Scientific research related to calcium channel blockers poisoning: Bibliometric analysis in Scopus, 1968-2012

Global dioxin research trends and focal points: A century-long visual and bibliometric analysis (1923-2022)

Dioxin-like compounds, recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as among the most enduring toxic chemical substances in the environment, are linked to various occupational activities and industrial accidents worldwide. The aim of this study was to examine and present research publications on dioxins, pinpoint current research trends, identify research gaps, and highlight potential avenues for future exploration in the field. The study period for relevant research articles ranged from 1923 to December 31, 2022, and these articles were sourced from the Scopus database. The analysis involved the identification of key contributors to the field and the visualization of topics, themes, and international collaboration. VOSviewer software (version 1.6.20) was used for visualization analysis. A total of 11,620 publications on dioxins were documented in the Scopus database. The predominant category of these documents comprised 9780 original articles, which represents 84.17% of the total publications. The United States lead in the number of publications, with 3992 (34.35%), followed by Japan, with 1429 (12.3%), China, with 1005 (8.65%), and Germany, with 974 (8.38%). Before 2002, scholarly attention in this field focused primarily on the health effects, environmental fate, and mechanism of toxicity of tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). However, a noticeable change in research focus has been observed since 2002, highlighting the emergence of a topic related to the health effects and environmental fate of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PFDFs). This study is the first to conduct a comprehensive quantitative bibliometric analysis of dioxins over time. These findings indicate a significant increase in the overall growth of the dioxin literature over the past 30 years. These findings may prove crucial in guiding and organizing subsequent investigations related to dioxins.

A review of knowledge management research in the past three decades: a bibliometric analysis

Purpose

This study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis on knowledge management from journals in the Scopus database between 1988 and 2021. The paper covered the past three decades of publications and carried out performance analysis and science mapping analysis of articles.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses bibliometrics, performance analysis and science mapping analysis of 1,016 articles extracted from the Scopus database. The study examined the scientific productivity of articles, productive authors, citable documents, most relevant institutions, cited countries, co-occurrence of keywords, thematic mapping, co-citations and collaboration of authors and countries. The study used Biblioshiny as a tool to carry out the performance analysis and science mapping analysis.

Findings

The results show that the number of publications has significantly increased in the past decade, 88.4% of authors contribute at least a single article, 8.3% of authors published two articles, 2% of the authors published three documents and 0.6% of the authors contribute four papers. The USA, China and Australia were the most productive countries in terms of the total number of citations and foreign collaborations. Journal of Knowledge Management, Knowledge Management Research and Practice, VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management and International Journal of Technology Management are the top outlets in the knowledge management literature.

Originality/value

Over the past decade, the research on knowledge management construct has exploded because of the growing interest of researchers and practitioners in the field. Despite being a well-developed field, few studies have applied bibliometric analysis in the knowledge management literature. The study is more comprehensive in terms of the actors and methods involved in analyzing the scientific production of articles in the area of knowledge management.

Bibliometric profile of global scientific research on digoxin toxicity (1849-2015)

Digoxin is a cardiac glycoside derived from the common foxglove digitalis purpurea and has been available for several centuries as a medicinal agent. Despite extensive patient experience over many years, there remains some controversy regarding the possibility that digoxin might have a deleterious effect on survival. This study was constructed to assess trends in digoxin toxicity research using well-established qualitative and quantitative bibliometric indicators. The current study is based on publications that have been indexed in Scopus. Articles referring to the subject of digoxin toxicity between 1849 and 2015 were assessed according to the document type, publication language, countries/territories, institutions, journal, impact factors, total number of citations, h-index, average number of citations per publication, and international collaborations. There were 2900 publications that included 2542 (87.7%) original research articles, while 5.3% were reviews and 4.6% letters. The country of origin was the USA in 849 publications, Germany in 241, the UK in 150, and France in 143. The USA and the UK had the highest number of international collaborations. The average number of citations per publications related to digoxin toxicity was 8.1, and the h-index was 59. The USA and Canada had the highest h-indices by country at 46 and 22, respectively. This study presents the first bibliometric analysis on digoxin toxicity publications. The USA was the most important contributors to digoxin toxicity literature with the greatest international collaboration, largest number of articles and highest h-index, followed by Germany and the UK. There has been a trend towards reduced publication numbers related to digoxin toxicity at global level, although it is still an important issue and we present the current research themes related to digoxin toxicity that were identified.

Global scientific trends on aflatoxin research during 1998-2017: a bibliometric and visualized study

BACKGROUND

Aflatoxins are fungal metabolites associated with contaminated food products. Intake of aflatoxin-contaminated food results in serious health hazards and even death. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the global scientific output of research of aflatoxin by using bibliometric techniques.

METHODS

This bibliometric study was conducted using Scopus database and classified the retrieved publications were classified from different aspects, including the countries/region of focus, journals, authors, institutes, citations, and content analysis to discover any hot and emerging topics. In addition, the bibliometric analysis of the international collaborative network and hot research topics were generated by VOSviewer© software version 1.6.10. The publication period was restricted in the search for two decades (1998-2017).

RESULTS

The search engine of the Scopus database found 9845 documents published in the field of aflatoxin. The USA is the top publishing source in the world (22.85%), followed by China (11.85%), India (9.32%), and Italy (5.25%). In earlier years, researchers focused on terms related to the topics of "sources and biosynthesis of aflatoxin", "health effects by aflatoxin", and "detoxification and treatment of aflatoxin". However, in recent years, researchers pay more attention to the topic of detection and quantification of aflatoxin.

CONCLUSIONS

The quantity of research in global aflatoxin has substantially increased over the past two decades. The evaluation of the historical status and development trend in aflatoxin scientific research can guide future research, and ultimately provide the basis for improving management procedures for governmental decisions, healthcare, industries, and educational institutions.

Global research trends in microbiome-gut-brain axis during 2009-2018: a bibliometric and visualized study

BACKGROUND

The pathways and mechanism by which associations between the gut microbiome and the brain, termed the microbiome-gut-brain axis (MGBA), are manifest but remain to be fully elucidated. This study aims to use bibliometric analysis to estimate the global activity within this rapidly developing field and to identify particular areas of focus that are of current relevance to the MGBA during the last decade (2009-2018).

METHODS

The current study uses the Scopus for data collection. We used the key terms "microbiome-gut-brain axis" and its synonyms because we are concerned with MGBA per se as a new concept in research rather than related topics. A VOSviewer version 1.6.11 was used to visualize collaboration pattern between countries and authors, and evolving research topics by analysis of the term co-occurrence in the title and abstract of publications.

RESULTS

Between 2009 and 2018, there were 51,504 published documents related to the microbiome, including 1713 articles related to the MGBA: 829 (48.4%) original articles, 658(38.4%) reviews, and 226 (13.2%) other articles such as notes, editorials or letters. The USA took the first place with 385 appearances, followed by Ireland (n = 161), China (n = 155), and Canada (n = 144).The overall citation h-index was 106, and the countries with the highest h-index values were the USA (69), Ireland (58), and Canada (43). The cluster analysis demonstrated that the dominant fields of the MGBA include four clusters with four research directions: "modeling MGBA in animal systems", "interplay between the gut microbiota and the immune system", "irritable bowel syndrome related to gut microbiota", and "neurodegenerative diseases related to gut microbiota".

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates that the research on the MGBA has been becoming progressively more extensive at global level over the past 10 years. Overall, our study found that a large amount of work on MGBA focused on immunomodulation, irritable bowel syndrome, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Despite considerable progress illustrating the communication between the gut microbiome and the brain over the past 10 years, many issues remain about their relevance for therapeutic intervention of many diseases.

Outcomes following calcium channel blocker exposures reported to a poison information center

Background

Calcium channel blockers (CCBs) are widely used drugs that have a narrow therapeutic index. Even minor overdoses must be treated in-hospital due to the risk of severe hypotension and bradycardia. We aimed to describe trends in CCB use and overdoses in Denmark.

Methods

Data on enquiries concerning CCBs reported to the Danish Poisons Information Center (DPIC) from January 2009 to January 2015 was coupled with data on hospitalization and mortality obtained from Danish National Registers. We obtained data on the general use of CCBs in Denmark and retrieved medical charts on fatal cases.

Results

From a total of 126,987 enquiries to the DPIC in 2009–2014 we identified 339 CCB unique exposures (3‰ of all). Children < 5 years accounted for 20% all exposures and these were classified as ‘intake during playing’ (61%) and ‘medication errors’ (39%). Among adults ‘suicidal poisonings’ (58%), and ‘medication errors’ (34%) were most frequent. A majority (81%) of exposures led to hospital admission. Seven patients (2%) died from the CCB exposure and all were adults with ‘suicidal poisoning’. Amlodipine accounted for 95% of all CCB prescriptions, was involved in 71% of enquiries and in 29% of fatalities. Verapamil accounted for 3% of prescriptions, was involved in 13% of enquiries and 57% of fatalities.

Conclusion

Four fifths of enquiries to the DPIC result in hospitalization and one fifth concern small children. Mortality were infrequent and occurred only in adults with suicidal exposures and with and an overrepresentation of verapamil exposures.

Publications by faculty members indexed in Science Citation Index and Scopus: an Iranian case study

Purpose

The paper aims to report an investigation that was conducted to identify the scholarly publications by faculty members of the Allameh Tabataba’i University that were indexed in two international databases, Science Citation Index (SCI) and Scopus, from the year the databases first included Iranian-authored papers (1987 and 1989, respectively) through the end of 2015.

Design methodology/approach

Scientometric methods and social network analysis techniques were used to conduct the study and to analyze the co-authorship network. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were carried out on the data. Quantitative analysis was accomplished using Microsoft Excel, while the qualitative analysis was carried out using HistCite, VOSviewer and Pajek software.

Findings

Faculty members had the most international cooperation with colleagues from the USA and Switzerland, and they jointly authored papers with faculty and staff from other universities within Iran. The three institutions with the highest rate of co-authorship included the Islamic Azad University, Tehran University and Amir Kabir University of Technology.

Practical implications

The overall overlap among the two databases was about 21 per cent. The number of papers indexed by Scopus (583 records) was more than that by SCI (410 records). The total number of papers at an international level was much lower than that at the national level (6,426 records) in both the databases.

Originality/value

This paper provides insight into the scholarly works by the faculty of Allameh Tabataba’i University indexed in two international databases, SCI and Scopus. It also examines the co-authorship network structure.

Global research production in glyphosate intoxication from 1978 to 2015: A bibliometric analysis

BACKGROUND

Glyphosate (N-phosphonomethylglycine) has been used as a broad-spectrum herbicide that has been widely used in the agricultural industry and also available for home use. The main aim of this study is to present a general overview of glyphosate intoxication-related publications from its introducing since the early 1970s using bibliometric technique.

METHODS

On June 23, 2016, a literature search of the Scopus database was performed. We then extracted and analyzed the data using well-established qualitative and quantitative bibliometric indices: Publication year, affiliation, document type, country name, subject category, journal name, publishing language, and collaboration and citation patterns.

RESULTS

We recognized a total of 3735 publications on glyphosate published between 1973 and 2015. There were 875 publications related to glyphosate intoxication in the Scopus database published between 1978 and 2015. Articles (757) comprised 86.5% of the total publications, followed by reviews (41; 4.7%). Most publications were published in English (87.9%), followed by Portuguese (6.6%). The number of publications related to glyphosate intoxication increased from 44 in 1978-1987 up to 152 in 1996-2005 and then quadrupled in 2006-2015. The United States was the leading country with 180 documents representing 20.6%, followed by Brazil (120; 13.7%), Canada (78; 8.9%), Argentina (61; 7.0%), and France (57; 6.5%). The 85.6% of the publications was cited, and the average of citation per document was 17.13 with h-index of 55. Furthermore, the United States achieved the highest h-index of 33. Most of the global international collaborations are made with researchers from the United States, who collaborated with 23 countries/territories in 44 publications.

CONCLUSIONS

The trends in global glyphosate-related research between 1978 and 2015 were evaluated by a bibliometric technique. Results showed that English was the leading publishing language, and the major publication type was original article. Findings showed that number of research publications related to glyphosate intoxication increased significantly in the last decade. The United States and Brazil are the two most productive countries in research on glyphosate intoxication. This study will be beneficial to policy makers by identifying areas that need greater investment and research funding to target appropriate agriculture sectors so as to improve glyphosate safety in a global setting.

Bibliometric Analysis of Worldwide Publications on Antimalarial Drug Resistance (2006-2015)

BACKGROUND

In response to international efforts to control and eradicate malaria, we designed this study to give a bibliometric overview of research productivity in antimalarial drug resistance (AMDR).

METHODS

Keywords related to AMDR were used to retrieve relevant literature using Scopus database.

RESULTS

A total of 976 publications with an h-index of 63 were retrieved. The number of publications showed a noticeable increase starting in the early 1990s. The USA was the most productive country with 337 publications equivalent to one-third of worldwide publications in this field. More than two-thirds of publications by the USA (236, 70.03%) were made by international collaboration. Of the top ten productive countries, two countries were from Mekong subregion, particularly Thailand and Cambodia. The Malaria Journal was the most productive journal (136, 13.93%) in this field. Mahidol University (80, 8.20%) in Thailand was the most productive institution. Seven articles in the top-ten list were about artemisinin resistance in Plasmodium falciparum, one was about chloroquine resistance, one was about sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine resistance, and the remaining one was about general multidrug resistance.

CONCLUSION

Eradication and control of AMDR require continuing research activity to help international health organizations identify spots that require an immediate action to implement appropriate measures.

Global Research Trends in Lithium Toxicity from 1913 to 2015: A Bibliometric Analysis

Lithium salts have been used to treat psychiatric disorders since the 1940s and are currently used in prophylaxis and treatment of depression and bipolar disorder. Therefore, we conducted this study to assess lithium toxicity-related publications using bibliometric approaches from a health point of view to assess global research trends in the lithium toxicity field to offer guidance to future research in this field. The data were retrieved from the online version of Scopus database on 6 August 2016. All records with the term 'lithium' in the title were retrieved, and those related to lithium toxicity were evaluated. There were a total of 1241 publications related to lithium toxicity published from 1913 to 2016. Articles (971 or 78.2%) were the most common type, followed by letters (179 or 14.4%) and reviews (61 or 4.9%). The annual publication of articles increased slightly after 1950 and the total number of publications related to lithium toxicity fluctuated with three peaks occurred in 1978, 1985 and 2014. The USA was the predominant country (25.38%), followed by the UK (7.82%), France (6.85%) and Canada (3.55%). Denmark had the highest productivity of publication after standardization by gross domestic product and population size. The average number of citations per article was 9.24, and the h-index for all publications in the field of lithium toxicity was 46. The highest h-index value was achieved by the USA (31) followed by the UK (21) and Canada (13). The Lancet was the highest ranked journal with 27 articles, followed by American Journal of Psychiatry with 23 articles. This study provides a bibliometric analysis on the global research trends in lithium toxicity studies during 1913-2015. There has been a progressive increase in the number of publications related to lithium toxicity published in the last decade, and most of the studies related to lithium toxicity arose from the USA and the UK.

Global cocaine intoxication research trends during 1975-2015: a bibliometric analysis of Web of Science publications

BACKGROUND

Cocaine is subject to recreational abuse as a stimulant and psychoactive agent, which poses a major worldwide health problem. The aim of the present study was to perform a bibliometric analysis of publication related to cocaine intoxication an insight of the research trends at a global level to enable recommendations for future research strategies in this field.

METHODS

Publications about cocaine intoxication were retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection database on December 28, 2016, and analysed regarding the following bibliometric indicators: research trends, document types, languages, countries/territories with their h-index, collaboration patterns, journals with their impact factors (IF), and institutions.

RESULTS

In total, 2,902 scientific publications from 1975 to 2015 were retrieved from the WoS database. The annual number of publications related to cocaine toxicity increased slightly after 1990 and reached a peak of 148 in 1992, with an average of 103 publications per year. The USA outranked other countries/territories with 2,089 publications, of which 1,927 arose exclusively from the USA and 162 involved international collaborations. The h-index for all publications related to cocaine was 212, and the h-index for all publications related to cocaine intoxication was 99. Moreover, the USA had the highest h-index of 95, followed by Spain with h-index of 24, and Canada with h-index of 24. The main research topics were consistently reproductive toxicity, clinical management of acute cocaine exposure, laboratory methods for detection of exposure to cocaine, cocaine metabolism, and cocaine toxicity in animals.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first bibliometric approach to examining research related to cocaine toxicity and shows that research activity has become more global and extensive since 1990. The USA remains the leading country regarding published literature, the highest h-index, and greatest role in international collaborations.

Bibliometric analysis of literature on female genital mutilation: (1930 - 2015)

Background

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a common harmful traditional practice in many communities in Africa and to a lesser extent in Middle East and other regions in the world. In order to better understand publishing on this topic, we conducted a bibliometric study on FGM/C. Bibliometric analyses can be used as an indicator of the extent of interaction of researchers, health authorities, and communities with a particular health issue.

Methods

Scopus database was used to retrieve data on FGM/C. Keywords used were “female genital mutilation”, “female genital circumcision”, “female genital cutting” and “female circumcision”. Specifically, the number of publications, top productive countries and institutions, highly cited articles, citation analysis, co-authorships, international collaboration, role of African countries, top active authors, and journals involved in publishing articles on FGM/C were reviewed and analyzed. We indirectly assessed the impact of publications using total number of citations received, average number of citations per article, Hirsch-index, percentage of highly cited articles, and journal’s impact factor.

Results

One thousand and thirty-five publications on FGM/C were retrieved. The h-index of retrieved articles was 37. A steep rise in number of publications was noticed in mid-1990s and again in 2012. More than half of retrieved articles were published from 2006 – 2015. A total of 65 countries contributed. The top ten productive countries included ones from Northern America, Europe and Africa. Nigeria and Egypt were the most active African countries in FGM/C publications. At least nine African academic institutions were actively involved on FGM/C publications. Articles on FGM/C that received the highest number of citations were those that focused on negative physical and psychosexual consequences of FGM/C. Journal topic areas were obstetrics/gynecology, public health, and psychological sociology. Collaboration between African and European countries on FGM/C research was evident.

Conclusion

Bibliometric analysis reveals that research publications on FGM/C have been increasing since the l970s, with collaboration between African and Western countries, and articles are being published in higher impact journals, not only obstetrics, but also public health and social sciences. FGM/C research can be helpful to international health agencies and governments not only to document negative outcomes, but also to identify best practices, and to note gaps in implementation and practice.

Dengue research: a bibliometric analysis of worldwide and Arab publications during 1872-2015

BACKGROUND

Dengue is an important emerging and re-emerging arboviral infection globally as a rapidly growing and widespread public health problem, with transmission occurring in more than 128 countries in Asia, Americas, southeast Africa, western Pacific, and eastern Mediterranean regions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to characterize and quantify the scientific output of dengue research in Arab countries relative to that worldwide by using a bibliometric analysis.

METHODS

The standardized search approach based on the use of the the keyword "dengue" in the title, abstract, and keyword field was used to get research output related to dengue at a global level. All data related to dengue were collected from the past to December 31, 2015.

RESULTS

A total of 19,581 dengue-related documents identified in the Scopus database. The results show that the study of dengue exhibits an overall upward trend from 1872 to 2015 with peak publications in 2014. The leading countries in dengue research were the USA (4,709; 24.05 %), India (1,942; 9.92 %), Brazil (1,530; 7.81 %), Thailand (1,260; 6.43 %), the UK (1,129; 5.77 %), and France (1,087; 5.55 %). Only 226 (1.16 % of the overall global research effort in the dengue field) articles were published from the Arab region. The total number of citations for all publications was 352,710, with an average of 18.0 citations per publication. Furthermore, the h-index for all extracted data related to dengue research was 186. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was the most productive country in Arab region with 102 documents representing 45.1 %. Furthermore, the h-index for all extracted data related to dengue research was 27. The USA was Arab's most main cooperative partner (46, 20.4 %), followed by India (36, 15.9 %).

CONCLUSIONS

The amount of literature related to dengue research has considerably increased over the last decade. This bibliometric analysis has demonstrated the leading role that the USA, India, Brazil, Thailand, the UK, and France play in dengue research. The Arab world produced fewer publications related to dengue with lower quality than other world countries.

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.

Bibliometric profile of the global scientific research on autism spectrum disorders

BACKGROUND

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group conditions classified as neuro-developmental disorders. Research activity on ASD is important for all countries since such disorders have both social and health consequences. The objective of this study was to analyze research output on ASD during the period 2005-2014.

METHODS

All articles relevant to ASD plus all articles published in autism journals were retrieved using Scopus database. VOSviewer software was used to create density and network visualization maps. Bibliometric indicators were investigated by analyzing annual research output, languages, countries, institutions, journals, title terms, highly cited articles, and co-authorship relations.

RESULTS

A progressive annual growth of ASD research was observed from 2005 to 2014. During this period, a total of 18,490 articles were retrieved. The majority of these articles was published in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders with 48,416 citations and an average citation of 23.59 citations per article. The countries that published the largest number of articles were the United States (US) (n = 8594; 46.48 %), United Kingdom (n = 2430; 13.14 %) and Canada (n = 1077; 5.8 %). International collaborations produced 30.18 % of the articles published by top 10 productive countries. King's College London (UK) ranked first in number of publications and total citations. The top 10 list of productive institutions was dominated by US academic and research institutions. More than half of the highly cited articles were in the field of molecular genetics. Articles with more than 50 citations were published mainly by authors from USA, UK and Canada.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a worldwide growth of publications on ASD led by countries in Northern America and Europe. Retrieved articles were published in a wide range of journals. Molecular genetics of ASD is the primary hot topic on ASD. For some leading countries, intra country collaboration is dominant.

Worldwide research productivity on tramadol: a bibliometric analysis

BACKGROUND

Pain management and safe use of analgesics is an important medical issue. Tramadol is an old analgesic with controversial properties. Evaluation of worldwide scientific output on tramadol has not been explored. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to give a bibliometric overview of global research productivity on tramadol.

METHODS

SciVerse Scopus was used to retrieve and quantitatively and qualitatively analyze worldwide publications on tramadol.

RESULTS

A total of 2059 original and review research articles on tramadol were retrieved from Scopus. Forty-six documents (2.23 %) were published in Anesthesia and Analgesia Journal whereas 30 (1.46 %) were published in Arzneimittel Forschung Drug Research Journal. Retrieved tramadol documents were published from 71 countries and appeared in 160 peer reviewed journals. Although the United States of America (259; 12.86 %) had the largest contribution to tramadol publications; the contribution by other countries like Turkey (232; 11.27) India (189; 8.09 %) and Germany (176; 8.56 % was not far away from that of USA. The most productive institution was Grunenthal, Germany (47; 2.28 %) followed by Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran (29; 1.41 %), and, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Incorporated, USA (25; 1.21 %). Of the 2059 documents, there were 370 documents about dependence. The leading institution in documents pertaining to tramadol dependence was Grunenthal GmbH (18; 4.86 %) followed by Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Incorporated (17; 4.59 %).

CONCLUSIONS

The current study showed that there is an obvious interest in tramadol research. More efforts are needed to clarify the abuse potential and safety profile of tramadol to help in determining the legal status of tramadol. Collaboration among pharmaceutical industry, clinical researchers and academic institutions can improve research quantity and quality on tramadol.

Bibliometric analysis of medicine-related publications on poverty (2005-2015)

BACKGROUND

Poverty is a global problem. The war against poverty requires not only financial support, but also poverty-related research to pinpoint areas of high need of intervention. In line with international efforts to fight poverty and negative consequences, we carried out this study to give a bibliometric overview of medicine-related literature on poverty. Such a s study is an indicator of the extent of interaction of various international key players on the war against poverty-related health problems.

METHODS

Scopus was used to achieve the objective of this study. The time span set for this study was 2005-2015. Poverty-related articles under the subject area "Medicine" were used to give bibliometric indicators such as annual growth of publications, international collaboration, highly cited articles, active countries, institutions, journals, and authors.

RESULTS

The total number of retrieved articles was 1583. The Hirsh-index of retrieved articles was 56. A modest and fluctuating increase was seen over the study period. Visualization map of retrieved articles showed that "HIV", infectious diseases, mental health, India, and Africa were most commonly encountered terms. No significant dominance of any particular author or journal was observed in retrieved articles. The United States of America had the largest share in the number of published articles. The World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Prevention and Control were among top active institutions/organizations. International collaboration was observed in less than one third of publications. Top cited articles focused on three poverty-related health issues, mainly, infectious diseases, malnutrition, and child development/psychology. Most of top articles were published in high impact journals.

CONCLUSIONS

Data indicated that articles on poverty were published in high influential medical journals indicative of the importance of poverty as a global health problem. However, the number publications and the extent of international collaborations was lower than expected given the huge burden of poverty-related health problems.

Bibliometric analysis of worldwide publications on multi-, extensively, and totally drug - resistant tuberculosis (2006-2015)

BACKGROUND

The year 2015 marked the end of United Nations Millennium Development Goals which was aimed at halting and reversing worldwide tuberculosis (TB). The emergence of drug resistance is a major challenge for worldwide TB control. The aim of this study was to give a bibliometric overview of publications on multi-, extensively, and totally drug-resistant TB.

METHODS

Scopus database was used to retrieve articles on multidrug resistant (MDR), extensively drug-resistant (XDR), and totally drug-resistant (TDR) tuberculosis for the study period (2006-2015). The number of publications, top productive countries and institutions, citation analysis, co-authorships, international collaboration, active authors, and active journals were retrieved and analyzed.

RESULTS

A total of 2260 journal articles were retrieved. The mean ± SD citations per article was 7.04 ± 16.0. The h-index of retrieved data was 76. The number of publications showed a three - fold increase over the study period compared with less than two - fold increase in tuberculosis research during the same study period. Stratified by number of publications, the United States of America ranked first while Switzerland ranked first in productivity per 100 million people, and South Africa ranked first in productivity stratified per one trillion Gross Domestic Product. Three of the High Burden Countries (HBC) MDR-TB (India, China, and South Africa) were present in top productive countries. High percentage of international collaboration was seen among most HBC MDR-TB. Except for Plos One journal, most active journals in publishing articles on MDR, XDR, TDR-TB were in infection - related fields and in general medicine. Top 20 cited articles were published in prestigious journal such as Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine. The themes in top 20 cited articles were diverse, ranging from molecular biology, diagnostic tools, co-infection with HIV, and results of new anti-TB drugs.

CONCLUSION

Publications on MDR, XDR and TDR - TB are increasing in the past decade. International collaboration was common. Many low resourced African and Asian countries will benefit from research leading to new diagnostic and screening technology of TB. The exchange of expertise, ideas and technology is of paramount importance in this field.

Bibliometric analysis on global Catha edulis (khat) research production during the period of 1952-2014

BACKGROUND

Publication of scientific articles related to khat (Catha edulis) in peer-reviewed journals is considered a measure of research productivity. The principal objectives of this study were to quantify the research contribution related to khat at the global level, as well as to determine its relative growth rate, collaborative measures taken, productivity at the institutional level, and the most prolific journals publishing on the topic.

METHODS

On the basis of title words related to khat, publications were identified for all data in Scopus bibliographic database's history up to December 31, 2014. The research productivity for the top 10 countries was evaluated in relation to the population size and gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013.

RESULTS

The criteria were met by 651documents published in 51 countries. The largest number of articles associated with khat was from the UK (15.2 %), followed by Yemen (10.3 %), the USA (9.7 %) and Ethiopia (9.1 %). Ethiopia, Yemen, and Kenya had the highest productivity of publications after standardization by population size and GDP. Furthermore, Yemen achieved the highest number of collaborations, by having researchers from 19 countries. Ethiopia followed, having researchers from 16 countries.

CONCLUSIONS

This bibliometric study provides a demonstration for the worldwide research activity regarding khat. The number of articles related to khat has increased rapidly over the last 10 years. The present study is a good starting point to evaluate research activity in the field of khat. Although the data shows a promising increase in the research activity, the quantity of khat-related research is still too little compared to the massive use of khat in certain countries.

Bibliometric profile of the global scientific research on methanol poisoning (1902-2012)

BACKGROUND

Methanol poisoning is on the rise and has been associated with high morbidity and mortality; it has resulted in growing research in the field of toxicology. The aim of this study was to reveal underlying patterns in scientific outputs related to methanol poisoning at the global level by evaluating different bibliometric indices.

METHODS

We searched for publications that contained specific words regarding methanol poisoning in Scopus database.

RESULTS

A total of 912 articles, with 8,317 citations and with an average of 9.1 citations per document, were retrieved on methanol poisoning, and the bulk of the articles were published from the USA (20.9%), followed by Spain (4.4%), Canada (4.3%), India (3.1%), and France (3.0%). The articles were published belonging to 57 countries. No data related to methanol poisoning were published from 155 (73.1%) out of 212 countries. Twenty-one documents (2.3%) were published in Clinical Toxicology, whereas 18 (2.0%) were published in The Lancet.

CONCLUSIONS

Scientific production related to methanol poisoning is increasing. articles have been published in a wide range of journals with a variety of subject areas, most notably clinical toxicology; and the country with the greatest production was the USA.