A bibliometric study of scientific literature on obesity research in PubMed (1988-2007)

Neuroendocrinological and Clinical Aspects of Leptin

Obesity is characterized by an abnormal increase in adipose tissue mass and is regarded as a neurobehavioral as well as a metabolic disorder. Increases in body fat are caused by even slight, long-term discrepancies between energy intake and energy expenditure. It is a chronic condition linked to the metabolic syndrome, a spectrum of risky conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. With a swiftly rising prevalence, obesity has emerged as a significant global health concern. Leptin influences the brain's neuroendocrine and metabolic processes, which is important for maintaining energy homeostasis. White adipose tissue secretes the majority of leptin, and there is a positive correlation between leptin levels in the blood and body fat percentages. The central nervous system is also modulated by leptin levels to modify energy intake and usage. The idea of an obesity cure sparked excitement after it was discovered more than 25 years ago. However, the leptin medication only effectively reduces weight in patients with congenital leptin insufficiency and not in patients with typical obesity who may also have leptin resistance. Recent research has focused on the role of leptin in managing weight reduction and preventing "yo-yo dieting". This review concentrates on the neurological effects of leptin with a focus on therapeutic and diagnostic applications, particularly for childhood obesity.

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.

Research in Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak (Rhinorrhea and Otorrhea): A Bibliometric Analysis From 1945 to 2018

Objective

In this study, we aimed to analyze research activity on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks in general and CSF rhinorrhea and otorrhea in particular and to identify the main topic clusters in these areas.

Methods

We identified all relevant documents, using the medical subject heading (MeSH) term “Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak”, that are indexed in the MEDLINE database between 1945 and 2018. We performed a descriptive bibliometric analysis and analyses of networks and research clusters in order to identify the main topic areas of research.

Results

From 1945 to 2018, a total of 4,130 records were published with the term CSF leak, including 2,821 documents (68.1%) with the term CSF rhinorrhea and 1,040 documents (25.8%) with CSF otorrhea. The number of documents published increased from 10 in 1945-49 to 642 in 2010-14. Articles represented the dominant document type (86.8% of the documents analyzed), while case reports were the main type of study (37.4%). In terms of geographical distribution, researchers from the USA led in the number of signatures (39.1%), followed by those from the UK (7.5%). The most active areas of research in the field were “Postoperative Complications,” “Tomography, X-Ray Computed,” and “Magnetic Resonance Imaging.” The terms “Adults,” “Young Adult,” and “Middle-Aged” were most common in CSF rhinorrhea research; and the terms “Infant,” “Child, Preschool,” “Child,” and “Adolescent” were more common in CSF otorrhea.

Conclusions

Based on our findings, articles and case reports related to “Surgery” and “Postoperative Complications” associated with the diagnosis are the main topics of study, highlighting the importance of this document type in advancing knowledge in the field.

Analysis of international publication trends in artificial intelligence in ophthalmology

PURPOSE

Artificial intelligence (AI) has entered the field of medicine, and ophthalmology is no exception. The objective of this study was to report on scientific production and publication trends, to identify journals, countries, international collaborations, and major MeSH terms involved in AI in ophthalmology research.

METHODS

Scientometric methods were used to evaluate global scientific production and development trends in AI in ophthalmology using PubMed and the Web of Science Core Collection.

RESULTS

A total of 1356 articles were retrieved over the period 1966-2019. The yearly growth of AI in ophthalmology publications has been 18.89% over the last ten years, indicating that AI in ophthalmology is a very attractive topic in science. Analysis of the most productive journals showed that most were specialized in computer and medical systems. No journal was found to specialize in AI in ophthalmology. The USA, China, and the UK were the three most productive countries. The study of international collaboration showed that, besides the USA, researchers tended to collaborate with peers from neighboring countries. Among the twenty most frequent MeSH terms retrieved, there were only four related to clinical topics, revealing the retina and glaucoma as the most frequently encountered subjects of interest in AI in ophthalmology. Analysis of the top ten Journal Citation Reports categories of journals and MeSH terms for articles confirmed that AI in ophthalmology research is mainly focused on engineering and computing and is mainly technical research related to computer methods.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides a broad view of the current status and trends in AI in ophthalmology research and shows that AI in ophthalmology research is an attractive topic focusing on retinal diseases and glaucoma. This study may be useful for researchers in AI in ophthalmology such as clinicians, but also for scientists to better understand this research topic, know the main actors in this field (including journals and countries), and have a general overview of this research theme.

Prevalence of childhood obesity in Brazil: systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

To estimate the prevalence of childhood obesity in Brazil by means of a systematic review of representative studies.

SOURCES

We searched for population-based studies that assessed obesity in Brazilian children aged < 10 years in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus and other sources up to September, 2019. Paired researchers selected studies, extracted data and assessed the quality of these studies. Meta-analysis of prevalence and confidence interval (95% CI) was calculated, weighted by the population sizes using Freeman-Tukey double-arccosine transformation. Heterogeneity (I²) and publication bias were investigated by meta-regression and Egger's test, respectively.

SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS

53 studies were included (n = 122,395), which were held from 1986 to 2015 and limited mainly due to inadequate response rates. Prevalence of obesity in the three-decade period was of 8.2% ([95% CI]: 8.1-8.4%, I² = 98.5%). Higher prevalence was observed in boys (9.7% [9.4-9.9%], I² = 97.4%) than girls (7.3% [7.1-7.5%], I² = 96.1%). Prevalence increased according to the decade (1990: 6.5% [6.0-7.0 %], I² = 96.8%; 2000: 7.9% [7.7-8.0 %], I² = 98.8%; 2010: 12.0% [11.5-12.6 %], I² = 95.8%), and Brazilian region (Northeast: 6.4% [6.2-6.7%], I² = 98.1%; North: 6.7% [6.3-7.2%], I² = 98.8%; Southeast:10.6% [10.2-11.0%], I² = 98.2%; South: 10.1 [9.7-10.4%], I² = 97.7%). Heterogeneity was affected by age and region (p < 0.05) and publication bias was discarded (p = 0.746).

CONCLUSION

For every 100 Brazilian children, over eight had obesity in the three-decade period and 12 in each 100 had childhood obesity in more recent estimates. Higher prevalence occurred in boys, recent decades and more developed Brazilian regions.

Bibliometric Study of the National Scientific Production of All Peruvian Schools of Dentistry in Scopus

Objective

To perform a bibliometric analysis of the national scholarly output of all dental schools in Peru in Scopus through a retrospective study after the promulgation of the Peruvian University Law 30220 in 2014.

Methods

This was a descriptive, comparative, retrospective, and cross-sectional study. A search of the Scopus database was performed to identify scholarly output in dentistry between 2014 and 2019. A total of 287 scientific articles with affiliation with the dental faculties of Peruvian public and private universities were evaluated. The data was extracted from Scopus using a complex formula developed from the words of the thesaurus MeSh (Medline) and Emtree (base) with words related to dentistry combined with the AF-IDs of the Peruvian universities.

Results

The Top 10 in the scholarly output of all the Peruvian public and private dental schools were as follows: firstly, the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH), with 79 scholarly outputs publications and 5.2 citations per article, followed by the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM) with 53 scholarly outputs publications and 2.6 citations per article, and in third place, the Universidad Cientifica del Sur (UCSUR) with 49 scholarly outputs publications. In general, it was found that, of the 30 Faculties of Dentistry in Peru, only 10 in the public and private universities have a scholarly output greater than 5 to belong to the top 10. In addition, it was found that, according to the share of publications per journal quartile by the CiteScore Percentile of all the public and private Peruvian Faculties of Dentistry, in 2019, it presented the highest number of scientific publications in all quartiles with 20,33,14 and 43 articles in the quartiles Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4, respectively. The highest number of scientific publications was produced in 2019 with 20, 33, 14, and 43 articles in quartiles Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4, respectively.

Conclusion

The UPCH, UNMSM, and UCSUR dental schools were the most productive. Both public and private universities presented an evident increase in their scientific publications in Scopus after the promulgation of the University Law 30220 in 2014.

Latin American Research on Bariatric Surgery: a Bibliometric Study

We performed a bibliometric analysis of Latin American documents published between 1984 to 2019 in Scopus-indexed journals. A total of 1856 documents were analyzed. The annual scientific production was 64 documents per year, with an annual increase rate of 15.9%. The countries with the highest scientific production on BS were Brazil (64.7%) and Chile (14.5%). Most of the publications were original (76.6%) and review articles (11.9%). The journal with the highest publication record was "Obesity Surgery" (25.8%). The extra-regional collaboration was mainly with the USA. In conclusion, Latin American scientific production on BS has shown a significant increase in recent years. However, more participation is needed, fostering intra-regional collaboration and involving universities and health institutions in BS research.

Analysis of Publication Trends in Childhood Obesity Research in PubMed Since 1945

Background: Childhood obesity (CO) has become a true epidemic and a subject of increasing publications. The aim of this study was to assess if the number of publications in that field increases over time in proportion to the epidemic, and also according to socioeconomic factors. Methods: A PubMed search was carried out to extract articles related to CO published between 1945 and 2017. Data were downloaded from PubMed and processed through a dedicated parser. Socioeconomic data were collected from international organizations. Results: Overall, 36,554 articles were retrieved among 3329 journals, one-third of them being concentrated in 44 journals. The annual growth rate of publications on CO was on average 11.6% per year between 1990 and 2016, whereas the growth rate of articles on pediatrics or of the total articles indexed in MEDLINE was 2.6% and 4.4%, respectively. The most productive countries were the United States (37.80%), the United Kingdom (6.24%), and Italy (4.56%). There was a significant relationship between publications on CO in a country and prevalence of CO in that country (p = 0.002) and between evolution of the number of publications and evolution of the Human Development Index (p = 0.01). Following exponential growth, CO publications reached a plateau in 2013, whereas publications targeted on obesity in infants continue to increase. Conclusions: Research on CO has risen markedly in the last two decades, with a higher growth rate than biomedical research overall, as a result of the worldwide obesity epidemic and also due to specific socioeconomic factors.

Linking the dimensions of policy-related research on obesity: a hybrid mapping with multicluster topics and interdisciplinarity maps

Mapping the intellectual structure and dynamics of complex, multidisciplinary domains has long been a challenging task for bibliometrics. Research subjects with outstanding social relevance are typically of this sort, being multifaceted and requiring a synthesis of various field-specific perspectives. Among such subjects, our work addresses policy-related research on obesity, and aims to uncover how this multilevel issue is represented in policy studies through its dense thematic interrelations, and at the interfaces of various research areas participating in the discourse. In doing so, we propose an analytic framework combining so-called hybrid methods of science mapping with the (traditional) use of alluvial diagrams, resulting in what we refer to as “multicluster topics” and “interdisciplinarity maps”. Therefore, the contribution of this paper can be considered both at the subject and at the methodological level.

Characterizing Obesity Interventions and Treatment for Children and Youths During 1991-2018

Overweight and obesity have become a serious health problem globally due to its significant role in increased morbidity and mortality. The treatments for this health issue are various such as lifestyle modifications, pharmacological therapies, and surgery. However, little is known about the productivity, workflow, topics, and landscape research of all the papers mentioning the intervention and treatment for children with obesity. A total of 20,925 publications from the Web of Science database mentioning interventions and treatment in reducing the burden of childhood overweight and obesity on physical health, mental health, and society published in the period from 1991 to 2018 were in the analysis. We used Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) for identifying the topics and a dendrogram for research disciplines. We found that the number of papers related to multilevel interventions such as family-based, school-based, and community-based is increasing. The number of papers mentioning interventions aimed at children and adolescents with overweight or obesity is not high in poor-resource settings or countries compared to the growth in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among youth due to cultural concepts or nutrition transition. Therefore, there is a need for support from developed countries to control the rising rates of overweight and obesity.

The Evolution of Bariatric Surgery Publications and Global Productivity: A Bibliometric Analysis

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to report on scientific production in bariatric surgery (BS).

BACKGROUND

BS has gained popularity particularly in the last two decades and its indications have extended with the laparoscopic development and the metabolic activity of the surgical treatment. However, there is still little information on scientific production related to BS.

METHODS

"Bariatric Surgery" or "Obesity Surgery" terms were searched through Web of Science focusing on the period 1980-2016. The analysis also included the correlations between economic productivity, humanity index, technological advancement levels, and performances of the countries in both fields.

RESULTS

A total number of 17,568 publications was found. Of these, 9087 were conducted in the field of surgery. The most prolific journal was Obesity Surgery (4707, 26.8%). The most cited article according to average citations per year was published in the Obesity Surgery (average citations 90.40, total citation 452). Beside the number of publications, the USA was in the leading position in several other fields (active institutions, active journals, active authors, citation analysis, and international cooperation). Sweden was the most productive country in BS publications (4.505). Several factors related to the number of publications in BS demonstrated significant correlations in our study (p < 0.01). The highest correlation was found with GDP (r = 0.763, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The present study shows that the studies on BS has mainly been conducted in developed and developing countries.

Bibliometric analysis of research on the role of intestinal microbiota in obesity

BACKGROUND

Obesity is a key public health problem. The advancement of gut microbiota research sheds new light on this field. This article aims to present the research trends in global intestinal microbiota studies within the domain of obesity research.

METHODS

Bibliographic information of the publications on intestinal microbiota and obesity was retrieved from the Scopus database, and then analyzed by using bibliometric approaches.

RESULTS

A total of 3,446 references were retrieved; the data indicated a steady growth and an exponential increase in publication numbers. The references were written in 23 different languages (93.8% in English). A number of 3,056 English journal papers were included in the further analyses. Among the 940 journals, the most prolific ones were PLOS ONE, Scientific Reports, and British Journal of Nutrition. North America and Europe were the highest publication output areas. The US (995 publications) ranked first in the number of publications, followed by the China (243 publications) and France (242 publications). The publication numbers were significantly correlated with gross domestic product (GDP), human development index (HDI), and population number (PN). International collaboration analysis also shows that most of the collaborations are among developed countries.

DISCUSSION

This comprehensive bibliometric study indicates that gut microbiota is a significant topic in the obesity research. The structured information may be helpful in understanding research trends, and locating research hot spots and gaps in this domain.

A decade bibliometric analysis of global research on leishmaniasis in Web of Science database

BACKGROUND

Leishmaniasis is an extremely relevant tropical disease, with global distribution. It still remains a main public health concern in low-income countries, and it is necessary to support more research on this common disease. Thus, a bibliometric analysis of the global scientific production on leishmaniasis was carried out.

METHODS

All the articles registered in Web of Science with the subject of leishmaniasis between 2006 and 2015 were analysed, using Pajek and VOS viewer as tools.

RESULTS

13,658 records in the field of leishmaniasis were indexed in the Web of Science database for this ten-year study period (2006-2015). This shows that studies on leishmaniasis have been growing, from 1071 in 2006 to 1537 in 2015. "Sundar S" is the most active researcher in the field of leishmaniasis, compiling and participating in 232 Articles. Brazil ranks first in scientific production, by performing 3315 studies on leishmaniasis. The United States, United Kingdom and Australia had the most collaboration in performing the studies of leishmaniasis with each other. In addition, PLOS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES published the most articles, with 483.

CONCLUSION

Our data shows an increase in the number of publications in the field of leishmaniasis. In addition, Brazil, USA, and India lead scientific production on leishmaniasis research.

Global trends in research related to social media in psychology: mapping and bibliometric analysis

BACKGROUND

Social media, defined as interactive Web applications, have been on the rise globally, particularly among adults. The objective of this study was to investigate the trend of the literature related to the most used social network worldwide (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Instagram) in the field of psychology. Specifically, this study will assess the growth in publications, citation analysis, international collaboration, author productivity, emerging topics and the mapping of frequent terms in publications pertaining to social media in the field of psychology.

METHODS

Publications related to social media in the field of psychology published between 2004 and 2014 were obtained from the Web of Science. The records extracted were analysed for bibliometric characteristics such as the growth in publications, citation analysis, international collaboration, emerging topics and the mapping of frequent terms in publications pertaining to social media in the field of psychology. VOSviewer v.1.6.5 was used to construct scientific maps.

RESULTS

Overall, 959 publications were retrieved during the period between 2004 and 2015. The number of research publications in social media in the field of psychology showed a steady upward growth. Publications from the USA accounted for 57.14% of the total publications and the highest h-index (48).The most common document type was research articles (873; 91.03%). Over 99.06% of the publications were published in English. Computers in Human Behavior was the most prolific journal. The University of Wisconsin-Madison ranked first in terms of the total publications (n = 39). A visualisation analysis showed that personality psychology, experimental psychology, psychological risk factors, and developmental psychology were continual concerns of the research.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first study reporting the global trends in the research related to social media in the psychology field. Based on the raw data from the Web of Science, publication characteristics such as quality and quantity were assessed using bibliometric techniques over 12 years. The USA and its institutions play a dominant role in this topic. The most preferred topics related to social media in psychology are personality psychology, experimental psychology, psychological risk factors, and developmental psychology.

Publication Trends in Bariatric Surgery: a Bibliometric Study

BACKGROUND

The interest in bariatric surgery has considerably increased in the scientific community in the last two decades. We present a bibliometric analysis of scientific publications in bariatric surgery focusing on the period 2010-2014.

METHODS

We used the Web of Science database as source of data. The main bibliometric indicators were applied in order to assess the increase of scientific production, the productivity of journals, authors, and countries.

RESULTS

Bibliographic research retrieved 7860 papers for the period 2010-2014. The scientific production in bariatric surgery has an exponential distribution (r = 97.9 %). A total of 76.8 % (21,893/28,505) of authors signed one paper and 307 (1.1 %) signed ten or more. The two most prolific journals are Obesity Surgery and SOARD, responsible for 22 % of the publication. The largest contributors in absolute number of articles are the USA, the UK, and Italy, while Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland are the most prolific nations after adjustment for the number of inhabitants and prevalence of obesity.

CONCLUSION

Bariatric surgery has been a field of intense research in the last 20 years. We observed a growing interest of non-surgical journals and an increasing participation of new countries. Nevertheless, latest trends suggest a saturation of scientific production in this field.

Developing dimensions for a multicomponent multidisciplinary approach to obesity management: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND

There have been consistent recommendations for multicomponent and multidisciplinary approaches for obesity management. However, there is no clear agreement on the components, disciplines or processes to be considered within such an approach. In this study, we explored multicomponent and multidisciplinary approaches through an examination of knowledge, skills, beliefs, and recommendations of stakeholders involved in obesity management. These stakeholders included researchers, practitioners, educators, and patients.

METHODS

We used qualitative action research methods, including convergent interviewing and observation, to assist the process of inquiry.

RESULTS

The consensus was that a multicomponent and multidisciplinary approach should be based on four central meta-components (patient, practitioner, process, and environmental factors), and specific components of these factors were identified. Psychologists, dieticians, exercise physiologists and general practitioners were nominated as key practitioners to be included.

CONCLUSIONS

A complex condition like obesity requires that multiple components be addressed, and that both patients and multiple disciplines are involved in developing solutions. Implementing cycles of continuous improvement to deal with complexity, instead of trying to control for it, offers an effective way to deal with complex, changing multisystem problems like obesity.

Longitudinal trends in global obesity research and collaboration: a review using bibliometric metadata

The goal of this study was to understand research trends and collaboration patterns together with scholarly impact within the domain of global obesity research. We developed and analysed bibliographic affiliation data collected from 117,340 research articles indexed in Scopus database on the topic of obesity and published from 1993-2012. We found steady growth and an exponential increase of publication numbers. Research output in global obesity research roughly doubled each 5 years, with almost 80% of the publications and authors from the second decade (2003-2012). The highest publication output was from the USA - 42% of publications had at least one author from the USA. Many US institutions also ranked highly in terms of research output and collaboration. Fifteen of the top-20 institutions in terms of publication output were from the USA; however, several European and Japanese research institutions ranked more highly in terms of average citations per paper. The majority of obesity research and collaboration has been confined to developed countries although developing countries have showed higher growth in recent times, e.g. the publication ratio between 2003-2012 and 1993-2002 for developing regions was much higher than that of developed regions (9:1 vs. 4:1). We also identified around 42 broad disciplines from authors' affiliation data, and these showed strong collaboration between them. Overall, this study provides one of the most comprehensive longitudinal bibliometric analyses of obesity research. This should help in understanding research trends, spatial density, collaboration patterns and the complex multi-disciplinary nature of research in the obesity domain.

HUMAN T-LYMPHOTROPIC VIRUS 1 (HTLV-1) AND HUMAN T-LYMPHOTROPIC VIRUS 2 (HTLV-2): GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH TRENDS AND COLLABORATION NETWORKS (1989-2012)

Publications are often used as a measure of research work success. Human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) type 1 and 2 are human retroviruses, which were discovered in the early 1980s, and it is estimated that 15-20 million people are infected worldwide. This article describes a bibliometric review and a coauthorship network analysis of literature on HTLV indexed in PubMed in a 24-year period. A total of 7,564 documents were retrieved, showing a decrease in the number of documents from 1996 to 2007. HTLV manuscripts were published in 1,074 journals. Japan and USA were the countries with the highest contribution in this field (61%) followed by France (8%). Production ranking changed when the number of publications was normalized by population (Dominican Republic and Japan), by gross domestic product (Guinea-Bissau and Gambia), and by gross national income per capita (Brazil and Japan). The present study has shed light on some of the defining features of scientific collaboration performed by HTLV research community, such as the existence of core researchers responsible for articulating the development of research in the area, facilitating wider collaborative relationships and the integration of new authors in the research groups.

Trends and topics in eye disease research in PubMed from 2010 to 2014

Background: The purpose of this study is to provide a report on scientific production during the period 2010–2014 in order to identify the major topics as well as the predominant actors (journals, countries, continents) involved in the field of eye disease. Methods: A PubMed search was carried out to extract articles related to eye diseases during the period 2010–2014. Data were downloaded and processed through developed PHP scripts for further analysis. Results: A total of 62,123 articles were retrieved. A total of 3,368 different journals were found, and 19 journals were identified as “core journals” according to Braford’s law. English was by far the predominant language. A total of 853,182 MeSH terms were found, representing an average of 13.73 (SD = 4.98) MeSH terms per article. Among these 853,182 MeSH terms, 14,689 different MeSH terms were identified. Vision Disorders, Glaucoma, Diabetic Retinopathy, Macular Degeneration, and Cataract were the most frequent five MeSH terms related to eye diseases. The analysis of the total number of publications showed that Europe and Asia were the most productive continents, and the USA and China the most productive countries. Interestingly, using the mean Five-Year Impact Factor, the two most productive continents were North America and Oceania. After adjustment for population, the overall ranking positions changed in favor of smaller countries (i.e. Iceland, Switzerland, Denmark, and New Zealand), while after adjustment for Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the overall ranking positions changed in favor of some developing countries (Malawi, Guatemala, Singapore). Conclusions: Due to the large number of articles included and the numerous parameters analyzed, this study provides a wide view of scientific productivity related to eye diseases during the period 2010–2014 and allows us to better understand this field.

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.

Bibliometric profile of neurogenic bladder in the literature: a 20-year bibliometric analysis

Neurogenic bladder is a dysfunction of the lower urinary tract caused by nervous system disorder. We investigated the trends in publication of articles under the topic “neurogenic bladder” using bibliometric analysis. Articles on neurogenic bladder, published between 1995 and 2014, were retrieved from the ISI Web of Science citation database. We analyzed the search results for authors, countries, institutions, journals, and top-cited papers. A total of 1,904 articles were retrieved. There was a small increase in the number of articles on neurogenic bladder from 1995 (n = 43) to 2014 (n = 117). The USA was the leading country in the total number of articles (n = 598). However, the number of publications from China has rapidly increased, and China was ranked second in 2014. Emmanuel Chartier-Kastler (n = 65) was the most productive author, and University of Paris VI (Paris 6) (n = 61) was the most productive institution. The Journal of Urology published the greatest number of articles on this topic (n = 285). Articles on neurogenic bladder were often published in a professional journal under the category Urology & Nephrology, Neurosciences & Neurology, or Rehabilitation. Visualization analysis based on co-citation networks was conducted using CiteSpace III. Visualization analysis revealed that the hot spots in neurogenic bladder were botulinum toxin-A, prazosin, bethanechol, and afferent pathways. These findings provide new insight into the publication trends and hot spots in neurogenic bladder.

Eye Neoplasms Research: A Bibliometric Analysis from 1966 to 2012

Purpose

To calculate the growth rate of the biomedical literature on eye neoplasms and to assess which journals, countries, and continents are the most productive.

Methods

PubMed was used to search for articles published from 1966 to 2012. Total number of articles per year was fitted to a linear equation as well as an exponential curve. To identify the core journals and predict the number of journals containing articles related to eye neoplasms, Bradford's law was applied. For each country and each continent, the gross domestic product (GDP) index (publications per $1 billion USD of GDP) and the population index (publications per million inhabitants) were calculated.

Results

A total of 27,943 references were retrieved. The growth in the number of publications showed a linear increase with a yearly average growth rate of 2.08%, which was lower than for the whole PubMed database (3.59%). Using Bradford's law, 17 core journals were identified, among which 2 journals produced more than 1000 articles (JAMA Ophthalmology and American Journal of Ophthalmology). Europe was the most productive continent, followed by North America and Asia. The United States was by far the predominant country in number of publications, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom. However, population and GDP indexes showed that absolute production did not reflect the production per capita or economic efficiency.

Conclusions

This bibliometric study provides data contributing to a better understanding of the eye neoplasm research field.

Academic libraries and development

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine publication patterns of scholarly literature related to academic libraries and development (i.e. funding), including publication trends over a five-year period, core journals and authorship, so that library directors and library development officers will have a basic collection of relevant resources.

Design/methodology/approach

– The methodology consisted of journal article searches in three databases relating to the field of library information science with 2006-2010 as the date limiter. The primary search terms came from the topic of this study and were joined to secondary-level search terms by using the Boolean operator: AND. Secondary-level keywords originated from the literature review and the search process. Results were stored in an Excel file based on pre-determined categories and were evaluated based on the research questions.

Findings

– There were 106 articles published on the topic of academic libraries and development authored by 164 individuals, pairs, groups or associations during the five-year period of 2006-2010. In 2010, the greatest number of articles (35) was published on the topic, but in 2008, the least number (14) was published.

Originality/value

– This study takes the bibliometric analysis approach, which has rarely been used on the topic of academic libraries and development work with the specific focus on library funding. It provides a foundation for further research on the topic, as well as resources to be used by library practitioners.

China's growing contribution to global intracranial aneurysm research (1991-2012): a bibliometric study

Background

We sought to analyze the growing worldwide trends of intracranial aneurysm research, investigate China's recent contribution, and compare the contributions of mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Methods

Global and China intracranial aneurysm-related publications were retrieved from the Web of Science database from 1991 to 2012. Excel 2007, Matlab, and Thomson Data Analyzer (TDA) software were used to analyze the search results for number of publications, cited frequency, h-index, and organization contributions.

Results

16468 global papers were identified that were cited 273500 times until 2013-08-15. The United States accounted for 31.497% of the articles, 58.64% of the citations, and the highest h-index (127). Japan and Germany followed in frequency. China's articles ranked eighth (third in 2012) in total number, with most of the contributions occurring since 2002 (91.33%). China was at the early stage of the logic growth curve (exponential growth), with the citation frequency and h-index per year increasing. The quality of the publications was low. The main research centers were located in Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The main Asian funding body was the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The number of publications and frequency of citations of papers from mainland China was greater than that of Taiwan or Hong Kong.

Conclusion

Global intracranial aneurysm research has been developing swiftly since 1991, with the United States making the largest contribution. Research in China started later, in 2002. Since then, China has increased its rate of publication, and became the third largest contributor by 2012.

Bibliometric analysis of South American research in sports science from 1970 to 2012

Sports science article publication in South American countries (n=11) was studied between 1970-2012, using all citation database of ISI Web of Knowledge. We evaluated: number of published articles; the number of publications divided by the number of people in science and technology (number pub/number peo); the top incidence of research subjects; public or private institutional predominance; impact factor (IF); average citations per document per country; and frequency of published articles per journals per country. Brazil showed the highest number of published articles, followed by Argentina. Bolivia showed the highest number pub/number peo, followed by Peru. Most studied themes were physiology, orthopedic and rehabilitation. Public institutions showed a higher published articles number than did private institutions. Peru and Bolivia were the only countries with a mean IF of 2 or higher. Average citation was higher in Peru (higher coefficient variation). In conclusions, our results show that, in most South American countries, their published articles rate has increased over time. This could be related to new government and institutional policies. However, production was low compared with other areas of science.

A bibliometric study of literature on SLE research in PubMed (2002–2011)

Objective

The objective of this paper is to study the distribution regularity, development tendency and research hot spots of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) literature published in journals indexed in PubMed over a 10-year period using the bibliometric analysis method.

Methods

Citations from 2002 to 2011 were downloaded from the PubMed database. The core of the search was the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) “Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic.” The period of study was set from 2002 to 2011.

Results

A total of 14,053 articles were retrieved. These articles were published in 1627 different journals, nine journals contributing to one-third of all the literature. The first three journals containing the most articles were Lupus, Arthritis Rheum and J Rheumatol. America was the most productive world area followed by Japan, China and the United Kingdom. When normalized by population, Israel, Monaco and Iceland ranked as the top three. When normalized by GDP, Israel, Tunisia and Serbia were in leading positions. The steady increase of publication in SLE research can be seen during the whole study period from 2002 to 2011.

Conclusion

SLE has become a field of interest over the period 2002 to 2011. However, lupus research publications in developing countries have lagged behind.

Worldwide research productivity in the field of rheumatology from 1996 to 2010: a bibliometric analysis

OBJECTIVE

Bibliometric studies concerning the quantity and quality of articles published in rheumatology journals are scarce. This study aims to compare scientific production in the field of rheumatology between countries and evaluate the publication trend and citations worldwide.

METHODS

Articles published in 39 rheumatology journals from 1996 to 2010 were screened using the Scopus database. The number of articles, citations, Hirsch indices (h-indices) and international collaborations were determined for countries or regions. Publication activity was adjusted for the top 35 countries categorized by population size and gross domestic product (GDP). RESULTS; A total of 43 808 articles were identified. The time trend of the number of articles showed an increase of 2.95-fold between 1996 and 2010. Western Europe and northern America were the most productive world areas, producing 52.4% and 23.1% of the available literature, respectively. The USA published the most articles, followed by the UK and Germany. The USA, the UK and the Netherlands had the highest h-indices (169, 137 and 117, respectively) and ranked about the same when total citations were used. However, Ireland had the highest average citations per article (48.33), followed by Denmark (40.19) and the Netherlands (39.86). Positive associations between the total number of publications/citations and population/GDP were observed (P < 0.01). Scandinavian countries ranked the highest after adjusting for population and GDP.

CONCLUSION

The USA and Western Europe clearly dominate the production of scientific publications in rheumatology. However, some smaller European countries have high scientific output relative to their size.

Bibliometric analysis of leishmaniasis research in Medline (1945-2010)

Background

Publications are often used as a measure of success of research work. Leishmaniasis is considered endemic in 98 countries, most of which are developing. This article describes a bibliometric review of the literature on leishmaniasis research indexed in PubMed during a 66-year period.

Methods

Medline was used via the PubMed online service of the US National Library of Medicine. The search strategy was Leishmania [MeSH] or leishmaniasis [MeSH] from 1 January 1945 until 31 December 2010. Neither language nor document type restrictions were employed.

Results

A total of 20,780 references were retrieved. The number of publications increased steadily over time, with 3,380 publications from 1945-1980 to 8,267 from 2001-2010. Leishmaniasis documents were published in 1,846 scientific journals, and Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (4.9%) was the top one. The USA was the predominant country by considering the first author’s institutional address (16.8%), followed by Brazil (14.9%), and then India (9.0%), however Brazil leads the scientific output in 2001-2010 period (18.5%), followed by the USA (13.5%) and India (10%). The production ranking changed when the number of publications was normalised by population (Israel and Switzerland), by gross domestic product (Nepal and Tunisia), and by gross national income per capita (India and Ethiopia). For geographical area, Europe led (31.7%), followed by Latin America (24.5%).

Conclusions

We have found an increase in the number of publications in the field of leishmaniasis. The USA and Brazil led scientific production on leishmaniasis research.

Análisis bibliométrico de la literatura económica en oncología

Objetivo: Análisis descriptivo de la literatura biomédica indexada en Medline entre 2001 y 2010 sobre temas relacionados con aspectos económicos del cáncer. Metodología: Se realizaron búsquedas en la base de datos Medline a través de GoPubMed. La estrategia de búsqueda fue: ("Neoplasms"[Majr] AND ("Costs and Cost Analysis"[Majr] OR "Economics"[Majr] OR "economics"[Subheading])) AND Journal Article[ptyp] AND "2001:2010"[dp]. Se identificaron, entre otras variables, número de publicaciones por año, tipos de cáncer estudiados, revistas, países de publicación y porcentaje de publicaciones sobre temas económicos relacionadas al total de publicaciones en cáncer.Resultados: Se recuperaron 5 886 referencias que tratan sobre aspectos económicos del cáncer. La tendencia fue al incremento del número de publicaciones, con un crecimiento en diez años de 86%. Se identificaron 1 309 revistas diferentes, Cancer con 190 publicaciones fue la revista con más publicaciones, seguida de Journal of Clinical Oncology con 135 y Pharmacoeconomics con 76 referencias. Estados Unidos fue el país más productivo con 2 453 publicaciones (41,6%); Colombia con 8 publicaciones, fue el tercer país latinoamericano. Los cánceres más investigados fueron seno, con 1 239; colorrectal con 753; pulmón con 516, cérvix con 477, y próstata con 403.Conclusiones: El número de publicaciones sobre literatura económica del cáncer ha crecido sostenidamente durante el periodo estudiado. Los países desarrollados son líderes en la producción científica en este campo. 

Mapping of Chagas disease research: analysis of publications in the period between 1940 and 2009

INTRODUCTION

Publications are often used as a measure of success in research work. Chagas disease occurs in Central and Southern America. However, during the past years, the disease has been occurring outside Latin America due to migration from endemic zones. This article describes a bibliometric review of the literature on Chagas disease research indexed in PubMed during a 70-year period.

METHODS

Medline was used via the PubMed online service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine from 1940 to 2009. The search strategy was: Chagas disease [MeSH] OR Trypanosoma cruzi [MeSH].

RESULTS

A total of 13,989 references were retrieved. The number of publications increased steadily over time from 1,361 (1940-1969) to 5,430 (2000-2009) (coefficient of determination for linear fit, R²=0.910). Eight journals contained 25% of the Chagas disease literature. Of the publications, 64.2% came from endemic countries. Brazil was the predominant country (37%), followed by the United States (17.6%) and Argentina (14%). The ranking in production changed when the number of publications was normalized by estimated cases of Chagas disease (Panama and Uruguay), population (Argentina and Uruguay), and gross domestic product (Bolivia and Brazil).

CONCLUSIONS

Several Latin American countries, where the prevalence of T. cruzi infection was not very high, were the main producers of the Chagas disease literature, after adjusting for economic and population indexes. The countries with more estimated cases of Chagas disease produced less research on Chagas disease than some developed countries.

Bibliometric analysis on retinoblastoma literatures in PubMed during 1929 to 2010

AIM

To determine the growth rule and tendency of retinoblastoma (Rb) literature, and to provide the basis for research of diagnosis, treatment and on Rb.

METHODS

Bibliometric analyses were carried out on Rb literatures which contain the descriptors of Rb in their titles or texts from 1929 to 2010 in PubMed database (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Pubmed). The biomedical journals referring to Rb by using bibliometric indicators were calculated. The principal bibliometric indicators, i.e., Price's and Bradford's laws to the increase or distribution of scientific literature, the participation index of languages and the journals were applied. By means of manual coding, Rb documents were classified according to documents studied and to statistical analysis.

RESULTS

During 1929-2010, there were 16162 literatures in the PubMed database including the word Rb. According to the literature type, it includes Review (n=2026), Randomized Controlled Trial (n=7), Practice guideline (n=3), meta-analysis (n=4), letter (n=215), editorial (n=98), clinical trial (n=115) and others (n=13694). By the statistical analysis, its equation is near power index (y=3.0477x(2.6088), R(2)=0.9666). From 1929 to 2010, Rb literatures in English were primarily dominant (90.71%) and the amount of the literature in Chinese ranked the fourth (1.37%). By searching PubMed, 1420(8.8%) literatures covered were from 41 of 48 ophthalmological, and 406 (2.5%) literatures from 44 of 86 pediatrics journals that correlated with retinoblastoma (SCI-indexed). The data showed that the literatures of Rb were gradually increasing year by year and were approximate near power index during 1929-2010, and the document publishes published mainly in ophthalmological journals, and in English (90.71%), and showing that the study on Rb is a popular subject in the last half century.

CONCLUSION

The literatures of Rb are gradually increasing, mainly English in ophthalmologic journals.

Direct animal calorimetry, the underused gold standard for quantifying the fire of life

Direct animal calorimetry, the gold standard method for quantifying animal heat production (HP), has been largely supplanted by respirometric indirect calorimetry owing to the relative ease and ready commercial availability of the latter technique. Direct calorimetry, however, can accurately quantify HP and thus metabolic rate (MR) in both metabolically normal and abnormal states, whereas respirometric indirect calorimetry relies on important assumptions that apparently have never been tested in animals with genetic or pharmacologically-induced alterations that dysregulate metabolic fuel partitioning and storage so as to promote obesity and/or diabetes. Contemporary obesity and diabetes research relies heavily on metabolically abnormal animals. Recent data implicating individual and group variation in the gut microbiome in obesity and diabetes raise important questions about transforming aerobic gas exchange into HP because 99% of gut bacteria are anaerobic and they outnumber eukaryotic cells in the body by ∼10-fold. Recent credible work in non-standard laboratory animals documents substantial errors in respirometry-based estimates of HP. Accordingly, it seems obvious that new research employing simultaneous direct and indirect calorimetry (total calorimetry) will be essential to validate respirometric MR phenotyping in existing and future pharmacological and genetic models of obesity and diabetes. We also detail the use of total calorimetry with simultaneous core temperature assessment as a model for studying homeostatic control in a variety of experimental situations, including acute and chronic drug administration. Finally, we offer some tips on performing direct calorimetry, both singly and in combination with indirect calorimetry and core temperature assessment.

Flow-through respirometry applied to chamber systems: pros and cons, hints and tips

Flow-through respirometry is a powerful, accurate methodology for metabolic measurement that is applicable to organisms spanning a body mass range of many orders of magnitude. Concentrating on flow-through respirometry that utilizes a chamber to contain the experimental animals, we describe the most common flow measurement and control methodologies (push, pull and stop-flow) and their associated advantages and disadvantages. Objective methods for calculating air flow rates through the chamber, based on the body mass and taxon of the experimental organism, are presented. Techniques for removing the effect of water vapor dilution, including the direct measurement of water vapor pressure and mathematical compensation for its presence, are described and evaluated, as are issues surrounding the analysis of one or both of the respiratory gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide), and issues related to the mathematical correction of wash-out phenomena (response correction). Two important biomedical applications of flow-through respirometry (metabolic phenotyping and room calorimetry) are discussed in detail, and we conclude with a list of suggestions aimed primarily at investigators starting out in applying flow-through respirometry.

[Spanish scientific production in obesity research published in PubMed (1988-2007)]

OBJECTIVE

To analyse Spanish scientific research output related to obesity during a 20-year period from 1988 to 2007 into context with the European Union productivity

METHODS

The bibliometric study was based on research of the MEDLINE database in PubMed. Search terms were "obesity" appearing in MeSH. Linear regression was used to estimate trends in number of publications.

RESULTS

We retrieved 50,120 documents on obesity in the study period, and 1,407 were by Spanish authors (2.7% of the world production). Spain, accounting for 8.1% of scientific output in this area, was the fifth most productive country in the European Union; 932 (69.1%) of papers were published in English. The average yearly increase in publications was 15%, from 91 documents in the first five-year period to 702 in the last five-period. The most frequent specialty of first author was endocrinology (279 documents, or 22.8%), followed by physiology-nutrition-bromatology (203, or 16.6%), and biochemistry (161, or 13.2%). Journals publishing the largest numbers of papers on obesity were Medicina Clínica (83 or 6.1%), Obesity Surgery (79 or 5.8%), International Journal of Obesity (73) and Nutricion Hospitalaria (59). The most productive regions in Spain were Cataluña (338 or 24.9%), Madrid (286 or 20,6%), and Navarra (159 or 11,7%). The most productive institutions were hospitals, with 708 titles (52.1%), followed by universities, with 521 (38.5%).

CONCLUSIONS

Obesity research in Spain has increased over the last 20 years and accounted for a substantial proportion of European Union research in this field. Half of the papers by Spanish authors were published in international non-Spanish journals. Most of papers were carried out from hospital settings and universities.