Cardiology in contemporary China: an update

Bibliometric analysis of scientific publications in transplantation journals from Mainland China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan between 2006 and 2015

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study is to compare the quantity and quality of scientific publications in transplantation fields that were written by researchers from Mainland China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan in the East Asia region.

SETTINGS

East Asia.

PARTICIPANTS AND OUTCOME MEASURES

Articles except editorials, conference abstracts, letters, news and corrections published in 25 transplantation journals from 2006 to 2015 were screened with the Web of Science database. The number of total and annual articles, article types (study design and transplantation site), impact factor, citations and articles in the high-impact journals was determined to assess the quantity and quality of transplantation research from East Asia. The correlation of socioeconomic factors and annual publications was also analysed.

RESULTS

From 2006 to 2015, there were 47 141 articles published in transplantation journals, of which researchers from Japan published 3694 articles, followed by Mainland China, South Korea and Taiwan with 2778, 1643 and 951 articles, respectively. Similar trends were observed in accumulated impact factor, accumulated citations, articles in the high-impact journals and articles on transplantation site. Publications from Japan had the highest average impact factor and citation, while those from Mainland China had the lowest. Additionally, in terms of study design, authors from Mainland China contributed to most clinical trials and randomised controlled trials, but authors from Japan contributed to most case reports. The annual numbers of articles from Mainland China and South Korea increased linearly (p<0.05), but those from Japan and Taiwan remained stable for the period studied. The annual numbers of articles from Mainland China and South Korea were positively correlated with gross domestic product (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Transplantation research productivity in East Asia is highly skewed, with gross domestic product having a significant positive correlation. Mainland China still lags far behind Japan in most bibliometric indicators; thus, there is vast room for improvement.

Men in Macau SAR have higher prevalence in metabolic syndrome and among related metabolic components: a cross-sectional Macau Health Survey

Background

Macau has recently experienced expansive socioeconomic growth, leading to lifestyle changes that could have contributed to the development of certain diseases. Little information exists on the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and associated risk factors. This information is important, since the management of MetS is tightly connected with prevention of cardiovascular diseases in the population.

Methods

This study is based on the cross-sectional Macau Health Survey 2006. Information on anthropometry, physical measurements, socio-demographics, laboratory tests and life-style habits was collected by trained health professionals from a random sub-population sample, aged 18-44 (32.6 ± 8.3). Body Mass Index (BMI) cut-offs were based on WHO criteria for Asian population. The prevalence of MetS, as defined by the International Diabetes Federation was calculated and the associated lifestyle factors were analysed.

Results

Among Macau’s adults (n = 1592), the age-adjusted prevalence of MetS was over two times higher in men (10.5%) than in woman (3.7%), (p <0.01). 15.8% were overweight (BMI ≥23 < 25) and 18.8% were obese (BMI ≥25). Man had significantly higher risk profile in almost all components of MetS (p <0.001), except the waist circumference and HDL. BMI, age and education were significantly related to MetS in both genders (p <0.001).

Conclusions

We found significant gender differences in MetS among the 18 – 44 year old population of Macau, which should be addressed separately in the gender-specific preventive strategies.

Clinical research promotes development of nephrology in China: an analysis of 20 years of scientific publications

BACKGROUND

To study the trend of clinical and basic research output in the field of nephrology in China during the past 20 years.

METHODS

The journals listed in the "Urology and Nephrology" category of Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) subject categories were selected. The papers were retrieved by searching the PubMed database. Mainland China (ML), Hong Kong (HK), and Taiwan (TW) were chosen as investigative regions compared with other developed countries. Geographical difference in publications in ML was analyzed. The change between clinical and basic research papers was compared. The accumulated or average impact factor (IF) and the number of papers published in the 10 most impacted journals were calculated to determine the quality of papers.

RESULTS

The research output in the field of nephrology in ML developed markedly in the last 7 years (an average annual increase of 54% from 2004); ML exceeded TW and HK since 2008. The research output born in ML was mainly from five cities, for example, Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou, which accounted for 72% of the total. Since 2001, clinical research papers increased yearly by 11.55, and the basic research papers increased by 4.55. However, clinical trials were still limited. In 2010, ML had the highest accumulated IF and the lowest average IF. ML had the second highest number of publications in the 10 top-ranking nephrology journals among the three regions.

CONCLUSIONS

China has made a remarkable progress in the field of nephrology. Clinical researches have promoted the development of nephrology. The quality of research papers in China needs further improvement.

Scientific publications in pharmacology and pharmacy journals from Chinese authors in various parts of North Asia: a 10-year survey of the literature

The amount and quality of pharmacology and pharmacy research by authors from China was investigated by comparing published articles from 136 international journals (1998 - 2007) by authors from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The number of articles, clinical trials, randomized controlled trials, case reports, impact factors, number of citations and number of articles published in top general medicine journals were compared. The total number of articles increased significantly between 1998 and 2007 (from 324 to 2536 per year). In total, there were 12 021 articles: 7576 from mainland China, 3267 from Taiwan and 1178 from Hong Kong. The accumulated impact factor of the articles from mainland China (16 688.94) was much higher than for those from Taiwan (8726.92) and Hong Kong (3161.22) but, among the three regions, Hong Kong had the highest mean impact factor and the most articles published in top general medicine journals.

Scientific publications in cardiology and cardiovasology journals from Chinese authors in various parts of North Asia: 10-year survey of literature

BACKGROUND

People of Chinese ethnicity make up one of the largest populations in the world. Heart and vessel diseases remain the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in China. The research status in cardiology and cardiovasology among Chinese individuals in the three major regions of China--Mainland (ML), Hong Kong (HK) and Taiwan (TW)--are unknown. The outputs of cardiology and cardiovasology articles published in international journals from the three regions were compared in this study.

METHODS

Articles published in 83 journals related to cardiology and cardiovasology originating from the ML, TW and HK from 1998-2007 were retrieved from the PubMed database. The number of total articles, clinical trial, randomized controlled trial, case reports, impact factors (IF), citations, and articles published in top general medicine journals were conducted for quantity and quality comparisons.

RESULTS

The total number of articles from the three regions increased significantly from 1998 to 2007 (from 154 to 591). There were 2801 articles from ML (883), TW (1404) and HK (514) in the past ten years. The number of articles published per year from the ML (297) have exceeded those from TW (235) and HK (59) in 2007. The accumulated impact factor of the articles from TW (4082.736) was much higher than ML (2221.699) and HK (1673.049). HK had the highest average IF of cardiology and cardiovasology articles and the most articles published in top general medicine journals among the three regions.

CONCLUSION

The total number of articles from the three major regions of China increased significantly from 1998 to 2007. The number of articles published per year from the ML have exceeded those from TW and HK. However, the quality of articles from TW and HK is better than that from ML.