bims-evares Biomed News
on Evaluation of research
Issue of 2020‒01‒26
23 papers selected by
Thomas Krichel
Open Library Society


  1. J Hist Biol. 2020 Jan 21.
      In the first edition of the Origin of Species (1859), Charles Darwin apologized for not correctly referencing all the works cited in his magnum opus. More than 150 years later we have catalogued these citations and analyzed the resultant data. Looking for a complete selection of collaborators, a flexible interpretation of the term citation was necessary; we define it as any reference made to a third party, independently of its form or function. Following the same idea, the sixth edition of the Origin, originally published in 1872 and reprinted with minor additions and corrections in 1876, was chosen for the research because it represents the end of a long debate between Darwin and his peers. It naturally is the edition with the greatest number of citations and collaborators. Through a diverse theoretical analysis, we aim to present a new perspective for the study of the Origin of Species: a bibliographic approach that provides the tools needed to understand the history of the book as a physical and cultural object. Bibliometrics provides a theory of citations as well as a quantitative analysis; science studies highlights the profound social aspects of science in the making. The analysis resulted in 639 citations to 298 collaborators and provided a new perspective of the rhetorical structure of the Origin, even though these results are only the tip of the iceberg of the potential of all the data gathered in this study.
    Keywords:  Bibliography; Bibliometrics; Charles darwin; Citations; Origin of Species; Science studies
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-020-09592-8
  2. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2020 Jan 13.
      BACKGROUND: In 2016, orthopaedic surgeons received nearly USD 300 million from industry, with the top 10% of recipients making more than 95% of the total amount. The degree to which gender may be associated with industry compensation has not been well explored; however, this may be confounded by a number of variables, including academic productivity, experience, and other factors. We wished to explore the variability in payment distribution by gender after controlling for these factors.QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: (1) Do men or women academic orthopaedic surgeons receive more payments from industry? (2) To what degree do any observed differences between the genders persist, even after accounting for identifiable factors, including academic rank, scholarly productivity, regional location of university, subspecialty selection as identified by fellowships completed, and years since completion of residency?
    METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional retrospective analysis of surgeons practicing in orthopaedic surgery academic departments in the United States. Academic orthopaedic surgery departments were identified using the Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database. Publicly available data on gender, academic rank, scholarly productivity, regional location of university, fellowships completed, and years since residency graduation were collected from institutional websites. Industry funding data for 2016 were obtained from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Open Payments Database, and scholarly productivity data through 2017 were collected from Scopus. A total of 2939 academic orthopaedic surgeons, 2620 (89%) men and 319 (11%) women from 126 programs were identified. Men and women surgeons were different in most of the variables collected, and all except region of university were associated with differences in industry payments.
    RESULTS: The median payment for men surgeons was greater than that for women (USD 1027 [interquartile range USD 125-USD 9616] versus USD 177 [IQR USD 47-USD 1486]; difference of medians, USD 850; p < 0.001]. After accounting for potentially confounding variables like faculty rank, years since residency, H-index and subspecialty choice, women faculty members still received only 29% of payments received by otherwise comparable men orthopaedists (beta coefficient for gender = 0.29 [95% CI 0.20 to 0.44; p < 0.001]).
    CONCLUSIONS: Women academic orthopaedic surgeons received only 29% of the industry payments received by men, even after controlling for faculty rank, years since residency, H-index, and subspecialty selection. This gender-related disparity may hinder the career advancement of women orthopaedic surgeons.
    CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Increased transparency by companies can help guide orthopaedic surgeons who wish to receive industry funding.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/CORR.0000000000001132
  3. Adv Respir Med. 2019 ;87(6): 209-213
      INTRODUCTION: The Scimago Journal Rank (SJR) impact factor is extensively used. However, as the Internet has become widely available, new metrics are coming into play. Our research aims to determine whether a correlation between the SJR impact factor and metrics reflecting social media activity does exist.MATERIALS AND METHODS: We have used pulmonary medicine journals indexed in the SJR. Variables of social network usage have been extracted from verified accounts. Bivariate analyses have been performed with the Mann-Whitney U tests, the correlation between social media-derived variables and the SJR impact factor have been assessed with the Spearman correlation coefficient. Results are presented before and after adjustment for the years since the creation of the accounts.
    RESULTS: From 130 journals, 38 had at least one social network account, Twitter being the most commonly used (22.85%). The H index was higher in journals with social network accounts (Median 60 vs 17; p < 0.01). The global correlation between the SJR and the number of followers on Twitter revealed moderate agreement (r = 0.46; p < 0.01), which was excellent in open access journals (rs = 0.90; p < 0.05).
    CONCLUSIONS: The use of social networks is directly correlated with traditional indicators of scientific impact. The joint use of alternative and traditional metrics may be useful for journals in order to generate strategies aiming to increase their audience, as well as for researchers when deciding about the best option of disseminating their articles.
    Keywords:  journal impact factor; online social networking; pulmonology; social media
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5603/ARM.2019.0058
  4. Spine Deform. 2018 Jul;6(4): 373-383
      STUDY DESIGN: Bibliometric review of current literature.OBJECTIVE: To identify and analyze the characteristics of the 100 most cited articles on idiopathic scoliosis focusing on the level of evidence. The scientific literature on idiopathic scoliosis has been constantly evolving, but many aspects of its true etiology, natural history, and response to treatment continue to be discussed. To date, no study has used bibliometric analysis to review the most influential articles about idiopathic scoliosis.
    METHODS: The Thompson Reuters Web of Science was accessed to find the 100 most cited articles on idiopathic scoliosis. The number and citation density, authorship, institutions, country of origin, year of publication, source journals, type of study, topic, study design, and level of evidence were analyzed.
    RESULTS: The 100 most frequently cited articles accumulated 13,749 citations. The number of citations ranged between 616 and 80. The 10 most cited articles represent 24.6% of all citations. The treatment of idiopathic scoliosis is the most commonly studied issue (n = 46), and specifically surgical correction (n = 36). Most studies originated in the United States (n = 62) and were published in Spine (n = 56). Almost half of the papers (n = 49) were published between 2000 and 2008. The majority of studies have a case series design (n = 35). Most of the cited articles have low levels of evidence (Level III = 36; Level IV = 35).
    CONCLUSION: This bibliometric analysis includes the 100 most cited articles on idiopathic scoliosis, recognizing its importance as a basic milestone in today's spine knowledge. The results indicate that the evolution of the knowledge on idiopathic scoliosis has been through case reports and case series, which analyzed retrospectively today are considered to have a poor level of evidence. This observation seems to be paradoxical because they are the most influential articles on IS and had been published in the top, leading journals of spine surgery.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric study; Citation analysis; Classic papers; Idiopathic scoliosis; Level of evidence
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jspd.2017.12.003
  5. Zhonghua Er Bi Yan Hou Tou Jing Wai Ke Za Zhi. 2020 Jan 07. 55(1): 47-55
      Objective: Based on the application and funding of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery (H13) funded by the Nature Science Foundation of China (NSFC), we analyzed the basic research status of the field of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, and provided the references for developing the discipline development plan, optimizing the discipline strategic layout and promoting the discipline progress. Method: The data of both applied and funded grants of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery in NSFC from 2009 to 2019 were collected for further analysis. Results: From 2009 to 2019, H13 received 5 103 applications, accounting for 1.00% of the total number of applications in the department of health science, and 922 applications were funded (mainly from the General Projects and the Youth Science Fund Projects), with a funding rate of 18.07% and a funding amount of 445.509 million yuan, accounting for 1.02% of the total funding amount of the department of health science. Among the seven sub-categories of H13, H1304 (Hearing abnormal and balance disorders) received 1 845 applications, and 352 were funded. H1301 (Disease of smell, nose and anterior skull base) received 1 217 applications, and 248 were founded, H1303 (Ear and lateral skull base disease) and H1305 (Otorhinolaryngology and developmental related diseases) received 498 and 488 applications,and 83 and 112 were founded respectively. The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars received 33 applications, and 5 were founded, with a funding rate of 15.15%. Clinicians accounted for 81% of the General Projects principals, and researchers and technicians accounted for 19%. Clinicians accounted for 72% of the Youth Science Fund Projects principals, and researchers and technicians accounted for 24%. Conclusion: The basic research of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery in China has some shortcomings, such as small volume, uneven development of various disciplines, less leading academic leaders, less training of young leading talents, less major projects, more clinicians instead of researchers engaged in the basic scientific research.
    Keywords:  National Natural Sicience Foundation; Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3760/cma.j.issn.1673-0860.2020.01.009
  6. J Vasc Surg. 2020 Jan 21. pii: S0741-5214(19)32568-6. [Epub ahead of print]
      OBJECTIVE: Industry compensation to authors may influence the interpretation of study results. Scientific journals often require author disclosure of a relevant financial conflict of interest (FCOI) but seldom quantify compensation and leave reporting up to the author's discretion. Professional and public concerns related to potential bias introduced into medical research by FCOI have arisen, especially when physician compensation from manufacturers is not disclosed. Little is known, however, about the prevalence of industry compensation to authors of related publications, payment amounts, or how this information compares with self-reported FCOI. The objective of this study was to compare industry compensation and disclosed FCOI among highly referenced publications related to treatment of peripheral artery disease, a disease that affects approximately 8.5 million Americans and is often treated with medications and devices.METHODS: "Peripheral artery disease" was used as a Web of Science search term to identify publications from 2013 to 2016, excluding review articles, conference proceedings, book chapters, abstract publications, and non-English language publications. The top 99 most cited publications were abstracted for self-reported FCOI by author. Industry compensation to authors was queried using a ProPublica Dollars for Docs custom data set based on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Open Payments data. Providers practicing in the United States in any of the following specialties were included: cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, vascular and interventional radiology, or vascular surgery. Payment transactions were matched to physician authors on the basis of provider name, specialty, and geographic location. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics and categorical tests. Descriptive statistics are reported as frequency (percentage) or median (interquartile range).
    RESULTS: Among 1008 vascular specialist authors identified, 218 (22%) self-reported FCOI. Fifty-six physician authors had compensation reported to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services by industry during the study period. Among those identified as recipients of industry compensation, 28 (50%) self-reported FCOI. Industry payments to the 56 authors totaled $11,139,987, with a median total payment of $18,827 (interquartile range, $152,084) per author. Food and beverage was the most frequently identified nature of payment (n = 8981 [74%]), promotional speaking involved the largest total amount of payments ($3,256,431), and royalty or license was the highest median payment ($51,431 [$72,215]). Physicians reporting FCOI received a total of $9,435,340 during the study period vs $1,706,647 for those who did not report any FCOI. Median total payments were higher among authors reporting FCOI vs not ($81,224 [$324,171] vs $9494 [$43,448]; P < .001).
    CONCLUSIONS: Nondisclosed author compensation from industry is relatively uncommon among highly cited peripheral artery disease research studies but may be associated with substantial payments. These results suggest that self-reported FCOI does not provide a comprehensive overview of industry compensation. Reporting all payments rather than only those deemed relevant by the author might provide a more complete and transparent report of potential FCOI, allowing independent assessment of relevance in interpreting study findings.
    Keywords:  Cardiovascular specialists; Conflict of interest; Financial disclosure; Industry payment; Peripheral artery disease
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvs.2019.09.053
  7. Palliat Med. 2020 Jan 23. 269216319897536
      BACKGROUND: Research is important internationally, impacting on health service provision and patient benefit. Journals play an important dissemination role, but there may be geographical bias, potentially affecting access to evidence.AIM: To understand if there is a relationship between the continent of journals and that of contributing authors.
    DESIGN: Bibliometric analysis of journal citation report data (June 2018). Odds ratio of association of an author being from region, region of journal publication, publication model and the number of papers.
    SETTING: Journals specialising in palliative care research, with an impact factor above the median impact factor for their most common indexing category.
    RESULTS: Five journals: three published in Europe (Palliative Medicine, BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care, and BMC Palliative Care) and two in North America (Journal of Pain and Symptom Management and Journal of Palliative Medicine). Authors were from 30+ countries, but mostly North America (54.18%) or Europe (27.94%). Preliminary sensitivity tests show that the odds of an author being from a North American institution increase 16.4 times (p < 0.01; 95% confidence interval: 12.9, 20.8) if the region of journal publication is North America. The odds of an author being from a European institution is 14.0 times (p < 0.01; 95% confidence interval: 10.9, 17.9) higher if the region of journal publication is Europe.
    CONCLUSION: Publishers, editors and authors are concentrated in North America or Europe. North American authors are more present in North American journals and European authors in European journals. This polarised approach, if replicated across readerships, may lead to research waste, duplication, and be sub-optimal for healthcare development.
    Keywords:  Publication bias; editorial policies; palliative care; publications as topic; publishing
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1177/0269216319897536
  8. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2020 Jan 22.
      RATIONALE: Gender gaps exist in academic leadership positions in critical care. Peer-reviewed publications are crucial to career advancement, yet little is known regarding gender differences in authorship of critical care research.OBJECTIVES: To evaluate gender differences in authorship of critical care literature.
    METHODS: We used a validated database of author gender to analyze authorship of critical care articles indexed in PubMed between 2008-2018 in 40 frequently-cited journals. High-impact journals were defined as those in the top 5% of all journals. We used mixed-effects logistic regression to evaluate the association of senior author gender with first and middle author gender, and first author gender with journal impact factor.
    RESULTS: Among 18,483 studies, 30.8% had female first authors and 19.5% had female senior authors. Female authorship rose slightly over the last decade (average annual increase of 0.44% (p<0.01) and 0.51% (p<0.01) for female first and senior authors, respectively). When the senior author was female, the odds of female co-authorship rose substantially (first author aOR1.93, 95%CI:1.71-2.17; middle author aOR1.48, 95%CI:1.29-1.69). Female first authors had higher odds of publishing in lower-impact journals than men (aOR1.30, 95%CI:1.16-1.45).
    CONCLUSIONS: Women comprise less than one-third of first authors and one-quarter of senior authors of critical care research, with minimal increase over the past decade. When the senior author was female, the odds of female co-authorship rose substantially. However, female first authors tend to publish in lower-impact journals. These findings may help explain the underrepresentation of women in critical care academic leadership positions and identify targets for improvement.
    Keywords:  Leadership; Sex Factors; authorship; critical care; publications
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.201910-1957OC
  9. J Relig Health. 2020 Jan 20.
      Circumcision is one of the most common surgical operations in newborns, babies, and children due to cultural, religious, and medical reasons. Religious beliefs are known to have an important role in circumcision. Although bibliometric analyses have been performed about several topics with a lot of publications in literature, no studies in the literature were found to focus on male circumcision. This study aims to make a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of circumcision and investigate the relationship between publication productivity and religious beliefs of the countries. Web of Science was utilized to obtain the documents needed for bibliometric analyses. "Circumcision" keyword was used for search. The search included studies published between 1980 and 2018. The literature review indicated that there were 3694 publications about circumcision published between 1980 and 2018. Of these publications, 1770 (47.9%) were articles. This study provided a bibliometric summary of 1770 articles. The top five active countries about circumcision were the USA, England, South Africa, Turkey, and Kenya. The present study found that the religious beliefs of a country were directly related to publication productivity about circumcision. The top-cited study was the article entitled "Male circumcision for HIV prevention in young men in Kisumu, Kenya: a randomized controlled trial" written by Bailey et al. and published in the journal of Lancet. The keyword analysis results showed that HIV was the top keyword used in all articles about circumcision. This study is believed to help researchers interested in circumcision topic to access a summary of the literature, see contemporary and more important topics, and discover new ideas about the issue.
    Keywords:  Bibliometrics; Circumcision; Male; Religion; Religious beliefs
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-020-00985-x
  10. Rev Peru Med Exp Salud Publica. 2019 Oct-Dec;36(4):36(4): 601-609
      OBJECTIVES.: To explore female authorship trends among the articles published in the Revista Peruana de Medicina Experimental y Salud Pública between 1997 and 2017, as well as its association with characteristics of the research teams.MATERIALS AND METHODS.: We conducted a bibliometric analysis. We evaluated time trends of several forms of female participation in authorship, including "privileged authorship roles" (first author, corresponding author and senior author) and the proportion of female authors (out of the total number of authors). We compared female authorship according to the participation of medical doctors and authors from non-Peruvian institutions.
    RESULTS.: We analysed 1606/1621 articles; 46.3% were original articles. 63.5% had at least one female author, whilst 92.8% had at least one male author. A woman was the first, corresponding or senior author in 29.6%, 27.8% and 26.9% of the articles, respectively. 33% of authors per article were female (median). These figures did not considerably vary between the start and end of the study period. For original articles, female authorship was less likely if medical doctors were listed in the privileged authorship roles and more likely, if authors from non-Peruvian institutions were. Editorial processing times were longer when a woman served a privileged authorship role.
    CONCLUSIONS.: Women served privileged authorship roles in less than a third of all articles. Apparently, these gaps have not improved over time. The composition of the research team predicts female authorship.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.17843/rpmesp.2019.364.4488
  11. Am J Med Sci. 2019 Nov 25. pii: S0002-9629(19)30398-2. [Epub ahead of print]
      BACKGROUND: Women are underrepresented in medicine despite increases in the percentage of female physicians. It is unknown if academic productivity contributes to these differences. We sought to determine whether gender disparity exists in peer-reviewed literature authorship in the United States from 2000 to 2017.METHODS: Medical and surgical peer-reviewed research articles from the United States were retrospectively reviewed using PubMed from 2000 to 2017. Manuscripts were randomly selected within 4 different time periods: 2000-2005, 2006-2010, 2011-2015 and 2016-2017. The gender of the first and last authors was determined and the journal's impact factor recorded. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) databases were used to determine the percent of female residents, attendings and academic leadership positions. Primary outcome was the prevalence of female authors in peer-reviewed literature. Secondary aims were differences in disparity in medical versus surgical specialties, differences in publications' impact factor among gender and the association between gender and mentoring.
    RESULTS: Within 1,120 articles reviewed, 31.6% of first authors and 19.4% of last authors were women. Female first and last authors increased over time and authorship was proportional to the number of women in the studied specialties at that specific time period (P = 0.78). There was no difference in the journal's impact factors between gender (P = 0.64). On subgroup analysis of medical and surgical subspecialties, results remained unchanged.
    CONCLUSIONS: Women publish research at a rate proportional to the number of academic female physicians. Disparities in leadership roles are unlikely explained by differences in publications. While gender disparities in medicine have improved, substantial disparities in leadership persist.
    Keywords:  Disparities in medicine; Disparities in research; Female physician; Gender disparity; Women representation
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjms.2019.11.005
  12. Health Info Libr J. 2020 Jan 20.
      In this paper, Stamatoula Pylarinou with her supervisor Prof. Sarantos Kapidakis reports on an analysis of bibliographic data of the publications of Greek hospital personnel, conducted as part of Stamatoula's doctoral research in the Department of Archive, Library and Museum Sciences at the Ionian University in Corfu, Greece. Using freely available data, they demonstrate the questions posed and the insights gained from the analysis of the scientific publications of personnel of public hospitals in Greece, in particular amid the years of austerity in Greece. With regard to impact on practice, they suggest that these procedures for the processing of medline/PubMed bibliographic data can improve communication among hospital librarians and administration or patients, adding value to their duties and enhancing the information and services they can provide. F.J.
    Keywords:  bibliometrics; database searching; hospital; libraries; publication output
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12294
  13. BMC Geriatr. 2020 Jan 21. 20(1): 20
      BACKGROUND: Dementia is a serious and growing health problem, and since most people with dementia live at home, caring responsibilities generally fall on family members. Caregivers are often inadequately supported by formal health services and have poorer psychological and physical health. Our study aimed to compare the contributions of publications from different countries, institutions and authors and present a bibliometric analysis to determine the hotspots and trends in research concerning the health of and interventions for family dementia caregivers.METHODS: Studies published during 1988-2018 were extracted from the Science Citation Index Expanded of the Web of Science. Each abstract of publications was evaluated to obtain the basic information. A bibliometric analysis was used to evaluate the number or cooperation networks of publications, countries, institutions, journals, citations, authors, references, and keywords. The resulting articles were analyzed descriptively, and the publication keywords were visualized using VOSviewer.
    RESULTS: Five hundred forty-two articles were identified. The annual number of relevant publications has steadily increased since approximately 2006. The USA has the highest number of publications (36.2%), followed by the UK (12.9%). China entered the field late, but research conducted in China has rapidly developed. The most productive institution, journal, and author in this field are University College London, the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, and Orrell M from the UK, respectively. A co-occurrence analysis of the keywords reveals a mainstream research focus on burden, depression, quality of life, and corresponding interventions for people with dementia caregivers. The keywords "psychosocial intervention", "long-term", "e-learning/online", "communication", and "qualitative research" reflect the latest hotspots, appearing in approximately 2017-2018.
    CONCLUSION: Our study details the performance statistics, main topics and trends research on the health of and interventions for dementia caregivers from 1988 to 2018 and provides a comprehensive analysis.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric analysis; Family dementia caregivers; Global research trends; Health and intervention
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-020-1421-7
  14. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2020 Jan 16.
      STUDY DESIGN: Bibliometric analysis.OBJECTIVE: This study aims to identify and summarize the articles related to sacral fracture surgery, to compare the papers from different countries and journals, to show the trends of researches on sacral fracture surgery.
    SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: In recent years, studies on sacral fracture are growing rapidly, but there were no bibliometric studies regarding sacral fracture surgery.
    METHODS: Excel 2016 and VOSviewer were used to identify and summarize the articles from Web of Science between 1900 and 2018. Publication number, publication year, publication country, publication organization, publication source, author, sum of times cited, H-index, and journal's impact factors were recorded and analyzed. Bibliometric maps of co-citations and maps of co-occurrence of keywords are drawn.
    RESULTS: A total of 611 publications were extracted. United States published most articles (227, 37.2%), both total citations (3536) and H-index (32) of United States ranked first of all the countries. The most productive organization on sacral fracture surgery is Johns Hopkins University (14). Spine (43) published the most articles on sacral fracture surgery. The latest keyword "patterns" appeared in 2017 in 5 articles. Other relatively new keywords include "proximal junctional kyphosis," "spondylopelvic dissociation," "fragility fracture," "lumbopelvic fixation" that appeared in 2017 in eight, six, six, and 25 articles, respectively.
    CONCLUSION: This bibliometric study showed that there is a growing trend both in published articles related to sacral fracture surgery and relative research interest in the last 30 years. United States dominates the research regarding sacral fracture surgery. Johns Hopkins University, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, and Harborview Medical Center are the best institutions related to sacral fracture surgery research. Spine, J Orthop Trauma, and Injury are the top three productive journals on sacral fracture surgery. Sacral fracture patterns, proximal junctional kyphosis, spondylopelvic dissociation, fragility fracture, and lumbopelvic fixation may be the new research hotspot in this field.
    LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 5.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/BRS.0000000000003381
  15. Aesthetic Plast Surg. 2020 Jan 24.
      BACKGROUND: Due to the evolving nature of the applications of adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) and the rapidly growing body of scientific literature, it is difficult to generate a manual compilation and systematic review of ADSCs in plastic and reconstructive surgery.METHODS: Bibliographic records were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection and analyzed with CiteSpace.
    RESULTS: We retrieved 691 publications and their references. We identified 52 research categories. Interdisciplinary studies were common. The journals clustered into 13 subnetworks. The top institutions were Stanford University; University of Pittsburgh; University of Tokyo; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, Davis; New York University; Tulane University; and University of Michigan. National Institutes of Health and National Natural Science Foundation of China provided the most generous financial support. Studies clustered into 22 topics. Emerging trends may include improvement of fat grafting, and application of ADSCs in wound healing, scleroderma, and facial rejuvenation.
    CONCLUSION: The present study provides a panoramic view of ADSCs in plastic and reconstructive surgery. Analysis of journals, institutions, and grants could help researchers in different ways. Researchers may consider the emerging trends when deciding the direction of their study.
    LEVEL OF EVIDENCE III: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.
    Keywords:  Adipose tissue-derived stem cells; Bibliometric study; Plastic and reconstructive surgery; Web of Science Core Collection database
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-020-01615-3
  16. Neurosurg Rev. 2020 Jan 23.
      The lateral lumbar interbody fusion technique for lumbar arthrodesis is gaining popularity and being added as an option to traditional posterior and anterior approaches. In light of this, we analyzed the literature to identify the 25 most cited articles regarding lateral lumbar interbody fusion. The Thomson Reuters Web of Science was systematically searched to identify papers pertaining to lateral lumbar interbody fusion. The results were sorted in order to identify the top cited 25 articles. Statistical analysis was applied to determine metrics of interest, and observational studies were further classified. A search of all databases in the Thomson Reuters Web of Science identified 379 articles pertaining to lateral lumbar interbody fusion, with a total of 3800 citations. Of the 25 most cited articles, all were case series, reporting on a total of 2981 patients. These 25 articles were cited 2232 times in the literature and total citations per article ranged from 29 to 433. The oldest article was published in 2006, whereas the most recent article was published in 2015. The most cited article, by Ozgar et al., was cited 433 times, and the journal Spine published 7 of the 25 most cited articles. Herein, we report and analyze the 25 most cited articles on lateral lumbar interbody fusion, which include 25 cases series reporting a variety of data on a total of 2513 patients. Such data might assist in the design and interpretation of future studies pertaining to this topic.
    Keywords:  Citation analysis; Lateral; Lateral lumbar interbody fusion; Lumbar; Spine
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10143-020-01243-0
  17. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2020 Jan 25.
      To understand the history and research status of monsoon scholarly publication, a scientometrics study based on the Science Citation Index-Expanded has been made from 1900 to 2018. HistCite was used to analyze the annual outputs, countries, institutions, categories, journals, citations, and high-impact authors in the field. Results revealed that the annual number of outputs showed an increasing trend over the past decades, with an especially rapid increase after 1990. The country with the greatest academic impact was the USA, while the institution with the highest research outputs and citations was the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Meteorology Atmospheric Sciences and Geology were the most dominant categories. Journal of Climate was the most active journal, of which both in outputs and citations. Through citation visualization analysis, monsoon research mainly focuses on two aspects: modern monsoon and paleomonsoon.
    Keywords:  Citations; HistCite; Outputs; Publication; Scientometrics
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-07723-6
  18. World Neurosurg. 2020 Jan 16. pii: S1878-8750(20)30072-3. [Epub ahead of print]
      BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) could cause motor, sensory loss, severe functional insufficiency, and social problems. This study aims to provide a holistic summary of the global scientific outputs about Spinal Cord Injury through bibliometric analyses and reveal the trend topics.METHODS: All publications about Spinal Cord Injury published between 1980 and 2018 in Web of Science (WoS) index were downloaded (Access date: 01.09.2019) and analyzed using bibliometric methods. In the "Title" search section in WoS, the documents that had the "Spinal Cord Injury" words were found. Correlation analysis between spinal cord injury publication productivity and economic development indicators of the world countries were analyzed using the Spearman correlation coefficient.
    RESULTS: There were 20322 publications 13662 of which were articles. The top three productive countries were the USA, China, and Canada. British Columbia (403, 2.9%), Toronto (401, 2.9%), and Miami (387, 2.8%) were the prominent institutions. The top productive journals were Spinal Cord (1399, 10.24%), Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (835, 6.11%), and Journal of Neurotrauma (631, 4.61%). A statistically significant, high-level correlation was found between the number of publications about SCI and the countries' Gross Domestic Product and Gross Domestic Product per capita (r=0.711, p<0.001; r=0.699, p<0.001).
    CONCLUSION: This study provides a systematic analysis of SCI and could be a beneficial guide for clinicians and scientists.
    Keywords:  Spinal cord injury; bibliometric analysis; trends
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wneu.2020.01.064
  19. Spine Deform. 2020 Jan 24.
      STUDY DESIGN: Bibliometric analysis.OBJECTIVES: To identify the 100 most cited orthopedic papers in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) over the past 25 years and characterize them by study type, topic, and country and assess study quality (design, level of evidence, and impact factor) to provide an updated account of the most impactful AIS evidence. AIS represents a three-dimensional deformity that drives a significant number of investigations. Although available evidence continues to grow, recent impactful studies pertaining to AIS have not been identified; their quality has not been thoroughly assessed.
    METHODS: Web of Science was reviewed to identify the top 1000 cited AIS studies published from 1992 to 2017. Articles were organized by number of citations. Titles and abstracts were screened for inclusion/relevance, and the top 100 articles by citation count were identified, and study and publication characteristics were extracted.
    RESULTS: Among the top 100 articles, 42 were cited ≥ 100 times. Mean number of authors and citations of these studies was 5.6 and 118.3, respectively. Study types were predominantly retrospective (n = 53), followed by prospective (n = 18), cross-sectional (n = 13), and systematic review/meta-analysis (n = 7). Topics covered in these studies included clinical/patient outcomes (n = 47), methodology/validation (n = 22), basic science (n = 15), radiographic analyses (n = 12), and gait/biomechanics (n = 4). Most studies originated in the United States of America (n = 65) and were published in Spine (n = 76), with 8266 total citations. Most studies were of Level III (n = 55) or Level II (n = 23) evidence. Mean impact factor was 3.47.
    CONCLUSIONS: Despite recent studies' shorter time frames for impact, citations of AIS research have progressively increased during the past 25 years. The top 100 cited orthopedic studies were predominantly Level III, retrospective, nonrandomized studies, and therefore, were subject to biases. The low proportion of prospective studies (18%) reflects an area of future improvement, underscoring the need for higher-quality studies to support our practice.
    LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: N/A.
    Keywords:  Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis; Bibliometric analysis; Impactful studies; Orthopaedic surgery; Spine
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s43390-020-00035-2
  20. Fa Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2019 Dec;35(6): 667-666
      Abstract: Objective To conduct bibliometrics analysis of forensic toxicology literature of mainland Chinese scholars published in SCIE journals between 1998 and 2018. Methods Gephi 0.9.2 software was used for bibliometrics analysis. The status of forensic toxicology research in mainland China was network visualized through data analysis of institutional cooperation, author collaboration, fund support, keywords co-occurrence as well as literature interpretation. Results The total number of papers published in SCIE journals in the past twenty years by mainland Chinese scholars was 242, and increased year by year. Thematic studies, such as analysis and evaluation of toxins in hair, identification of new psychoactive substances, optical enantiomer analysis of amphetamines, analysis of toxic animal and plant components, etc, reached the international advanced level. Conclusion The forensic toxicology discipline in our country has developed rapidly in recent years. The opening and development of forensic science in colleges and universities, the constant emerging of new research teams, especially the funding of major special projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Ministry of Science and Technology, have promoted high level research output and academic status of Chinese forensic toxicology on the international stage.
    Keywords:  forensic toxicology; bibliometrics; hair; psychoactive substance; science citation index
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.12116/j.issn.1004-5619.2019.06.005
  21. Regen Med. 2020 Jan 20.
      Aim: The aim of the present study is to identify the most influential research articles and their main characteristics in the specialty of periodontal regeneration. Materials & methods: The Web of Science database advance search was performed in the subject category of 'Dentistry, Oral surgery and medicine' from January 2004 to October 2018 to retrieve citations data. Results: The majority of the articles were published in journals dedicated to the specialty of periodontology. Among the top-cited articles most emphasized study types were randomized control trials (n = 25) and reviews (n = 20). Conclusion: The present bibliometric analysis provides comprehensive information regarding the contributions made in the advancement of regenerative periodontal research. The authors from developed countries and affiliated with interdisciplinary/multicenter institutions have predominantly contributed.
    Keywords:  bibliometrics; citations; dentistry; guided tissue regeneration; periodontal regeneration; periodontal research; periodontology; research evaluation; top-cited
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2217/rme-2019-0019
  22. Ophthalmol Retina. 2019 Nov 05. pii: S2468-6530(19)30621-9. [Epub ahead of print]
      PURPOSE: To analyze the 100 most-cited articles on pars plana vitrectomy (PPV).DESIGN: Bibliographic study.
    METHODS: Literature search using the bibliographic databases of the ISI Web of Knowledge, limited to research articles published between 1971 and 2018 in peer-reviewed journals of ophthalmology.
    MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Number of citations since publication.
    RESULTS: The 100 most-cited articles on PPV were published in 11 different ophthalmology journals, with 73 of them published in Ophthalmology (n = 31), American Journal of Ophthalmology (n = 26), and Archives of Ophthalmology (n = 16). They originated from 14 different countries, predominantly from the United States (n = 64), and 99 of them were written in English. Their topics cover a wide spectrum of retinal conditions that vary from decade to decade as the technique of PPV evolved and became applicable to more indications.
    CONCLUSIONS: This bibliographic study provides a unique historic perspective of the development of PPV and its applications from its introduction to its current status.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oret.2019.10.016