Publication trends in the journal of forensic dental sciences 2009-2012

Forensic odontology and dental age estimation research: a scoping review a decade after the NAS report on strengthening forensic science

Dental age estimation (DAE) is one of the most reliable and useful scientific methods employed by forensic odontology (FO) for human identification. In 2009, the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report highlighted the need to deepen research in many disciplines, among which FO received strong criticism for specific expertise. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview in order to systematically map the latest original research done in FO, as well as identify DAE within this field. A systematic search was performed from 2014 to 2019. In total, 644 studies were identified for qualitative analysis: DAE was the most studied topic (41.30%). Asia was the most productive continent with 58.27% of the global production on DAE; India was the most productive Asian country, with 32.33% and 55.48% of global and Asian production, respectively. The University of Macerata (Italy), KU Leuven (Belgium), University of Split (Croatia), and University of São Paulo (Brazil) led DAE research. Authors from leading countries on DAE research demonstrated great individual productivity, which is evidence of their scientific efforts, but also possible risks if the continuity of this line of research depends on them. Although FO has significantly focused its research on DAE, the absence of publications on controversial topics but necessary for research according to the NAS report shows the possible lack of interest of authors or journals to address them.

The dental specialties related articles published in Medical Journal Armed Forces India from 2000 to 2014 over a 15-year period

There is a paucity of information about the dental specialties related articles published in the Medical Journal Armed Forces India (MJAFI). This study aimed to audit the dental specialities related articles published in MJAFI from 2000 to 2014 over a 15-year period. Bibliometric analysis of sixty issues of MJAFI from 2000 to 2014 were performed using web-based search. The articles published were analyzed for type of article and topic of individual dental specialities. The articles published were also evaluated to identify whether the study was an Armed Forces Medical Research Committee Project or funded research project or not. Out of the total 118 published articles related to dental specialities, original articles (55) and case reports (49) contribute the major share. The highest number of dental specialities related articles was published in 2009 with 16, followed by 2010 with 13 and 2011 with 11 and the least published year was 2013 with 3 articles. Regarding the relationship with dental specialities, the maximum number of published articles were related to oral medicine and radiology (56) followed by oral and maxillofacial surgery (49), orthodontics (23) and prosthodontics (17). Among the articles published in MJAFI, maxillofacial injuries (11) followed by orthodontic treatment (8) and craniofacial deformities (8) form the major attraction of the contributors. Among the 118 dental speciality articles, there were only 4 Armed Forces Medical Research Committee Project articles and 19 funded research project articles. An equal distribution of articles related to clinical dentistry and nonclinical dentistry is maintained for the MJAFI from 2000 to 2014 over a 15-year period.