Scientometric analysis and mapping of scientific articles on Behcet's disease

Contribution of Arab countries to Behçet disease research: a PubMed-based bibliometric and altmetric analysis

Behçet's disease (BD), a rare multisystemic disorder, has an unknown etiology. Interactions between genetic and environmental factors play a major role in this disorder. Human leukocyte antigen B51 allele is the strongest risk factor for the development of Behçet disease. The high prevalence of BD in the Arab world makes it necessary to undergo local research and publications, to target particular genetic, geographical, or even cultural risk factors. This study aims to assess the numerical contribution of the Arab world to research on Behçet disease. Using the PubMed platform, the number of BD-related publications from 2005 to 2019 was assessed for all 22 Arab countries, and countries having the highest prevalence of the disease. Number of publications on BD was normalized to the average population size and GDP for each Arab country. From 2005 to 2019, Arab countries published 198 articles related to BD. This accounts for 0.1% of the total number of BD-related articles published in this period (4170). A significant, positive correlation of moderate strength exists between the number of publications and the average population, while a non-significant, positive correlation of week strength exists between the number of publications and GDP. Concerning the top 15 countries according to Behçet disease prevalence, Turkey had the greatest number of articles, while the USA had the highest ratio of publications per prevalence. The high prevalence of BD in Arabic countries was faced by paradoxically low research activity in this field. Arab countries are lagging behind in the field of Behçet disease-related research, which highlights the need for improving research productivity.

Mapping diabetes research in Middle Eastern countries during 2007-2013: A scientometric analysis

Background: Scientometric studies are highly important, as they provide information about scientific products worldwide and empower scientists to compare research activities in different regions. The present study was conducted to map scientific research in diabetes mellitus using scientometric analysis in Middle Eastern countries during 2003- 2007.

Methods: This was an analytical study with a scientometric approach. The study population was formed by the indexed scientific results of diabetes mellitus in the Web of Science database during 2007-2013. Data were analyzed using Excel, and HistCite to map the scientific texts.

Results: A total of 6532 records were retrieved from 3926 institutions. These records belonged to 19 323 authors and were published in 1420 journals. The Journal of Diabetes Care, with 3928 citations, had the most global citation score (GCS). The Journal of Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, with 185 citations, achieved the first degree of local citation score (LCS). Most of the scientific documents produced in the Middle East belonged to Turkey (31.91%) and Iran (21.7%). Seven scientific clusters based on LCS, and 5 based on GCS existed in the scientific mapping. Topical clusters based on global and local indices showed that the prevalence of diabetes, hyperglycemia, and pregnancy outcomes, diabetic risk factors, diabetic complications and their new treatments, and glucose monitoring in Type 1 diabetes were the fields being addressed in the main articles of the clusters.

Conclusion: Scientific production and local and global citations in diabetes research in Iran (21.7% of diabetes research in the Middle East) have elevated the country to a prominent position. Top ranking countries in diabetic research were Turkey, Iran, and Israel, respectively. Moreover, this paper quantified the studies that were done on different aspects of diabetes. The results of this study can be used by health care providers to employ the best multidisciplinary approach for managing diabetes and its complications. Also, the results can help the policy-makers and governments to determine the priorities for budget allocation based on the burden of diseases. Establishing a regional diabetes network in the Middle East can be beneficial and lead to scientific collaboration and an increase in scientific production in this field.

Immune Regulatory Genes Are Major Genetic Factors to Behcet Disease: Systematic Review

Behcet's disease (BD) is a chronic refractory multi-system autoimmune disorder that occurs in a genetically susceptible host. Multiple genetic factors have been identified that may contribute to the pathogenesis of BD. The major genes with polymorphisms associated with BD include HLA-B and -A, CIITA, ERAP1, MICA, IL10, IL12A, IL12RB2, IL23R, MEFV, IRF8, TNFAIP3, REL, TLR4, NOD1,2, CCR1,CCR3, GIMAP1,2,4, KLRC4, STAT4, NCOA5, FOXP3, PSORS1C1, FUT2, UBAC2, SUMO4, ADO-EGR2, CEBPB-PTPN1, and JPKL-CNTN5. These genes encode proteins involved mainly in immune regulation and inflammation, and some in transcription and post-translational modification. A complete view of these BD-associated genes may provide a clue to this complex disease in terms of its pathogenesis and exploring potentially targeted therapies for BD.

Systematic review on the conservation genetics of African savannah elephants

Background

In this paper we review the conservation genetics of African savannah elephants, aiming to understand the spatio-temporal research trends and their underlying factors. As such, we explore three questions associated to the conservation genetics and molecular ecology of these elephants: (1) what are the research trends concerning the conservation genetics of Loxodonta africana? (2) Do richer countries conduct more research on the genetics of African elephants? (3) Which attributes influence where scholars conduct their research?

Materials and Methods

We examined available peer-reviewed publications from 1993 to 2014 in complementary online databases, including the ISI/Web of Science (WoS), Scopus and Google Scholar (GS), and searched for publications in scientific journals as well as in the reference section of these publications. We analyzed the annual trend of publications in this field of research, including the number of authors, levels of collaboration among authors, year of publication, publishing journal and the countries from where genetic samples were collected. Additionally, we identified main research clusters, authors, and institutional collaborations, based on co-citation and co-occurrence networks.

Results

We found that during the study period there was a positive trend in the number of publications and a reduction in the number of authors per paper. Twenty-five countries contributed, with the majority of publications authored by researchers in the USA, Kenya and South Africa. The majority of samples were collected in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. Research outputs are associated with the existence of long-term conservation/research projects and research potential as measured by the literacy rate and the number of higher education institutions in a country. Five research clusters were identified, focusing on the origin and evolution of the species, methodological issues and the relatedness among elephant species.

Conclusions

Research in this field should be expanded to additional countries harboring elephant populations to enable a more comprehensive understanding of the population structure and genetic differentiation of the species, and to cope with challenges associated with the conservation of the species such as illegal hunting, habitat fragmentation, species reintroduction and climate change.

Evolution of primary care databases in UK: a scientometric analysis of research output

OBJECTIVE

To identify publication and citation trends, most productive institutions and countries, top journals, most cited articles and authorship networks from articles that used and analysed data from primary care databases (CPRD, THIN, QResearch) of pseudonymised electronic health records (EHRs) in UK.

METHODS

Descriptive statistics and scientometric tools were used to analyse a SCOPUS data set of 1891 articles. Open access software was used to extract networks from the data set (Table2Net), visualise and analyse coauthorship networks of scholars and countries (Gephi) and density maps (VOSviewer) of research topics co-occurrence and journal cocitation.

RESULTS

Research output increased overall at a yearly rate of 18.65%. While medicine is the main field of research, studies in more specialised areas include biochemistry and pharmacology. Researchers from UK, USA and Spanish institutions have published the most papers. Most of the journals that publish this type of research and most cited papers come from UK and USA. Authorship varied between 3 and 6 authors. Keyword analyses show that smoking, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and mental illnesses, as well as medication that can treat such medical conditions, such as non-steroid anti-inflammatory agents, insulin and antidepressants constitute the main topics of research. Coauthorship network analyses show that lead scientists, directors or founders of these databases are, to various degrees, at the centre of clusters in this scientific community.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a considerable increase of publications in primary care research from EHRs. The UK has been well placed at the centre of an expanding global scientific community, facilitating international collaborations and bringing together international expertise in medicine, biochemical and pharmaceutical research.

Bibliometric analysis on global Behçet disease publications during 1980-2014: is there a Silk Road in the literature?

BACKGROUND

Behçet disease (BD) is a chronic and multisystemic vasculitis characterized with recurrent oral and genital ulcers, uveitis, arthritis and skin manifestations. The highest prevalence of the disease has been reported in regions historically involved in the Silk Road routes.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to analyse Behçet literature and evaluate whether there is a concordance between ancient Silk Road regions and the distribution of publication productivity.

METHODS

The bibliometric analysis of the publications published during 1980-2014 using Thomson Reuters Web of Science database was performed. We generated infographics of productivity and also analysed the correlations among economical productivities, technological advancement levels and humanity index and productivity performances of 78 countries in Behçet literature.

RESULTS

Turkey ranked first in Behçet literature with 1837 articles followed by Japan and the USA. Turkey, Tunisia and Israel occupied the first three places in productivity. Significant correlations were noted between 2014 gross economic and technological indices and publication numbers of the countries. We found that European countries had high productivity, although they had low prevalence of BD. We detected no concordance between the productivity density of the countries and the ancient Silk Road routes.

CONCLUSION

Most publications were reported from developed countries although undeveloped or developing countries had higher prevalence of BD. Physicians in undeveloped and developing countries should be supported and encouraged to perform novel studies on BD.