of research in tropical medicine; however, given the specific geographic distribution of tropical diseases they probably still need help by the developed nations to produce more research in this field.