A bibliometric analysis of global research production in respiratory medicine

Level of evidence and characteristics of clinical studies published in leading prosthodontics journals

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Data on the level of evidence and the characteristics of studies published in peer-reviewed prosthodontic journals are lacking.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics and level of evidence (LOE) scores of studies published in 3 leading peer-reviewed prosthodontic journals.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Clinical studies published in the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry (JPD), the Journal of Prosthodontics (JP), and the International Journal of Prosthodontics (IJP) in 2013 and 2020 were included in the analysis. Abstracts, letters to the editor, book reviews, and animal and laboratory studies were excluded from the investigation. For each study, design, type and LOE scores (Levels 1 to 5), publication year, impact factor (IF) of the journals, geographic origins of the first and corresponding authors, and funding status were recorded. Level 1 and Level 2 were defined as high evidence (HE), and Level 3, Level 4, and Level 5 were defined as low evidence (LE). Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were performed (α=.05).

RESULTS

Among the 439 studies included in the analysis, the proportion of HE and LE studies was 14.1% and 85.9%, respectively. According to univariate and multivariate analysis results, year of publication (P=.010 and P=.029), geographic origin of the corresponding author (P<.001), and funding status (P<.001 and P=.002) were significantly associated with the LOE of a study. However, the journal IF was not associated with LOE (P=.328).

CONCLUSIONS

Although the number of HE studies in 3 leading prosthodontic journals has increased over time, the total number was still limited compared with LE studies. A further improvement in the overall LOE of clinical studies in prosthodontics is needed.

Emerging trends in research on perineal trauma management: A bibliometric analysis of articles published since 1985

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this bibliometric analysis is to explore global trends in scientific research involving spontaneous perineal tears sustained during childbirth. This research is critical as a significant number of women have vaginal lacerations after birth resulting in complications such as pain and pelvic floor dysfunction.

METHODS

The articles used in this bibliometric analysis were collected from PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane library and Scopus. Analysis was carried out in Python and R programming languages with some visualizations created using VOS software. Apart from traditional methods, this analysis also involved time series forecasting and assessment of rolling correlations.

RESULTS

Results indicate authors and institutions from the United Kingdom as the most productive in the research on this subject research. National level analyses for six countries showed that productivity was positively correlated with GDP/capita, average health expenditure and negatively associated with proportion of C-sections. Recent and emerging themes include those involving pharmacological interventions for pain management.

CONCLUSION

There is a growing global interest in the research on postnatal perineal trauma with authors from the UK playing a leading role so far. Countries with high vaginal birth rates, need to promote research in this field to minimise trauma-associated comorbidities.

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.

Trends and hotspots related to traditional and modern approaches on acupuncture for stroke: A bibliometric and visualization analysis

BACKGROUND

Acupuncture role in stroke treatment and post-stroke rehabilitation has garnered significant attention. However, there is a noticeable gap in bibliometric studies on this topic. Additionally, the precision and comprehensive methodology of cluster analysis remain underexplored. This research sought to introduce an innovative cluster analysis technique (called follower-leading clustering algorithm, FLCA) to evaluate global publications and trends related to acupuncture for stroke in the recent decade.

METHODS

Publications pertaining to acupuncture for stroke from 2013 to 2022 were sourced from the Web of Science Core Collection. For the assessment of publication attributes-including contributing countries/regions (e.g., US states, provinces, and major cities in China) in comparison to others, institutions, departments, authors, journals, and keywords-we employed bibliometric visualization tools combined with the FLCA algorithm. The analysis findings, inclusive of present research status, prospective trends, and 3 influential articles, were presented through bibliometrics with visualizations.

RESULTS

We identified 1050 publications from 92 countries/regions. An initial gradual rise in publication numbers was observed until 2019, marking a pivotal juncture. Prominent contributors in research, based on criteria such as regions, institutions, departments, and authors, were Beijing (China), Beijing Univ Chinese Med (China), the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, and Lidian Chen (Fujian). The journal "Evid.-based Complement Altern" emerged as the most productive. The FLCA algorithm was effectively employed for co-word and author collaboration analyses. Furthermore, we detail the prevailing research status, anticipated trends, and 3 standout articles via bibliometrics.

CONCLUSION

Acupuncture for stroke presents a vast research avenue. It is imperative for scholars from various global regions and institutions to transcend academic boundaries to foster dialogue and cooperation. For forthcoming bibliometric investigations, the application of the FLCA algorithm for cluster analysis is advocated.

HIV research output in African Countries between 1986-2020

HIV literature has grown exponentially since it was named the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Bibliometric analysis is a practical approach for quantitatively and qualitatively assessing scientific research. This work aims to describe HIV research output in Africa by country from 1986 until 2020. We conducted a search of the PubMed database in June 2021 for a 35-year period spanning 1986 to 2020. We comparatively weighed for countries' populations, gross domestic product (GDP), and the number of persons living with HIV (PLHIV) by calculating the ratio of the number of publications from each country. We used Poisson regression models to explore the trends in countries' HIV research output over the study period. The Pearson correlation analysis assessed the association between research output, population size, GDP, and the number of PLHIV.A total of 83,527 articles from African countries on HIV indexed in PubMed were included for analysis. Republic of South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria account for 54% of the total indexed publications with 33.2% (26,907); 8.4% (7,045); 7.3% (6,118); and 5.1% (4,254), respectively. Africa's proportion of the world's total HIV publications increased from 5.1% in 1986 to 31.3% in 2020. There was a strong positive and statistically significant correlation between the total indexed HIV publications and countries' GDP (r = 0.59, P<0.01), population (r = 0.58, P<0.01), and the estimated number of PLHIV (r = 0.72, P<0.01). The study found that Africa's contribution to global HIV research output increased over the 35 years, but it remains relatively low compared to the continent's burden of HIV infections. Our findings also revealed major differences in research output across sub-regions in Africa, with the Republic of South Africa having the highest output. The factors associated with HIV research output were economic strength, disease epidemiology, and population size.

Respiratory muscle training: a bibliometric analysis of 60 years' multidisciplinary journey

BACKGROUND

Over the decades, many publications have established respiratory muscle training (RMT) as an effective way in improving respiratory dysfunction in multiple populations. The aim of the paper is to determine the trend of research and multidisciplinary collaboration in publications related to RMT over the last 6 decades. The authors also sought to chart the advancement of RMT among people with spinal cord injury (SCI) over the last 60 years.

METHODS

Bibliometric analysis was made, including the publications' profiles, citation analysis and research trends of the relevant literature over the last 60 years. Publications from all time frames were retrieved from Scopus database. A subgroup analysis of publications pertinent to people with SCI was also made.

RESULTS

Research on RMT has been steadily increasing over the last 6 decades and across geographical locations. While medicine continues to dominate the research on RMT, this topic also continues to attract researchers and publications from other areas such as engineering, computer science and social science over the last 10 years. Research collaboration between authors in different backgrounds was observed since 2006. Source titles from non-medical backgrounds have also published articles pertinent to RMT. Among people with SCI, researchers utilised a wide range of technology from simple spirometers to electromyography in both intervention and outcome measures. With various types of interventions implemented, RMT generally improves pulmonary function and respiratory muscle strength among people with SCI.

CONCLUSIONS

While research on RMT has been steadily increasing over the last 6 decades, more collaborations are encouraged in the future to produce more impactful and beneficial research on people who suffer from respiratory disorders.

Spanish Journal of Finance and Accounting (SJFA): Mapping of Knowledge over the Last 25 Years

The Spanish Journal of Finance and Accounting (SJFA) is a leading international journal in the field of accounting and finance, which was founded in 1972 with the aim of serving as a platform for dissemination at the service of academics, researchers and accounting and business professionals. The aim of this research is to examine the development of the SJFA journal from its creation to the present day, with the purpose of identifying the journal’s trend through published articles, authors, the most productive institutions and countries, and research topics, as well as citation patterns (most cited papers and typology of citing articles). The methodology used is bibliometric analysis and the data on which the bibliometric indicators are applied are taken from the Scopus database. This study also develops a graphical mapping of the bibliometric material by using the visualisation of similarities software. These graphs represent keyword co-occurrence, citation and co-citation analysis, and Journal Co-citation Analysis. The results show a significant growth of the journal over time, both in terms of the number and diversity of documents published and citations received, which has contributed to the positive evolution in terms of its impact and visibility. It is noteworthy that the journal is becoming more geographically diverse. The main topics covered in the journal are accounting and auditing management, and performance management. Papers dealing with topics related to management accounting, auditing, and management control, together with earnings management, accounting history and accounting regulation, stand out in terms of number of papers. Both topics are mediated by the subject of corporate governance.

Global research trends on precision oncology: A systematic review, bibliometrics, and visualized study

BACKGROUND

Advances in next-generation sequencing technologies are changing the ways cancer diagnosis and treatment, which leads to a new branch of precision medicine: "Precision Oncology". This study aims to deliver a structured overview to carry out a bibliometric analysis of precision oncology research over the past 10 years retrospectively.

METHODS

Bibliometric methods including clustering analysis and co-occurrence visualized study were conducted based on publications of academic databases Web of Science Main Collection from 1st January 2012, to 31st December 2021. This study analyzed the information about related research outputs, countries, institutions, authors, cited papers, and hot topics.

RESULTS

7163 papers related to precision oncology were identified. Since 2014, the number of articles has proliferated, and oncology precision has attracted significant attention from scholars worldwide in recent years. The USA leads the research in this field, and the League of European Research Universities is the primary research institution. Research institutions from Asia paid more attention to this field through high-level international cooperation. Besides, there are still many issues expected to be explored and evaluated correctly. Such as the considerable uncertainty that pharmacogenomic methods have no significant influence on patient outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Precision oncology serves as an essential method in clinical treatment, and is closely related to biological study, including biochemistry, molecular and genetics, advanced technology, and pharmacology discovery. The future research prospect would be the broad involvement of social participation and global cooperation in oncology precision research to acquire better results via the balance of technology and public health policy.

Randomized Controlled Trials of Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Interventions Over the Past Two Decades: A Bibliometric Analysis

Introduction: The past several years have witnessed a significant increase in interest among the public in mindfulness with an unmistakable growth in the scientific literature investigating mindfulness-based therapies. A myriad of therapeutic uses of mindfulness have been studied. Given this burgeoning interest, the authors' objective was to conduct a broad-sweeping bibliometric analysis over the past two decades to describe overarching trends in the publications of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating mindfulness to broadly identify both strengths and gaps in this field and inform a strategic plan for further advancing this research area. Materials and Methods: The authors retrieved mindfulness-focused RCTs available on PubMed in the past two decades (2000-2019). They synthesized the literature with respect to publication numbers, countries of publication, journal type, areas of research focus, characteristics of study designs, sample size, and trends in remote intervention delivery. Results: The resulting 1389 publications represent a near exponential growth trend over the past 20 years. Publications from the top three countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands) with the highest productivity accounted for 60% of total number of publications. The most published modalities include acceptance-based therapy (n = 260), mindfulness-based stress reduction (n = 238), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (n = 174), and dialectical behavior therapy (n = 82). Stress, depression, anxiety, pain, cancer, diet/healthy eating, and sleep were the most common major areas of focus. Studies included active (46%) or inactive controls (44%), and increasingly more studies with both types of controls (10%). The top 10 journals that published the most mindfulness RCTs were from behavioral sciences and psychiatry or psychology. There were 187 RCTs utilizing remote delivery, with 146 (87.1%) in the most recent 5 years. Conclusion: Publications of mindfulness-focused RCTs show a continuous increasing trend. Mindfulness research from non-Western countries and studies published in biomedical journals were less prevalent and potentially represent future opportunities. Trends of studies with both inactive and active controls support an overall advancement in research methodology. There has been a significant expansion of studies of remotely delivered mindfulness interventions. Future research might consider evaluation of a broader range of modalities and further examine optimal delivery formats.

Beyond the metrics of health research performance in African countries

While it is important to be able to evaluate and measure a country's performance in health research (HR), HR systems are complex and multifaceted in nature. As such, attempts at measurement can suffer several limitations which risk leading to inadequate indices or representations. In this study, we critically review common indicators of HR capacity and performance and explore their strengths and limitations. The paper is informed by review of data sources and documents, combined with interviews and peer-to-peer learning activities conducted with officials working in health and education ministries in a set of nine African countries. We find that many metrics that can assess HR performance have gaps in the conceptualisation or fail to address local contextual realities, which makes it a challenge to interpret them in relation to other theoretical constructs. Our study identified several concepts that are excluded from current definitions of indicators and systems of metrics for HR performance. These omissions may be particularly important for interpreting HR performance within the context and processes of HR in African countries, and thus challenging the relevance, utility, appropriateness and acceptability of universal measures of HR in the region. We discuss the challenges that scholars may find in conceptualising such a complex phenomenon-including the different and competing viewpoints of stakeholders, in setting objectives of HR measurement work, and in navigating the realities of empirical measurement where missing or partial data may necessitate that proxies or alternative indicators may be chosen. These findings are important to ensure that the global health community does not rely on over-simplistic evaluations of HR when analysing and planning for improvements in low-income and middle-income countries.

Characteristics of Publications on Occupational Stress: Contributions and Trends

This study aimed to analyze the bibliometric characteristics of the publications on occupational stress and highlight key research topics and future trends. The Web of Science Core Collection database was searched to collect publications on occupational stress, from inception to December 9, 2020. Two authors independently screened eligible literature and extracted the data. Bibliometric analyses were performed using VOSviewer 1.6.6 and R 3.6.3 software. Overall, 6,564 publications on occupational stress were included. “Stress,” with a total link strength of 1,252, appeared as the most co-occurrence keyword, followed by “occupational stress,” “job stress,” and “job satisfaction.” All studies were published between 1956 and 2020. Among them, 6,176 (94.35%) papers were written in English, and 4,706 (70.25%) were original articles. The top three Web of Science categories were “public environmental occupational health” (n = 1,711), “psychology, applied” (n = 846), and “psychology, multidisciplinary” (n = 650). The 100 top-cited articles were mentioned a total of 36,145 times, with a median of 361, ranging from 174 to 5,574. The United States was the most productive country, with 1,780 publications. The main partners of the United States were England and China. Three themes of occupational stress research were identified: job satisfaction, burnout, and occupational stress-related health problems. This bibliometric analysis provides a comprehensive understanding of the trends and most influential contributions to the field of occupational stress, thus promoting ideas for future research.

Evolutions of the Management of Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastasis: A Bibliometric Analysis

Background: Tremendous progress has been made in the treatment of colorectal cancer liver metastasis (CRCLM) in recent decades, and thousands of papers have been published. Therefore, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of articles related to CRCLM treatment to explore its evolution. Materials and Methods: The Clarivate Analytics Web of Science (WOS) Core Collection database was searched through June 2020 using terms related to CRCLM treatment. We analyzed the bibliographic information of the literature related to CRCLM treatment and explored the research topics to understand its evolution over time. Results: We identified 3436 records related to CRCLM treatment in the WOS database. The total number of times these documents were cited ranged 0-2352, and the years of publication spanned 1976-2020. The greatest numbers of articles were published in the United States, Japan, and France. Among institutions, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Oslo University Hospital published the most articles. Regarding authors, Jarnagin WR, Adam R, Vauthey JN published the most articles. The research topics of these articles included systemic chemotherapy, molecular targeted therapy, the outcome of liver resection, prognosis prediction, hepatic artery infusion, radiofrequency ablation, and two-stage hepatectomy. Conclusion: Bibliometric analysis of studies related to CRCLM treatment can help doctors and researchers quickly understand the development trend in this field. These data emphasize the current management of patients with CRCLM, and they can potentially guide the direction of future research.

Using Kano diagrams to display the most cited article types, affiliated countries, authors and MeSH terms on spinal surgery in recent 12 years

Background

Citation analysis has been increasingly applied to assess the quantity and quality of scientific research in various fields worldwide. However, these analyses on spinal surgery do not provide visualization of results. This study aims (1) to evaluate the worldwide research citations and publications on spinal surgery and (2) to provide visual representations using Kano diagrams onto the research analysis for spinal surgeons and researchers.

Methods

Article abstracts published between 2007 and 2018 were downloaded from PubMed Central (PMC) in 5 journals, including Spine, European Spine Journal, The Spine Journal, Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, and Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques. The article types, affiliated countries, authors, and Medical subject headings (MeSH terms) were analyzed by the number of article citations using x-index. Choropleth maps and Kano diagrams were applied to present these results. The trends of MeSH terms over the years were plotted and analyzed.

Results

A total of 18,808 publications were extracted from the PMC database, and 17,245 were affiliated to countries/areas. The 12-year impact factor for the five spine journals is 5.758. We observed that (1) the largest number of articles on spinal surgery was from North America (6417, 37.21%). Spine earns the highest x-index (= 82.96). Comparative Study has the highest x-index (= 66.74) among all article types. (2) The United States performed exceptionally in x-indexes (= 56.86 and 44.5) on both analyses done on the total 18,808 and the top 100 most cited articles, respectively. The most influential author whose x-index reaches 15.11 was Simon Dagenais from the US. (3) The most cited MeSH term with an x-index of 23.05 was surgery based on the top 100 most cited articles. The most cited article (PMID = 18164449) was written by Dagenais and his colleagues in 2008. The most productive author was Michael G. Fehlings, whose x-index and the author's impact factor are 13.57(= √(13.16*14)) and 9.86(= 331.57/33.64), respectively.

Conclusions

There was a rapidly increasing scientific productivity in the field of spinal surgery in the past 12 years. The US has extraordinary contributions to the publications. Furthermore, China and Japan have increasing numbers of publications on spinal surgery. This study with Kano diagrams provides an insight into the research for spinal surgeons and researchers.

Multidimensional indicators of scholarly impact in the skin oncology literature: is there a correlation between bibliometric and altmetric profiles?

Introduction: Bibliometric and altmetric analyses are used to identify landmark publications in their respective research field. We hypothesised that highly cited skin oncology articles correlate positively with the Oxford Evidence Based Medicine scoring level, altmetric score (AS) and rank within the top 100 manuscripts.Methods: Thomson Reuter's Web of Science citation indexing database was searched to identify all English-language skin oncology full-text articles in the last 75 years. The top 100 articles with the highest citation count were analysed by subject matter, publishing journal, author, year, institution, individual and five-year impact factor, AS and Oxford EBM level. Results: 180,132 articles were identified. The most cited article (Hodi et al.) demonstrated improved survival with ipilimumab in patients with metastatic melanoma (7894 citations). The article with the highest AS was Esteva et al. (AS = 576.7, 'dermatologist-level classification of skin cancer with deep neural networks'). No difference was found between evidence level and citation count (r = -0.1239, p = 0.2291), but a significant difference was seen for AS (r = -0.3024, p = 0.0028). AS scores increased over time, whereas bibliometrics did not. Conclusion: This work highlights the most influential work in the skin oncology field in the last 75 years. We have identified a differential relationship between commonly used metrics and evidence level in the field of skin oncology. As the digitalisation of research output and consumption increases, both bibliometric and altmetric analyses need to be considered when an article's impact is being assessed.

Does the mobility of scientists disrupt their collaboration stability?

To explore to what extent the mobility of scientists disrupts the stability of their research collaboration, we designed a measure − Collaboration Stability After Moving ( CSAM) − for scientists, retrieved 4343 US-related scientists’ curricula vitae (CVs) from the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) website and publication records in the Web of Science database and applied a linear regression model to the dataset. Our findings include the following: (1) the more times a scientist moved, the more she or he is inclined to co-author with previous collaborators, (2) cross-country mobility disrupts the stability of research collaboration more than domestic mobility and (3) the stability of research collaboration correlates with scientists’ cultural background, cross-country work experience and research areas.

A Bibliometric Diagnosis and Analysis about Smart Cities

This article aims to present a bibliometric analysis of Smart Cities. The study analyzes the most important journals during the period between 1991 and 2019. It provides helpful insights into the document types, the distribution of countries/territories, the distribution of institutions, the authors’ geographical distribution, the most active authors and their research interests or fields, the relationships between principal authors and more relevant publications, and the most cited articles. This paper also provides important information about the core and historical references and the most cited papers. The analysis used the keywords and thematic noun-phrases in the titles and abstracts of the sample papers to explore the hot research topics in the top journals (e.g., ‘Smart Cities’, ‘Intelligent Cities’, ‘Sustainable Cities’, ‘e-Government’, ‘Digital Transformation’, ‘Knowledge-Based City’, etc.). The main objective is to have a quantitative description of the published literature about Smart Cities; this description will be the basis for the development of a methodology for the diagnosis of the maturity of a Smart City. The results presented here help to define the scientific concept of Smart Cities and to measure the importance that the term has gained through the years. The study has allowed us to know the main indicators of the published literature in depth, from the date of publication of the first articles and the evolution of these indicators to the present day. From the main indicators in the literature, some were selected to be applied: The most influential journals on Smart Cities according to the general citation structure in Smart Cities, Global Impact Factor of Smart Cities, number of publications, publications on Smart Cities around the world, and their correlation.

The Journal of Family Business Management: a bibliometric analysis

Purpose

The Journal of Family Business Management was established in 2011 as the premier source of research related to family business from a management perspective. The journal has progressed to become one of the most important sources for emerging and novel information related to family business so it is important to analyse its history in order to make progress with future research. The goal of this article is to statistically analyse through bibliometric techniques the changes occurring in the journal.

Design/methodology/approach

This article presents a bibliometric analysis of the journal that can help analyse past performance but also predict future trends. The analysis presents information on the most cited authors, institutions and journals, which indicates the international diversity of the journal. In addition, the most used keywords and article topics are presented that help to understand the main themes discussed in the journal.

Findings

The statistical analysis suggests that whilst there is a tendency to publish more European and North American research on family business, this is changing with countries from South America, Oceania and Asia increasing their representation in the journal. In addition, the topics covered in the journal have stayed the same in terms of focussing on family and family business practices but also expanded to include more research on entrepreneurship and innovation.

Research limitations/implications

A bibliometric analysis technique was used thus there are some limitations in terms of the type of methodology and focus only on published articles in the journal. As articles in press were not included this is an area that could be addressed in future research.

Practical implications

As evident in the most published institutions in this journal, family business institutes can gain from research conducted on family business management. This means that family business managers should try to collaborate with research institutions on emerging new areas that require solutions.

Originality/value

This article presents some suggestions for future research that will help guide more research into areas that are currently under-represented in the journal and emerging topics that are likely to garner interest.

The Impact of Open-Access Status on Journal Indices: Respiratory and Pulmonology Journals

Background:

Open access (OA) publishing is rapidly emerging in almost all disciplines, with variable intensity and effect on the discipline itself. The move toward OA is also observed in the field of respiratory and pulmonology, where both OA data repositories and OA journals are rapidly emerging.

Objective:

we aim to study the open-access status of respiratory and pulmonology journals and the impact of the open-access status on journal indices.

Methods:

We collected journal’s data from Scopus Source List on 1st of November 2018. We filtered the list for respiratory and pulmonology journals. Open Access Journals covered by Scopus are recognized as Open Access if the journal is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and/or the Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources (ROAD). For each journal, we used several metrics to measure its strength, and then we compared these metrics between OA and non- OA journals.

Results:

There were 125 respiratory and pulmonology journals, a number that has increased by 12.6% since 2011. Moreover, the percentage of OA journals has increased from 21.6% to 26.4% during the same period. Non-OA journals have significantly higher scholarly output (p= 0.033), but OA journals have significantly higher percentage of citation (p= 0.05).

Conclusion:

Publishing in OA journals will yield a higher citation percentage compared to non-OA journals. Although this should not be the only reason to publish in an OA journal, it is still an important factor to decide where to publish.

Descriptive bibliometric analysis of global publications in lifestyle-based preventive cardiology

BACKGROUND

Lifestyle-based preventive cardiology aims to combat the global burden of cardiovascular disease. There have been rapid advances in lifestyle and behavioural interventions aimed at preventing cardiovascular disease in individuals at high risk and in the general population. This study is the first bibliometric analysis of publications in the field of lifestyle-based preventive cardiology.

METHODS

Journal articles relating to lifestyle-based preventive cardiology published from 1996 to 2017 were retrieved from the Scopus database. The publications were limited to those in the English language. The data were indexed using bibliometric methodology and exported to Microsoft Excel for analysis. VOS viewer software was used to conduct co-occurrence and collaboration analysis between authors, institutions and countries.

RESULTS

A total of 3300 publications were identified. The annual growth rate of publications increased globally during the study period. The USA made the highest contribution to global publications (1402) and total citation counts (68,540). Harvard Medical School was the most prolific institution and David Wood was the most prolific author in the field. The European Journal of Preventive Cardiology published the largest number of articles in this field. Obesity was the most common theme.

CONCLUSIONS

The current growth trends predict a large increase in the number of global publications on lifestyle-based preventive cardiology. Further research could focus on smoking cessation, which at present is under-represented in lifestyle-based preventive cardiology output.

Global trends and future prospects of food waste research: a bibliometric analysis

The unregulated discharge reams of food waste (FW) causes severe resource loss and environmental pollution. In the present study, a bibliometric analysis was used for research activities and tendencies of food waste from 1991 to 2015. The results indicated that the amount of FW research continually grew by the years, and the number of publications rose significantly from 2012. Bioresource Technology and Waste Management were the two most frequently published journals in the field of FW research. China took a leading position and had a high h-index (38) out of 94 countries/territories, followed by the USA and South Korea. Presently, anaerobic digestion for methane and dark fermentation for hydrogen production are the mainstream techniques in FW disposal. Lactic and ethanol fermentation from FW received more and more attention in recent years. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was an ever-increasingly popular evaluation method for FW-related research. Moreover, cluster analysis indicated microbial community structure, food security, leachate, and pathogens were also the research hotspots.

Worldwide arthroplasty research productivity and contribution of Turkey

Purpose

Bibliometrics is increasingly used to assess the quantity and quality of scientific research output in many research fields worldwide. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have documented the main characteristics of arthroplasty publications from different countries. This study aimed to evaluate the worldwide research productivity and status of Turkey in the field of arthroplasty using bibliometric methods and to provide an insight into the arthroplasty research for surgeons and researchers.

Methods

The Web of Science database was searched to identify arthroplasty articles published between 2006 and 2016. The contributions of countries were evaluated based on publication count, citation average, h-index and publication rate in the top 10 ranked journals. Each countries publication output was adjusted according to population size.

Results

A total of 26.167 articles were identified. World arthroplasty publications were increased significantly over time (p < .005). The United States was the most productive country with 9007 articles (34,4% of total) followed by England with 2939 articles (11,4 of total) and Germany with 1881 articles (7,1% of total). According to average citations per item, Scotland was in the first place followed by Denmark and Sweden, whereas in the first place according to publication output adjusted by population size was Switzerland followed by Denmark and Scotland. The United States was also in the first place according to h-index and publication rate in the top 10 ranked journals. Founding average was 28,8% (7539 of 26164) for the arthroplasty articles that were analyzed in the study.

Conclusion

There is a rapid increase in the number of articles in arthroplasty research from 2006 to 2016. The United States was the most productive country as measured by total publications in the arthroplasty field. However, some small European countries with high in-come have higher quality of articles and better productivity when adjusted for population. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and research foundation had positive affect on arthroplasty publications, both qualitatively and quantitatively.

A 14-year literature survey on spine-related clinical research output by orthopedic surgeons from mainland China

BACKGROUND

In recent years, China is increasingly playing an active role in various fields of biomedical research. Many bibliometric studies have provided valuable insights to different fields of clinical studies. However, similar evaluation on spine surgery-related clinical research is still limited. We herein aimed to examine the scientific publications by orthopedic spine surgeons from mainland China within a 14-year period.

METHODS

Articles were identified in PubMed using predetermined query terms. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and T tests, Chi-squared tests, and regression analysis were conducted on the number of publications, impact factors (IFs), citations, region of the study, and associated medical subject headings (MeSHs).

RESULTS

A total of 1498 articles were identified and the annual number of publications, citations, and IFs all increased exponentially. The average IF was significantly higher in 2007 to 2013 than 2000 to 2006. Most publications were from Shanghai and Beijing and the 5 most productive administrative regions generated 70% of all publications. Analysis of associated MeSHs suggested research topics became more heterogeneous over the study period.

CONCLUSION

This was the first comprehensive evaluation on the clinical research output by orthopedic spine surgeons from mainland China. The annual number of publications and citations both increased significantly; however, research was highly concentrated in a handful of administrative regions.

Diffuse panbronchiolitis research in MEDLINE (1969-2017): Report of a bibliometric analysis

BACKGROUND

Given the well documented and undesired impact of diffuse panbronchiolitis (DPB), there is a need to create a statistical inventory of research output on DPB. The aim of this study was to identify and analyze different trends in publication over time, with technological additions.

METHODS

Articles indexed in MEDLINE regarding DPB were retrieved using PubMed. Citation results were categorized by article type, year of publication, language, and country.

RESULTS

A total of 657 publications, published between 1969 and 2017 were retrieved from PubMed; the year with the highest number of articles published was 1992 (n = 32). Japan accounted for 68.34% (n = 449) publications, followed by the United States of America (USA; 6.70%, n = 44) and China (5.48%, n = 36). English (n = 401) was the most commonly used language in the publications, followed by Japanese (n = 223) and Chinese (n = 16). Articles were published in 218 different journals; The Japanese Journal of Thoracic Diseases published the maximum number of articles, accounting for 13.7% (n = 90) citations. Sugiyama Y was the most productive author and contributed to 12 publications.

CONCLUSIONS

This was the first bibliometric analysis of DPB. Between 1991 and 2000, the number of publications on DPB literature reached a peak, and although the frequency of publication has decreased recently, the quantity of DPB research during the past 48 years is adequate and satisfactory. Overall, the publications on DPB have undergone exponential growth over the last 30 years.

A bibliometric analysis of tuberculosis research, 2007-2016

BACKGROUND

Tuberculosis (TB) research is a key component of the End TB Strategy. To track research output, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of TB research from the past decade.

METHODS

The Web of Science database was searched for publications from January 2007 to December 2016 with "tuberculosis" in the title. References were analysed using the R bibliometrix package. A year-stratified 5% random subset was drawn to extract funding sources and identify research areas.

FINDINGS

The annual growth rate of publications was 7.3%, and was highest (13.1%) among Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS). The USA was the most productive country, with 18.4% of references, followed by India (9.7%), China (7.3%), England (6.5%), and South Africa (3.9%). In the subset analysis, the most common research area was 'fundamental research' (33.8%). Frequently acknowledged funders were US and EU-based, with China and India emerging as top funders. Collaborations appeared more frequently between high-income countries and low/medium income countries (LMICs), with fewer collaborations among LMICs.

CONCLUSION

The past decade has seen a continued increase in TB publications. While USA continues to dominate research output and funding, BRICS countries have emerged as major research producers and funders. Collaborations among BRICS would enhance future TB research productivity.

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.

China's growing contribution to sepsis research from 1984 to 2014: A bibliometric study

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to analyze the global trends of sepsis research and investigate China's contribution by comparing the quantity and quality of sepsis-related publications.

METHODS

Sepsis-related publications were main retrieved from the Web of Science online database by using the keywords "sepsis" or "septic shock." Bibliometric indicators, including the number of publications, total citation frequency, citation frequency per paper, h-index, research type, orientation, organization, author, journal, and funding support were analyzed.

RESULTS

From 1984 to 2014, a total of 70,564 papers regarding sepsis research were published worldwide. 3.60% of which were contributed by authors from Chinese institutions. Although this contribution was less than the Unites States, Germany, England, France or Japan, a notable trend of increase in a number of scientific publications (r  =  0.57, P < .001), with an average annual growth rate of 20.78%, was observed. The quality of the publications was relatively low in China. Basic research was a clear dominant representation, accounting for 50.46% of China's sepsis research. The research centers in China were mainly located in Beijing (5 centers), Shanghai (4 centers), and Hong Kong (3 centers). The National Natural Science Foundation of China supported the most Chinese sepsis researches.

CONCLUSION

Global sepsis research developed swiftly during the 1984 to 2014 period. The USA was in the forefront of sepsis research. Although the data indicated that China had a large increasing rate of publications, there was a considerable gap in the quality of articles between China and other developed countries.

A 30-year bibliometric analysis of research coverage on HIV and AIDS in Lesotho

Background

Given the well documented undesired impacts of HIV/AIDS globally, there is a need to create a statistical inventory of research output on HIV/AIDS. This need is particularly important for a country such as Lesotho, whose HIV/AIDS prevalence is one of the highest globally. Research on HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa continues to trail behind that of other regions, especially those of the developed countries. Lesotho, a sub-Saharan country, is a developing country with lower research output in this area when longitudinally compared to other countries. This study reviewed the volume and scope of the general research output on HIV/AIDS in Lesotho and assessed the coverage of the national research agenda on HIV/AIDS, making recourse to statistical principles.

Methods

A bibliometric review of studies on HIV/AIDS retrieved from the SCOPUS and PubMed databases, published within the 30-year period between 1985 and 2016, was conducted. The focus of each of the studies was analysed and the studies were cross-matched with the national research agenda in accordance with bibliometric methodologies.

Results

In total, 1280 studies comprising 1181 (92.3%) journal articles, 91 (7.1%) books and 8 (0.6%) conference proceedings were retrieved. By proportion, estimation of burden of infection (40.7%) had the highest research volume, while basic (5.5%) and preventive measures (24.4%) and national planning (29.4%) had the lowest. Out of the total studies retrieved, only 516 (40.3%) matched the national research agenda. Research on maternal and child health quality of care, viral load point-of-care devices, and infant point-of-care diagnosis had hardly any publications in the high priority research category of the agenda.

Conclusion

Notwithstanding a considerable research output on HIV/AIDS for Lesotho, there is insufficient coverage of the national research agenda in this research area. The major research gaps on general research output are in basic and preventive measures as well as national planning. There is also a need to increase targeted funding for HIV/AIDS research to appropriately address the most compelling gaps and national needs.

Publication Trends in Acupuncture Research: A 20-Year Bibliometric Analysis Based on PubMed

OBJECTIVE

Acupuncture has become popular and widely practiced in many countries around the world. Despite the large amount of acupuncture-related literature that has been published, broader trends in the prevalence and scope of acupuncture research remain underexplored. The current study quantitatively analyzes trends in acupuncture research publications in the past 20 years.

METHODS

A bibliometric approach was used to search PubMed for all acupuncture-related research articles including clinical and animal studies. Inclusion criteria were articles published between 1995 and 2014 with sufficient information for bibliometric analyses. Rates and patterns of acupuncture publication within the 20 year observational period were estimated, and compared with broader publication rates in biomedicine. Identified eligible publications were further analyzed with respect to study type/design, clinical condition addressed, country of origin, and journal impact factor.

RESULTS

A total of 13,320 acupuncture-related publications were identified using our search strategy and eligibility criteria. Regression analyses indicated an exponential growth in publications over the past two decades, with a mean annual growth rate of 10.7%. This compares to a mean annual growth rate of 4.5% in biomedicine. A striking trend was an observed increase in the proportion of randomized clinical trials (RCTs), from 7.4% in 1995 to 20.3% in 2014, exceeding the 4.5% proportional growth of RCTs in biomedicine. Over the 20 year period, pain was consistently the most common focus of acupuncture research (37.9% of publications). Other top rankings with respect to medical focus were arthritis, neoplasms/cancer, pregnancy or labor, mood disorders, stroke, nausea/vomiting, sleep, and paralysis/palsy. Acupuncture research was conducted in 60 countries, with the top 3 contributors being China (47.4%), United States (17.5%), and United Kingdom (8.2%). Retrieved articles were published mostly in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) journals with impact factors ranging between 0.7 and 2.8 in the top 20 journals, followed by journals specializing in neuroscience, pain, anesthesia/analgesia, internal medicine and comprehensive fields.

CONCLUSION

Acupuncture research has grown markedly in the past two decades, with a 2-fold higher growth rate than for biomedical research overall. Both the increases in the proportion of RCTs and the impact factor of journals support that the quality of published research has improved. While pain was a consistently dominant research focus, other topics gained more attention during this time period. These findings provide a context for analyzing strengths and gaps in the current state of acupuncture research, and for informing a comprehensive strategy for further advancing the field.

Intravenous Lipid Emulsion as an Antidote for the Treatment of Acute Poisoning: A Bibliometric Analysis of Human and Animal Studies

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the role of intravenous lipid formulations as potential antidotes in patients with severe cardiotoxicity caused by drug toxicity. The aim of this study was to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of all human and animal studies featuring lipid emulsion as an antidote for the treatment of acute poisoning. The Scopus database search was performed on 5 February 2016 to analyse the research output related to intravenous lipid emulsion as an antidote for the treatment of acute poisoning. Research indicators used for analysis included total number of articles, date (year) of publication, total citations, value of the h-index, document types, countries of publication, journal names, collaboration patterns and institutions. A total of 594 articles were retrieved from Scopus database for the period of 1955-2015. The percentage share of global intravenous lipid emulsion research output showed that research output was 85.86% in 2006-2015 with yearly average growth in this field of 51 articles per year. The USA, United Kingdom (UK), France, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Australia, China, Turkey and Japan accounted for 449 (75.6%) of all the publications. The total number of citations for all documents was 9,333, with an average of 15.7 citations per document. The h-index of the retrieved documents for lipid emulsion research as antidote for the treatment of acute poisoning was 49. The USA and the UK achieved the highest h-indices, 34 and 14, respectively. New Zealand produced the greatest number of documents with international collaboration (51.9%) followed by Australia (50%) and Canada (41.4%) out of the total number of publications for each country. In summary, we found an increase in the number of publications in the field of lipid emulsion after 2006. The results of this study demonstrate that the majority of publications in the field of lipid emulsion were published by high-income countries. Researchers from institutions in the USA led scientific production on lipid emulsion research. There is an obvious need to promote a deeper engagement through international collaborative research projects and funding mechanisms.

A bibliometric analysis of exertional heat stroke research in Web of Science

BACKGROUND

Exertional heat stroke is a fatal condition and remains a health problem. This paper evaluates the publication trend regarding exertional heat stroke research between 1996 and 2015 using a bibliometric method.

METHOD

Articles regarding exertional heat stroke research published between 1996 and December 2015 were searched for in the SCI-EXPANDED database of Web of Science. The search results were analyzed with regard to publication year; publication quantity regarding countries/regions, and authors; citation frequency; and journal distribution. CiteSpace (v3.6) was used for a document co-citation visualization analysis.

RESULTS

In total, 289 publications on heat stroke were located. After selection, 209 original articles conducted across 28 countries/regions and published in 83 journals were included in the analysis. The USA, Isreal, and France were the most common locations for exertional heat stroke studies. The CiteSpace visualization cluster analysis showed that exertional heat stroke-related mortality and protective measures were constant concerns of research.

CONCLUSIONS

Research related to exertional heat stroke has been continuous concerned. USA is still the leading country in this field.

Influential journals in health research: a bibliometric study

Background

There is a wide range of intellectual work written about health research, which has been shaped by the evolution of diseases. This study aims to identify the leading journals over the last 25 years (1990–2014) according to a wide range of bibliometric indicators.

Methods

The study develops a bibliometric overview of all the journals that are currently indexed in Web of Science (WoS) database in any of the four categories connected to health research. The work classifies health research in nine subfields: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, Health Management and Economics, Health Promotion and Health Behavior, Epidemiology, Health Policy and Services, Medicine, Health Informatics, Engineering and Technology, and Primary Care.

Results

The results indicate a wide dispersion between categories being the American Journal of Epidemiology, Environmental Health Perspectives, American Journal of Public Health, and Social Science & Medicine, the journals that have received the highest number of citations over the last 25 years. According to other indicators such as the h-index and the citations per paper, some other journals such as the Annual Review of Public Health and Medical Care, obtain better results which show the wide diversity and profiles of outlets available in the scientific community. The results are grouped and studied according to the nine subfields in order to identify the leading journals in each specific sub discipline of health.

Conclusions

The work identifies the leading journals in health research through a bibliometric approach. The analysis shows a deep overview of the results of health journals. It is worth noting that many journals have entered the WoS database during the last years, in many cases to fill some specific niche that has emerged in the literature, although the most popular ones have been in the database for a long time.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12992-016-0186-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Ireland's contribution to urology and nephrology research in the new millennium: a bibliometric analysis

INTRODUCTION

Bibliometrics is the statistical analysis of written publications. Bibliometric analyses have been performed across a range of biomedical disciplines. The aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analysis of Irish urology and nephrology research and to analyse how this compares internationally.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective bibliometric analysis of the top 20 ranking journals in the field of "Urology and Nephrology" based on their 5 years impact factor, as obtained from the ISI Journal Citation Report database over the 15-year study period, 2000-2015. Utilising the Pubmed database, a search phrase was constructed using country of affiliation, year of publication and journal title. The abstracts of the Irish publications identified were analysed for their institution of origin, article theme and content.

RESULTS

A total of 67,740 article abstracts were analysed over the 15 years study period. As anticipated, the USA accounted for the largest number of publications by a country [28,206 (41.64 % of all articles)]. Ireland contributed 347 articles in total (0.51 % of all articles); however, ranking according to population per million was 13th worldwide. Ireland's contribution to urology and nephrology research was highest in the BJUI-British Journal of Urology International [76 articles (21.90 % of Irish total)].

CONCLUSION

We believe this study to be the largest bibliometric analysis in the field of urology and nephrology internationally. This study provides a novel overview of the current Irish urology- and nephrology-related research, and examines how our results compare within the international community.

Assessing worldwide research activity on probiotics in pediatrics using Scopus database: 1994-2014

BACKGROUND

A wide variety of probiotic products has been introduced into the market in the past decade. Research trends and activity on probiotics help understand how these products were evolved and their potential future role in medicine. The objective of this study was to assess the research activity on probiotics in pediatrics using bibliometric indicators and network visualization.

METHODS

Original and review articles on probiotics in pediatrics published worldwide were retrieved from SciVerse, Scopus (1994-2014) and analyzed. VOSviewer was used for network visualization.

RESULTS

The total number of documents published on probiotics in pediatrics was 2817. Research activity on probiotics in pediatrics showed approximately 90- fold increase during the study period. Approximately 22 % of published articles originated from USA and has the greatest share, however, Finland ranked first when data were stratified by population or income. The most productive institution in this field was Turku University in Finland with 82 (2.91 %) articles. Half of the prolific authors were also from Finland. Most of the published research activity appeared in Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition. Most frequently encountered title terms include nutrition, infant formula, necrotizing enetrocolitis, allergy, and diarrhea. The total number of citations for the retreived documents documents was 70991, and the average citation per article was 25.20.

CONCLUSIONS

Interest in probiotic research and its potential benefits in pediatric ailments is relatively recent but significantly increasing. Bibliometric analysis can be used as an indicator of the importance and growth of probiotic use in pediatrics.

Worldwide research productivity in the field of spine surgery: a 10-year bibliometric analysis

PURPOSE

Bibliometrics is increasingly used to assess the quantity and quality of scientific research output in many research fields worldwide. However, the bibliometric studies in the field of spine surgery are scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the worldwide research productivity in the field of spine surgery using bibliometric methods and to provide an insight into the spine research for surgeons and researchers.

METHODS

Articles published between 2004 and 2013 were retrieved using the Scopus database in 5 spine journals, including Spine, European Spine Journal, The Spine Journal, Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, and Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques. The number of articles, trend of publications, countries' contribution and h-index, authorship, subspecialty, funding source, journal pattern, institutions, and top cited articles were analyzed.

RESULTS

A total of 13,115 publications were identified in the database of Scopus from 2004 to 2013. The time trend of the number of articles showed a significant increase of 1.9-fold between 2004 and 2013 (p = 0.000). The largest number of articles in the field of spine surgery was from United States (39.17%), followed by Japan (10.74%) and China (8.62%). United States also have the highest h-index (106), followed by Canada (60) and United Kingdom (54). China (p = 0.000) and South Korea (p = 0.000) have a significantly increasing trend of contribution proportion to the world spine production over time in years, but h-index was still low (39 and 38, respectively). Spine published the highest number of articles (45.44%), followed by European Spine Journal (21.43%) and Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine (13.32%). The most productive institutions were University of California, San Francisco (1.98%), followed by Thomas Jefferson University (1.61%) and University of Toronto (1.41%).

CONCLUSIONS

There has a rapid increase of scientific research productivity in the field of spine surgery during the past 10 years. United States has special contributions to the body of spine publications. China and South Korea have increasing contributions to the field of spine surgery.

Type 2 Diabetes Research Yield, 1951-2012: Bibliometrics Analysis and Density-Equalizing Mapping

The objective of this paper is to provide a detailed evaluation of type 2 diabetes mellitus research output from 1951-2012, using large-scale data analysis, bibliometric indicators and density-equalizing mapping. Data were retrieved from the Science Citation Index Expanded database, one of the seven curated databases within Web of Science. Using Boolean operators "OR", "AND" and "NOT", a search strategy was developed to estimate the total number of published items. Only studies with an English abstract were eligible. Type 1 diabetes and gestational diabetes items were excluded. Specific software developed for the database analysed the data. Information including titles, authors' affiliations and publication years were extracted from all files and exported to excel. Density-equalizing mapping was conducted as described by Groenberg-Kloft et al, 2008. A total of 24,783 items were published and cited 476,002 times. The greatest number of outputs were published in 2010 (n=2,139). The United States contributed 28.8% to the overall output, followed by the United Kingdom (8.2%) and Japan (7.7%). Bilateral cooperation was most common between the United States and United Kingdom (n=237). Harvard University produced 2% of all publications, followed by the University of California (1.1%). The leading journals were Diabetes, Diabetologia and Diabetes Care and they contributed 9.3%, 7.3% and 4.0% of the research yield, respectively. In conclusion, the volume of research is rising in parallel with the increasing global burden of disease due to type 2 diabetes mellitus. Bibliometrics analysis provides useful information to scientists and funding agencies involved in the development and implementation of research strategies to address global health issues.

A bibliometric analysis of diets and breast cancer research

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide. The primary aim of this work was to provide an in-depth evaluation of research publications in the field of diets and breast cancer. The impact of economic outcome on national academic productivity was also investigated. Data were retrieved using Pubmed for English-language publications. The search included all research for which articles included words relating to "diets and breast cancer". Population and national income data were obtained from publicly available databases. Impact factors for journals were obtained from Journal Citation Reports® (Thomson Scientific). There were 2,396 publications from 60 countries in 384 journals with an impact factor. Among them, 1,652 (68.94%) publications were Original articles. The United States had the highest quantity (51% of total) and highest of mean impact factor (8.852) for publication. Sweden had the highest productivity of publication when adjusted for number of population (6 publications per million population). Publications from the Asian nation increased from 5.3% in 2006 to 14.6% in 2012. The Original article type was also associated with geography (p<0.001; OR=2.183; 95%CI=1.526-3.123), Asian countries produced more proportion of Original articles (82%) than those of rest of the world (67.6%). Diets and breast cancer-associated research output continues to increase annually worldwide including publications from Asian countries. Although the United States produced the most publications, European nations per capita were higher in publication output.

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).

Spirituality, religion, and health: over the last 15 years of field research (1999-2013)

OBJECTIVE

Although several studies have examined the contribution of specific countries, journals, and authors in different scientific disciplines, little is known about the contribution of different world countries, journals, and authors to scientific research in the field of "Spirituality, religion, and health" (S/R). The present study aims to analyze the last 15 years of research in the field of spirituality and religiousness (S/R) through a bibliometric analysis.

METHODS

Using the Pubmed database, we retrieved all articles related to S/R field for the period 1999-2013. We then estimated the total number of publications, number of articles published per year, articles published per country, journals with most publications in S/R field, most productive authors, and most used keywords.

RESULTS

We found a growth of publications in the last years, most from the United States and the United Kingdom and published in the English language. Noteworthy, some developing countries such as India, Brazil, Israel, and Iran are at higher positions in this list. The S/R articles were published in journals embracing all fields of research, including high impact journals.

CONCLUSION

In the present study, we took a closer look at the field of "Spirituality, religion, and health," showing that this field of research has been constantly growing and consolidating in the scientific community.

Bibliometric analysis of stem cell publications in iran

Objective:

The purpose of this study is to examine qualitative and quantitative states of stem cell research in Iran in order to extract information production patterns.

Methods:

The data were extracted by searching through the Science Citation Index (SCI) Expanded database related to January 2013. The number of published articles and frequency of their citation were used as indices of the quality and quantity of information production.

Results:

Total number of Iranian stem cell articles and proceedings indexed in Web of Science until 2012 was 709. The highest frequency belonged to the multiple institution category (45-50% of the articles during 2005-2012). The highest CPP rate (29.7) belonged to the international articles written by the authors from other countries with Iranian coauthors.

Conclusion:

Although cooperation between more authors from different institutions and countries can increase the quality of scientific articles, results of this research showed that international research must be distinguished in terms of author sequence.