Food for thought: comparison of citations received from articles appearing in specialized eating disorder journals versus general psychiatry journals

A Bibliometric Analysis of Scientific Publications on Eating Disorder Prevention in the Past Three Decades

BACKGROUND

Eating disorders (EDs) present a growing concern due to their widespread occurrence and chronic course, the low access to evidence-based treatment, and the significant burden they place on the patients and society. This picture justifies intensive focus on the prevention of EDs. The current study provides the first bibliometric analysis of research on the prevention of EDs, focusing on trends and contributions, to prompt further prevention research.

METHODS

We conducted a bibliometric analysis of publications on the prevention of EDs using the Web of Science database, from 1993 to 2023. Focusing on universal and selective prevention strategies, our study involved a rigorous selection process, narrowing down from 10,546 to 383 relevant papers through manual screening. The analysis utilized the "bibliometrix" R package (version 4.2.2) and Python (version 3.9.6) for data processing, with VOSviewer employed for mapping collaboration networks.

RESULTS

Our analysis revealed a consistent annual growth rate of 10.85% in ED prevention research publications, with significant contributions from the "International Journal of Eating Disorders" and some notable authors. The United States emerged as the dominant contributor. The analysis also highlighted key trends, including a surge in publications between 2010 and 2017, and the role of major institutions in advancing research in this field.

DISCUSSION

The increasing rate of publications on the prevention of EDs is encouraging. However, the actual number of studies on the prevention of EDs are limited, and the majority of this work is performed by a few research groups. Given the high concentration of publications within a few countries and research groups, increased funding, facilitation of prevention research on a wider scale, and engagement of more researchers and further collaboration are called for.

Bibliometric analysis of the 100 most cited articles on congenital cataracts

Aim It was aimed to present a summary of the articles published between 1980-2022 on congenital cataract, to identify the 100 most cited articles in the field, to analyze the most active journals and the development in countries by years. Material and Method Search was made using keywords “Congenital Cataract”, “OR: Pediatric Cataract”, “OR: Infantile Cataract”, “AND: 1980-2022 (Year Published)”, “AND: English (Language)” in Web of Science (WOS) database via Boolean operators (Access Date: 01.11.2022). Bibliometric analyzes were made using VOSviewer (ver.1.6.18), statistical analyzes were made using rstudio (ver.2022.02.1), other analyzes were made using Microsoft Excel. Results In the bibliometric analysis, 1383 articles were included between the dates determined. Over the past few decades, the total number of publications on congenital cataracts continually increased from 2 in 1980 to 68 in 2022 November. The most productive year was 2021 (n=93), while the most cited year was 2004 (1,184 citations, 32 publications). The most studied WOS categories were ophthalmology (n=900), pediatrics (183) and genetics (167). The most widely used keywords were congenital cataract (n=235), cataract (n=124) and pediatric cataract (n=75). The most cited paper in congenital cataract was “Pax6 gene dosage effect in a family with congenital cataracts, aniridia, anophthalmia and central-nervous-system defects”, which was published in Nature Genetics in 1994 and cited 562 times (impact factor: 8.78). In ophthalmology journals, the most cited article was published in Survey of Ophthalmology (267 times, 1996) and the Molecular Vision was the most attractive journal with 104 publications. The United States of America, England and Peoples R China had the highest total link strength (TLS), 226 (10,325 citations), 134 (3,621 citations) and 73 (3,871 citations), respectively. Conclusion These findings provide useful information on the status and trends of current clinical research on congenital cataracts. Our study can be used to identify areas of study and standard bibliographic references for better diagnosis and disease control.

40 years of research on eating disorders in domain-specific journals: Bibliometrics, network analysis, and topic modeling

Previous studies have used a query-based approach to search and gather scientific literature. Instead, the current study focused on domain-specific journals in the field of eating disorders. A total of 8651 documents (since 1981 to 2020), from which 7899 had an abstract, were retrieved from: International Journal of Eating Disorders (n = 4185, 48.38%), Eating and Weight Disorders (n = 1540, 17.80%), European Eating Disorders Review (n = 1461, 16.88%), Eating Disorders (n = 1072, 12.39%), and Journal of Eating Disorders (n = 393, 4.54%). To analyze these data, diverse methodologies were employed: bibliometrics (to identify top cited documents), network analysis (to identify the most representative scholars and collaboration networks), and topic modeling (to retrieve major topics using text mining, natural language processing, and machine learning algorithms). The results showed that the most cited documents were related to instruments used for the screening and evaluation of eating disorders, followed by review articles related to the epidemiology, course and outcome of eating disorders. Network analysis identified well-known scholars in the field, as well as their collaboration networks. Finally, topic modeling identified 10 major topics whereas a time series analysis of these topics identified relevant historical shifts. This study discusses the results in terms of future opportunities in the field of eating disorders.

The 100 Most Cited Articles in Ophthalmology in Asia

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to review the top 100 most-cited articles in ophthalmology in Asia since 1970.

METHODS

The Scopus database was used to identify the top 100 most-cited ophthalmology articles published in ophthalmology (T100-Eye) and nonophthalmology (T100-General) journals.

RESULTS

The T100-Eye articles were published between 1982 and 2015, and T100-General from 1982 to 2017. T100-Eye had higher citations [median (range) = 317 (249-1326)] than T100-General [158 (105-2628)], but T100-General were published in journals with higher impact factor (IF) than T100-Eye (median IF= 5.5 vs 4.4) and produced more landmark papers (3 vs 1 articles that were cited >1000 times). Fifty-five % of T100-Eye were published in 3 journals: Ophthalmology (n = 22), Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (n = 17), and American Journal of Ophthalmology (n = 16). T100-Eye had 88 original research articles and 12 reviews, whereas T100-General had 84 original research and 16 reviews. The most-frequent studied disease categories were myopia (n = 16) and age-related macular degeneration (n = 15) in T100-Eye and diabetic retinopathy (n = 24) and glaucoma (n = 16) in T100-General. Japan and Singapore contributed most to T100-Eye (n = 42, n = 17) and T100-General (n = 36, n = 26) articles. More than 80% and 95% of first and last authors were male in both lists. Emerging research topics were optical coherence tomography in T100-Eye and artificial intelligence in T100-General.

CONCLUSIONS

Our citation analysis reveals differences in the focus of research topics of top-cited ophthalmology articles published in ophthalmology and nonophthalmology journals in Asia. It highlights that certain eye diseases are studied more in Asia and shows the contribution of specific countries to highly cited publications in ophthalmology research in Asia.

Trends in female authorship in research papers on eating disorders: 20-year bibliometric study

BACKGROUND

There is a clear gender gap in scientific authorship. Although the proportions of female authors in medicine and psychiatry have increased over the past decades, women are still underrepresented. Aims To analyse authorship gender trends in eating disorder research.

METHOD

First and last author gender in research articles on eating disorders during the period 1997-2016 were assessed in eating disorder specialty journals, high-impact psychiatry journals and high-impact clinical psychology journals.

RESULTS

The total number of papers on eating disorders increased substantially over the observation period, although a decrease was observed in high-impact psychiatry journals. Female authorship increased in both specialty journals and high-impact psychiatry journals. Authors were significantly less likely to be female in high-impact psychiatry and clinical psychology journals than in speciality journals.

CONCLUSIONS

Eating disorder research has been increasingly allocated to specialty journals over the past 20 years. A consistent gender gap between specialty and high-impact journals exists. Declaration of interest C.M.B is a grant recipient from Shire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and has participated as a member of their scientific advisory board. These positions are unrelated to the content of this article.

Productivity trends and collaboration patterns: A diachronic study in the eating disorders field

Objective

The present study seeks to extend previous bibliometric studies on eating disorders (EDs) by including a time-dependent analysis of the growth and evolution of multi-author collaborations and their correlation with ED publication trends from 1980 to 2014 (35 years).

Methods

Using standardized practices, we searched Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection (WoSCC) (indexes: Science Citation Index-Expanded [SCIE], & Social Science Citation Index [SSCI]) and Scopus (areas: Health Sciences, Life Sciences, & Social Sciences and Humanities) to identify a large sample of articles related to EDs. We then submitted our sample of articles to bibliometric and graph theory analyses to identify co-authorship and social network patterns.

Results

We present a large number of detailed findings, including a clear pattern of scientific growth measured as number of publications per five-year period or quinquennium (Q), a tremendous increase in the number of authors attracted by the ED subject, and a very high and steady growth in collaborative work.

Conclusions

We inferred that the noted publication growth was likely driven by the noted increase in the number of new authors per Q. Social network analyses suggested that collaborations within ED follow patters of interaction that are similar to well established and recognized disciplines, as indicated by the presence of a “giant cluster”, high cluster density, and the replication of the “small world” phenomenon—the principle that we are all linked by short chains of acquaintances.

Publications on cross-cultural aspects of eating disorders

BACKGROUND

The prevalence of eating disorders in the non-Western world appears to be increasing and much research into the cross-cultural aspects of eating disorders is needed. This bibliometric study analyses the profile of cross-cultural studies into eating disorders published from 1970 through to 2011.

RESULTS

1,417 articles were indexed by Medline and PsychInfo from 1970 to 2011. There has been an exponential increase in publications in this field. Four articles were published in 1970-74 and this increased to 427 in 2004-9. Comparative and empirical studies were the most common types of publications. Of all the ethnic groups studied, Africans and African Americans were subject of the most publications. Pacific Islanders and South Europeans had the fewest publications.

CONCLUSION

It is heartening that there has been a large increase in published studies about eating disorders across cultures. This suggests greater awareness and interest in the field. However, the results from one particular ethnic group cannot always be applied directly to another. Some ethnic and cultural groups have been poorly studied and warrant more research attention. As more patients from such backgrounds present for treatment, more research is needed to provide culturally appropriate and acceptable care.