bims-evares Biomed News
on Evaluation of research
Issue of 2023–04–23
fifty papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society



  1. J Health Popul Nutr. 2023 Apr 15. 42(1): 33
       BACKGROUND: Numerous epidemiological studies have examined the relationship between dietary intake of specific foods or nutrients and the incidence of depression and have noted that nutrition has a significant impact on mental health. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess the state of research, the frontiers of research, and development trends in the field of nutrition and depression using bibliometric and visual analysis.
    METHODS: We collected publications on the topic of nutrition and depression from Scopus between 2002 and 2021. Subsequently, we utilized VOSviewer 1.6.18 and Microsoft Excel 2013 to perform bibliometric analysis and visualization. Bibliometric analysis involves retrieving documents from a singular database, such as SciVerse Scopus or Web of Knowledge, and subjecting them to quantitative and qualitative analysis. Notably, gray literature is not considered in bibliometric analysis.
    RESULTS: A total of 2171 publications on nutrition and depression were found between 2002 and 2021, namely 1855 (85.44%) original articles, 190 (8.75%) reviews, 38 (1.75%) letters, and 88 (4.05%) other types of publications. The most productive country was found to be the USA (n = 726; 33.44%), followed by Australia (n = 172; 7.92%), the United Kingdom (n = 158; 7.28%), China (n = 132; 6.08%), and Canada (n = 131; 6.03%). The remaining publications were from other countries (n = 852; 39.25%). According to the citation analysis, the retrieved papers were cited on an average of 26.6 times and had an h-index of 105 with 57,781 citations. The most frequent terms on the map include those related to (a) fatty acid links to depression and brain inflammation, (b) depression and eating disorders, and finally, (c) adherence to the Mediterranean diet and risk of depression.
    CONCLUSIONS: The current study was the first novel bibliometric analysis of nutrition and depression research that used data extracted from Scopus for visualization network mapping. In recent years, the theme "Mediterranean diet adherence and risk of depression" has been identified more frequently, indicating that studies in this field have garnered considerable attention and reflect the most recent scientific advances. Researchers should continue to investigate nutrition and depression, and we believe this study provides significant information for researchers, nutritionists, and clinicians.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric; Depression; Dietary; Nutrition; Scopus; VOSviewer
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s41043-023-00378-2
  2. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2023 ;10 1110718
       Background: RNA methylation is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) occurrence and development. The purpose of this study is to visually analyze the results and research trends of global RNA methylation in CVD.
    Methods: Articles and reviews on RNA methylation in CVD published before 6 November 2022 were searched in the Web of Science Core Collection. Visual and statistical analysis was performed using CiteSpace 1.6.R4 advanced and VOSviewer 1.6.18.
    Results: There were 847 papers from 1,188 institutions and 63 countries/regions. Over approximately 30 years, there was a gradual increase in publications and citations on RNA methylation in CVD. America and China had the highest output (284 and 259 papers, respectively). Nine of the top 20 institutions that published articles were from China, among which Fudan University represented the most. The International Journal of Molecular Sciences was the journal with the most studies. Nature was the most co-cited journal. The most influential writers were Zhang and Wang from China and Mathiyalagan from the United States. After 2015, the primary keywords were cardiac development, heart, promoter methylation, RNA methylation, and N6-methyladenosine. Nuclear RNA, m6A methylation, inhibition, and myocardial infarction were the most common burst keywords from 2020 to the present.
    Conclusions: A bibliometric analysis reveals research hotspots and trends of RNA methylation in CVD. The regulatory mechanisms of RNA methylation related to CVD and the clinical application of their results, especially m6A methylation, are likely to be the focus of future research.
    Keywords:  RNA methylation; VOSviewer; bibliometric analysis; cardiovascular disease; citespace; visual analysis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2023.1110718
  3. Front Oncol. 2023 ;13 1120515
       Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a primary malignant tumor responsible for approximately 90% of all liver cancers in humans, making it one of the leading public health problems worldwide. The gut microbiota is a complex microbial ecosystem that can influence tumor formation, metastasis, and resistance to treatment. Therefore, understanding the potential mechanisms of gut microbiota pathogenesis is critical for the prevention and treatment of HCC.
    Materials and methods: A search was conducted in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database for English literature studies on the relationship between gut microbiota and HCC from 2011 to 2022. Bibliometric analysis tools such as VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and R Studio were used to analyze global trends and research hotspots in this field.
    Results: A total of 739 eligible publications, comprising of 383 articles and 356 reviews, were analyzed. Over the past 11 years, there has been a rapid increase in the annual number of publications and average citation levels, especially in the last five years. The majority of published articles on this topic originated from China (n=257, 34.78%), followed by the United States of America (n=203, 27.47%), and Italy (n=85, 11.50%). American scholars demonstrated high productivity, prominence, and academic environment influence in the research of this subject. Furthermore, the University of California, San Diego published the most papers (n=24) and had the highest average citation value (value=152.17) in the study of the relationship between gut microbiota and HCC. Schnabl B from the USA and Ohtani N from Japan were the authors with the highest number of publications and average citation value, respectively.
    Conclusion: In recent years, research on the gut microbiota's role in HCC has made rapid progress. Through a review of published literature, it has been found that the gut microbiota is crucial in the pathogenesis of HCC and in oncotherapy.
    Keywords:  average citation; bibliometric analysis; gut microbiota; hepatocellular carcinoma; publications
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2023.1120515
  4. Biotechnol Genet Eng Rev. 2023 Apr 17. 1-20
      This research wasdesigned to provide a visual analysis of the current status, hotspots, and trends of global acupuncture for dysmenorrhea over the past 2 decades. The literature about acupuncture for dysmenorrhea from the Web of Science Core Collection database. Cite Space (5.6.R3) was used to analyze the volume of publications, journals, authors, cited journals, cited authors, countries, cited references, institutions, and keywords by using standard bibliometric measures. The most productive countries and institutions in this area were China (79) and BeijingUniversity of Chinese Medicine (24). The Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine was the most published journal (29) and also had the highest number of citations (80). The article by Woo HL (2018) (number of citations: 13) and the article by (centrality: 0.38) were the most representative references. JiangZhu (17) was the most productive author and Dawood MY (47) was the top cited author. The number one keyword in terms of frequency and centrality was 'primary dysmenorrhea", and the leading hotspot from 2002 to 2022 was "Functional connectivity". The three forefront topics were "prevalence", "impact"and "point'. This research is thefirst bibliometric analysis of the current situation and new trends about acupuncture for dysmenorrhea in the past 20 years using CiteSpace. It offered some information on acupuncture for dysmenorrhea and valuable information for researchers to identify prospective collaborators, partner institutions, popular topics, and research frontiers.
    Keywords:  Acupuncture; Bibliometric analysis; Cite space; Dysmenorrhea; Visualization
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/02648725.2023.2202539
  5. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2023 Apr 17. 1-27
       INTRODUCTION: Stem cell-based regenerative medicine has provided an excellent opportunity to investigate therapeutic strategies and innovative treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, there is an absence of visual overviews to assess the published literature systematically.
    METHODS: In this review, the bibliometric approach was used to estimate the searched data on stem cell research in AD from 2004 to 2022, and we also utilized CiteSpace and VOSviewer software to evaluate the contributions and co-occurrence relationships of different countries/regions, institutes, journals, and authors as well as to discover research hot spots and encouraging future trends in this field.
    RESULTS: From 2004 to 2022, a total of 3,428 publications were retrieved. The number of publications and citations on stem cell research in AD has increased dramatically in the last nearly 20 years, especially since 2016. North America and Asia were the top 2 highest output regions. The leading country in terms of publications and access to collaborative networks was the USA. Centrality analysis revealed that the UCL (0.05) was at the core of the network. The Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (n = 102, 2.98%) was the most productive academic journal. The analyses of keyword burst detection indicated that exosomes, risk factors, and drug delivery only had burst recently. Citations and co-citation achievements clarified that cluster #0 induced pluripotent stem cells, #2 mesenchymal stem cells, #3 microglia, and #6 adult hippocampal neurogenesis persisted to recent time.
    CONCLUSION: This bibliometric analysis provides a comprehensive guide for clinicians and scholars working in this field. These analysis and results hope to provide useful information and references for future understanding of the challenges behind translating underlying stem cell biology into novel clinical therapeutic potential in AD.
    Keywords:  Alzheimer’s disease; Bibliometric analysis; CiteSpace; Stem cell; VOSviewer; Web of Science
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1159/000528886
  6. Int Ophthalmol. 2023 Apr 19.
       PURPOSE: The objective of this bibliometric study was to identify the top 100 most-cited articles on the cornea published in the English language between 1980 and 2021 using multidimensional citation analysis.
    METHODS: The data were obtained from the Thomson Reuters Web of Science Core Collection and the PubMed databases. The top 100 articles in terms of citation number were identified and analyzed.
    RESULTS: A total of 40,792 articles related to the cornea were retrieved. The 100 most-cited articles were published between 1995 and 2000. The average time since publication was 19.64 ± 5.75 years. The mean impact factor of the journals was 10.27 ± 17.14 and the Q category of most journals was Q1. Ophthalmology was the journal with the most published articles (n = 10), which represented level 3 evidence. The three most common topics among the top 100 articles were treatment modality, histopathology, and diagnostic imaging. The most frequently mentioned treatments were related to limbal stem cell failure, crosslinking, and lamellar keratoplasty. We observed a negative correlation between the average number of citations per year and the time passed since publication (r = - 0.629; p = 0.001).
    CONCLUSION: Our analysis of the top 100 most-cited articles on the cornea revealed scientific contributions, vital current data related to clinical implementations, and valuable insights into the current developments in ophthalmology. To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the most influential papers on the cornea, and our findings highlight the research quality and latest discoveries and trends in the management cornea diseases.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric; Citation; Cornea; Trend analysis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-023-02705-2
  7. Int Urol Nephrol. 2023 Apr 19.
       OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the distribution patterns and research frontiers of international literature and thus present a holistic bibliometric evaluation of the studies on IgA nephropathy.
    METHODS: The Web of Science Core Collection database was searched for studies of IgA nephropathy from January 2012 to March 2023. The keywords and references are analyzed by CiteSpace, while the countries and institutions are analyzed by VOSviewer.
    RESULTS: A total of 2987 publications on IgA nephropathy were included. The country with the most publications was China (n = 1299), and the institution with the most publications was Peking University (n = 139). The most frequent keywords were IgA nephropathy (n = 2013), Oxford classification (n = 482), and diseases (n = 433). The keywords that continue to burst out at high intensity are multicenter study and gut microbiota. Moreover, the top five references for burst strength were also listed.
    CONCLUSIONS: IgA nephropathy has attracted widespread research interest, particularly in high-prevalence areas. From 2012 to 2023, publications on IgA nephropathy show a linear increase. China is the country with the highest number of publications and Peking University is the institution with the highest number of publications. Current research hotspots and frontiers are mainly multicenter studies related to IgA nephropathy and its exploration with gut microbiota. Overall, we have provided a comprehensive scientometric analysis of IgA nephropathy that will inform researchers and healthcare practitioners.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric analysis; Biologics; Gut microbiota; IgAN; Multicenter study; Research progress
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-023-03598-x
  8. J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2023 Mar 22. pii: S0278-2391(23)00317-8. [Epub ahead of print]
       PURPOSE: Bibliometric analyses provide information on the effectiveness, performance, trends, and various other characteristics of research by using mathematical and statistical analysis methods for data related to scientific publications. This study aims to determine the focus of studies in the field of orthognathic surgery, map it, and present the results in a simplified manner through a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the relevant literature.
    METHODS: In this bibliometric analysis study, orthognathic surgery publications from 1980 to 2022 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database. The independent variables were co-citations, while the outcome variables included cross-country collaboration analysis, keyword analysis, co-citation analysis, and cluster analysis of the co-citation network. Covariates were the number of publications, number of citations, year range, centrality value, and silhouette value. The bibliometric analysis was conducted using CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and R-Studio software.
    RESULTS: A total of 7,135 publications and 75,822 references were included in the analysis, and the annual growth rate of publications was 9.52%. The co-citation clustering analysis revealed that the orthognathic surgery literature was organized into 16 subject headings. Patient satisfaction was found to be the most widely published topic. The youngest clusters, representing new topics in the field, were virtual planning and examination of condylar changes after orthognathic surgery.
    CONCLUSION: Bibliometric analysis methods were used to evaluate the 40-year history of the orthognathic surgery literature. The analysis identified the most influential publications, the topics in which the literature is divided, and hot spots in the field. By conducting similar bibliometric research studies in the future, the progress and future direction of the literature can be monitored based on evidence.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joms.2023.03.006
  9. Kardiochir Torakochirurgia Pol. 2023 Mar;20(1): 12-17
       Introduction: Scientific publications originating from medical specialty theses are seen as a start to an academic career for clinicians and a criterion to work in academia in Turkey.
    Aim: To evaluate thoracic surgery theses in the period 2001-2019 in publication and other bibliometric parameters.
    Material and methods: Our study investigated 319 theses prepared in the thoracic surgery field between January 2001 and December 2019 and registered in the National Thesis Center. We identified and recorded the author's gender, institution, research method, publication status, time, citations, journals' index, and author's order using Google Scholar, Web of Science Basic Search, and Master Journal List.
    Results: Of the 319 evaluated, 262 theses were from universities, and 57 were in Training and Research Hospitals. Thirty-two studies (10%) were experimental or prospective clinical. The number of published studies (38.5%) in journals was 123 (66 SCI/SCI-E, 8 ESCI, three other international indexes, and 46 national indexes). Sixty (18.8%) authors were women. The mean time to publication was 4.31 ±2.95 years. It was 3.3 years for female researchers (p = 0.029). Experimental/prospective studies in universities were relatively higher. The number of citations in SCI/SCI-E journals was significantly higher (p < 0.001). The time to the publication of experimental/prospective studies was shorter (p = 0.039).
    Conclusions: The publication rate of thoracic surgery theses was 38.5%. Female researchers published their studies earlier. Articles in SCI/SCI-E journals had a higher number of citations. The time to publication was significantly shorter in experimental/prospective studies. This study is the first in the literature as a bibliometric report of the thoracic surgery thesis.
    Keywords:  article; bibliometry; research; theses; thoracic surgery
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5114/kitp.2023.126093
  10. Front Neurol. 2023 ;14 1147867
       Background: The pandemic of COVID-19 has had a profound influence on worldwide healthcare systems. Our study aimed to conduct a bibliometric analysis to explore the impact of COVID-19 on stroke and to highlight the major research trends in this field.
    Methods: We searched the original articles and review articles regarding COVID-19 and stroke from the Web of Science collection (WOSCC) database between January 1, 2020 and December 30, 2022. Subsequently, we performed bibliometric analyses and visualization using VOSviewer, Citespace, and Scimago Graphica.
    Results: A total of 608 original articles or review articles were included. JOURNAL OF STROKE and CEREBROVASCULAR DISEASES published the most studies on this subject (n = 76), while STROKE was the source of the most-cited references (n = 2,393). The United States is the most influential country in this field, with the highest number of publications (n = 223) and citations (n = 5,042). Shadi Yaghi from New York University is the most prolific author in the field, while Harvard Medical School is the most prolific institution. In addition, through keyword analysis and reference co-citation analysis, three major research topics were identified: (i) the impact of COVID-19 on stroke outcomes (including risk factors, clinical characteristics, mortality, stress, depression, comorbidities, etc.); (ii) the management and care of stroke patients during the COVID-19 pandemic (including thrombolysis, thrombectomy, telemedicine, anticoagulation, vaccination, etc.); and (iii) the potential relationship and pathological mechanism between COVID-19 and stroke (including renin-angiotensin system activation, SARS-CoV-2 virus-induced inflammation leading to endothelial impairment, coagulopathy, etc.).
    Conclusion: Our bibliometric analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of research on COVID-19 and stroke and highlights key areas of focus in the field. Optimizing the treatment of COVID-19-infected stroke patients and elucidating the underlying pathogenic mechanisms of COVID-19 and stroke co-morbidity are key areas of future research that will be beneficial in improving the prognosis of stroke patients during the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic.
    Keywords:  COVID-19; Citespace; VOSviewer; Web of Science; bibliometric analysis; research hotspots; stroke; visual analysis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2023.1147867
  11. Ann Transl Med. 2023 Mar 31. 11(6): 255
       Background: With the growing awareness of postoperative infection, increasing focus has been placed on infection after spinal implant surgery (IASIS). This study aimed to explore the development and trends of research regarding IASIS using bibliometric analysis.
    Methods: Scientific articles on IASIS research published between February 1, 2000, and December 31, 2020 were retrieved from the Web of Science database.
    Results: A total of 820 publications were included in the bibliometric analysis, with studies originating from 46 countries and 6 languages. Researchers from the United States published the highest number of articles and collaborated closely with researchers in Canada, Germany, and Japan. The author with the most publications was Alexander R. Vaccaro. The journal with the most articles and citations was Spine. Most of the research was performed on risk factors and the incidence of IASIS. Co-occurrence analysis revealed that the most recent research trend was likely related to the management of IASIS and the international consensus meeting. Three clusters of research were identified through a thematic map: diagnosis and treatment of IASIS, scoliosis-related infection, and risk factors and prevention of IASIS.
    Conclusions: Research on IASIS increasingly grew between 2000 and 2020. Spinal surgeons and institutes from the United States had the highest number of publications and academic impact in this field. Diagnosis-related problems and multidisciplinary work on IASIS require further attention in the future. Current trends in IASIS are likely associated with IASIS management and the international consensus meeting.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric analysis; infection after spinal implant surgery; publications; research trends; social media
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.21037/atm-21-5044
  12. J Orthop Surg Res. 2023 Apr 15. 18(1): 302
       BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in various pathological processes, such as proliferation, growth, and apoptosis, of intervertebral disc (IVD) cells and play an important role in the development of intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). Although some studies have reported the role of miRNAs in IDD, scientific econometric analysis in this field is not available.
    OBJECTIVES: We designed this study to describe the current research trends and potential mechanisms associated with the role of miRNAs in IDD and to provide new ideas for future research in this field.
    METHODS: We conducted a bibliometric analysis of the publications on the role of miRNAs in IDD included in the Web of Science core collection database to elucidate the current research trends in this field. The potential mechanisms were constructed using the Arrowsmith project.
    RESULTS: We found that the number of miRNAs and IDD-related publications increased over the years. China was the most important contributor to research in this field. The top three institutions in terms of number of articles published were Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Xi'an Jiao Tong University. Shanghai Jiao Tong University had the highest number of citations. Experimental and thermal medicine had the maximum number of documents, and Cell promotion had the most citations. The journal with the most mean times cited per study was Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. The author Wang K had the highest number of publications, and Wang HQ had the highest number of citations. These two authors made important contributions to the research in this field. The keyword analysis showed that recent studies have focused on miRNAs regulating nucleus pulposus cell apoptosis and proliferation. Moreover, we revealed the potential mechanisms of miRNAs associated with IDD, including miRNAs regulating the extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation, mediating cartilage endplate (CEP) degeneration, and participating in inflammatory responses.
    CONCLUSION: We demonstrated the knowledge map of miRNAs and IDD-related research through bibliometric analysis and elucidated the current research status and hotspots in this field. The mechanisms by which miRNAs regulate the apoptosis and proliferation of degenerated IVDs, promote ECM degradation, mediate CEP degeneration, and participate in inflammatory responses should be explored in further studies.
    Keywords:  Apoptosis; Bibliometrics; Degradation; Inflammation; Intervertebral disc degeneration; MicroRNAs; Proliferation
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s13018-023-03788-4
  13. Anim Cogn. 2023 Apr 18.
      Women's representation in science is increasing steadily, with some fields closing gender parity in terms of participation and scientific output. Animal cognition appears to fall into that category. Our current analysis of gender author balance (women versus men) in 600 animal cognition papers supported parity in many aspects, but also revealed some remaining disparities. Women animal cognition scientists often held first authorship positions (58% of the studies), received similar numbers of citations, and published in equally high impact factor journals as men. Women were still under represented in last-author position, which often reflects seniority status (37% of last authors were women). There were interesting results when we considered the gender of teams (of two or more authors): all-women author teams were the minority in our dataset and received on average fewer citations than all men or mixed author teams, regardless of the quality of the journal (as measured by the journal's impact factor). Women more often focussed on mammals, whereas men more often focussed on fish, both as first authors and as same-gender teams. Men, as first author or in men-only teams, restricted their research more often to organisms of a single sex, compared to women, as first author and as members of a team. Our study suggests that there are many indices of the significant contribution of both women and men scientists in animal cognition, although some gender biases may remain.
    Keywords:  Animal cognition; Author gender; Citation bias; Gender bias; Team gender balance
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-023-01777-y
  14. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2023 ;14 1168744
       Background: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus-induced erectile dysfunction (DMED) has recently increased, which has prompted numerous DMED studies. Here, we conduct a bibliometric analysis of relevant literature in the field of DMED and to discuss the research hotspots and future development directions.
    Methods: The Web of Science Core Collection database was searched for literature on DMED, and literature characterization including the number of articles, journals, countries/regions, institutions, authors, keywords, and other information was performed using VOS viewer and CiteSpace software. In addition, Pajek software was used for visual map adjustment, and GraphPad Prism was used to generate line graphs.
    Results: A total of 804 articles concerning DMED were included in this study. The Journal of Sexual Medicine issued the most documents(92 articles). The United States and China were in the leading position in the field of DMED research, and cross-institutional collaboration on DMED research worldwide needs to be further strengthened. Ryu JK were the authors with the highest number of documents issued (22 articles) while Bivalacqua TJ was the author with the most co-citated(249 co-citated). The keywords analysis shows that the main research hotspots in the field of DMED were mechanism discussions and disease treatment and management.
    Conclusions: Global research on DMED is expected to increase further. The investigation of the mechanism of DMED and the exploration of new therapeutic means and targets are the focus of future research.
    Keywords:  bibliometric analysis; diabetes mellitus; erectile dysfunction; research hotspots; visualization
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2023.1168744
  15. Urolithiasis. 2023 Apr 17. 51(1): 71
      The high incidence, recurrence and treatment costs of urolithiasis have a serious impact on patients and society. For a long time, countless scholars have been working tirelessly on studies related to the etiology of urolithiasis. A comprehensive understanding of the current status will be beneficial to the development of this field. We collected all literature about the etiology of urolithiasis from 1990 to 2022 using the Web of Science (WoS) database. VOSviewer, Bibliometrix and CiteSpace software were used to quantitatively analyze and visualize the data as well. The query identified 3177 articles for final analysis, of which related to the etiology of urolithiasis. The annual number of publications related to urolithiasis research has steadily increased during the latest decade. United States (1106) and China (449) contributed the most publications. University of Chicago (92) and Indiana University (86) have the highest number of publications. Urolithiasis and Journal of Urology have published the most articles in the field. Coe FL is the most productive author (63 articles), whose articles have obtained the most citations in all (4141 times). The keyword, such as hypercalciuria, hyperoxaluria, citrate, oxidative stress, inflammation, Randall's plaque, are the most attractive targets for the researchers. Our review provides a global landscape of studies related to the etiology of urolithiasis, which can serve as a reference for future studies in this field.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric analysis; Hypercalciuria; Pathogenesis; Randall’s plaque; Urolithiasis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00240-023-01447-1
  16. Heliyon. 2023 Apr;9(4): e14894
       Background: Coronary microcirculation has a fundamental role in the regulation of coronary blood flow in response to cardiac requirements, which has aroused wide concerns in basic science and clinical cardiovascular research. We aimed to analyze coronary microcirculation-associated literatures over 30 years and provide insightful information on the evolutionary path, frontier research hotspots, and future developmental trends.
    Methods: Publications were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). VOSviewer was used to perform co-occurrence analyses for countries, institutions, authors, and keywords and to generate visualized collaboration maps. CiteSpace was used to visualize the knowledge map derived from reference co-citation analysis, burst references, and keywords detection.
    Results: This analysis was performed based on 11,702 publications including 9981 articles and 1721 reviews. The United States and Harvard University ranked at the top among all the countries and institutions. The majority of articles were published in Circulation, and it also was the most co-cited journal. Thematic hotspots and frontiers were focused on coronary microvascular dysfunction, magnetic resonance imaging, fractional flow reserve, STEMI, and heart failure. Additionally, keywords burst and co-occurrence cluster analysis showed that management, microvascular dysfunction, microvascular obstruction, prognostic value, outcomes, and guidelines were current knowledge gaps and future directions.
    Conclusions: Coronary microcirculation presented a research hotspot relevant wide spectrum of cardiovascular diseases. Definite diagnostics and prognostics are particularly valued. The protection of cardiovascular events that influence clinical outcomes should be an insightful concern in the future. Multidisciplinary collaborations will provide significant advances for the development of coronary microcirculation.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric analysis; Coronary microcirculation; Diagnosis; Management; Visualization
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14894
  17. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2023 Apr 09. pii: S1871-4021(23)00056-5. [Epub ahead of print]17(4): 102760
       BACKGROUND AND AIMS: In the present study the research output of the South Asian region (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, and Bhutan) in endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism (EDM) is highlighted. It was compared with five scientifically advanced countries i.e. USA, UK, Italy, Japan and China.
    METHODS: On September 13, 2022, the data was retrieved from the Scopus database. The analysis focused on the number of publications, total citations (TC), citations per paper (CPP), field-weighted citations impact (FWCI), and degree of international collaboration.
    RESULTS: In South Asia, India produced the highest number of publications (n = 7048), followed by Pakistan (n = 799), Bangladesh (n = 345), Sri Lanka (n = 256), Nepal (n = 144), Maldives (n = 12) and Bhutan (n = 4). The highest CPP (n = 19.4) and FWCI (n = 1.18) was recorded for Sri Lanka. Furthermore, USA (n = 64022), China (n = 23991), UK (n = 21449), Italy (n = 18884), and Japan (n = 12875), published the highest number of documents with the highest citations and FWCI in the world. It was noted that India published the highest number of documents (n = 47.28%) in the quartiles (Q) 6 and Q7. Pakistan produced the highest number of documents (n = 64.22%) in the top 50% of journals (Q1 to Q5). South Asian countries produced 8332 publications, with 130382 TC, 15.6 CPP and 1.06 FWCI. Importantly 46.50% of documents from South Asian countries were published in Q6 and Q7 journals. In contrast USA, UK, Italy, Japan and China published 77% documents in top 50% journals.
    CONCLUSIONS: Although the South Asian research publications have increased yearly (from 2012 to 2021), but approximately 50% of the South Asian output were in the lower quartile journals. Consequently, significant measures are needed to improve the quantity and quality of EDM research produced in South Asian coutries.
    Keywords:  Diabetes; Italy; Japan and China; Scopus; South asia; UK; USA
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsx.2023.102760
  18. HSS J. 2023 May;19(2): 198-204
      Background: While database studies have become more prevalent in the literature, there is concern over their value. In addition, the questions they are suitable to answer are limited. Questions/Purposes: We sought to determine the incidence of database studies in the orthopedic literature and in each subspecialty. In addition, we wanted to assess the impact of database studies on the literature by determining whether citations and Altmetric Attention Scores (AAS) varied by study type (studies using internal or external databases and those not using databases). Methods: We searched PubMed for articles published in impactful orthopedic surgery journals in the year 2018. All articles were discoverable on the Altmetric explorer portal database. Impact was determined by journal impact factor. Study design, subspecialty, number of citations, and AAS were obtained. Univariable analyses were conducted between study type, demographic variables, and the outcome of either citation count or AAS. Multivariable analyses were performed to identify independent predictors of the primary outcomes. Subgroup analyses were performed to differentiate the impact of external and internal database studies compared with non-database studies. Results: A total of 2684 total articles were eligible for inclusion. Of these, 366 studies (13.6%) were database studies. Hip and knee articles had the greatest incidence of database studies. Database studies had significantly more citations (5.9 vs 4.0) and significantly higher AAS (12.8 vs 11.3) compared with non-database studies. External database studies had significantly more citations (6.7 vs 4.8) and significantly higher AAS (14.0 vs 10.7) than internal database studies. Internal database studies had higher traditional citation counts but similar AAS to non-database studies. Conclusions: In 2018, database studies in well-reputed orthopedic journals had a greater number of citations but similar AAS compared with non-database studies. Further studies are warranted.
    Keywords:  bibliometric analysis; database; external database; impact factor; internal database; orthopedics
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1177/15563316221129556
  19. Front Neurosci. 2023 ;17 1047238
       Background: The non-invasive cerebellar stimulation (NICS) is a neural modulation technique, which shows the therapeutic and diagnostic potentials for rehabilitating brain functions in neurological or psychiatric diseases. There is a rapid growth in the clinical research related to NICS in recent years. Hence, we applied a bibliometric approach to analyze the current status, the hot spots, and the trends of NICS visually and systematically.
    Methods: We searched the NICS publications from the Web of Science (Wos) between 1995 and 2021. Both VOSviewer (1.6.18) and Citespace (Version 6.1.2) software were used to generate the co-occurrence or co-cited network maps about the authors, institutions, countries, journals, and keywords.
    Results: A total of 710 articles were identified in accordance with our inclusion criteria. The linear regression analysis shows a statistical increase in the number of publications per year on NICS research over time (p < 0.001). The Italy and University College London ranked the first in this field with 182 and 33 publications, respectively. Koch, Giacomo was the most prolific author (36 papers). The journal of Cerebellum, Brain stimulation and Clinical neurophysiology were the most three productive journals to publish NICS-related articles.
    Conclusion: Our findings provide the useful information regarding to the global trends and frontiers in NICS field. Hot topic was focused on the interaction between the transcranial direct current stimulation and functional connectivity in the brain. It could guide the future research and clinical application of NICS.
    Keywords:  bibliometrics; cerebellum; non-invasive cerebellar stimulation; transcranial direct current stimulation; transcranial magnetic stimulation
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2023.1047238
  20. Cell Death Discov. 2023 Apr 15. 9(1): 129
      This study aims to visualize research hotspots and trends of "ferroptosis in cancer", "necroptosis in cancer", "pyroptosis in cancer", and "cuproptosis in cancer" through a bibliometric analysis to facilitate understanding of future developments in basic and clinical research and to provide a new perspective on cancer treatment. From January 1, 2012 to October 31, 2022, in the field of "ferroptosis in cancer", a total of 2467 organizations from 79 different countries published 3302 articles. 2274 organizations from 72 different countries published 2233 articles in the field of " necroptosis in cancer". 1366 institutions from 58 different countries contributed 1445 publications in the field of "pyroptosis in cancer". In the field of " cuproptosis in cancer", the number of articles published in the last 10 years is relatively low, with a total of 109 articles published by 116 institutions from four different countries. In the field of "ferroptosis in cancer", Tang Daolin had published 66 documents, ranked the first, while Dixon SJ is the most cited author, cited 3148 times; In the fields of "necroptosis in cancer", Vandenabeele peter had published 35 papers and Degterev had been cited 995 times, ranked the first, respectively; Kanneganti thirumala-devi had published 24 papers, is the highest number of publications in the fields of "pyroptosis in cancer", while Shi JJ was the most cited author with being cited 508 times. Both Huang Yan and Wang Tao published three papers and tied for first place and Tsvetkov p ranks first with being cited 107 times in "cuproptosis in cancer". "Cell", "Cell", "Nature", and "Science" was the most frequently co-cited journal on "ferroptosis in cancer", "necroptosis in cancer", "pyroptosis in cancer", and "cuproptosis in cancer", respectively. Further exploration of inhibitors of different Programmed cell death (PCD) and their targeted therapies are potential treatment options for cancer, but more direct clinical evidence as well as higher level clinical trials remain to be explored. Further clarification of the mechanisms of crosstalk between these PCDs may provide effective cancer treatments. And the role of different types of PCDs, especially the novel ones discovered, in cancer can be expected to remain a hot topic of research in the cancer field for quite some time to come.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41420-023-01421-1
  21. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Apr 22.
      Achieving the sustainable goals of the United Nations requires improving supply chain sustainability (SSC). Blockchain technology (BCT) has attracted attention on a global level with the ability to transform supply chain management and sustainability efforts. Recognizing this, this study investigates how BCT plays a role in SSC. The current study looks into the importance of BCT in order to move supply networks towards sustainability by performing bibliometric analysis, and network cluster analysis. Through the literature review, the current literature was analyzed and future research directions were concluded. We begin our study by selecting 297 papers on the relevant subjects by applying various filters to the Web of Science (WoS) database. Influential individuals, journals, and organizations in this field were identified using bibliometric analysis. A network analysis was performed to identify influential co-author, and keywords, and for page rank, and cluster analysis. The network analysis was revealed ten distinct study clusters, and ten propositions were suggested from the analysis of these clusters. Additionally, a conceptual framework for the research was proposed, which can advise managers, practitioners, and researcher communities on the key trends and topics in this emerging research domain. Furthermore, to guide research scholars in this field, 33 future research directions were suggested.
    Keywords:  Blockchain technology (BCT); Cluster analysis; Future research directions; Network analysis; Research propositions; Sustainable supply chain (SSC)
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27049-3
  22. Eur Radiol. 2023 Apr 18.
       OBJECTIVES: Radiomics is the high-throughput extraction of mineable and-possibly-reproducible quantitative imaging features from medical imaging. The aim of this work is to perform an unbiased bibliometric analysis on Radiomics 10 years after the first work became available, to highlight its status, pitfalls, and growing interest.
    METHODS: Scopus database was used to investigate all the available English manuscripts about Radiomics. R Bibliometrix package was used for data analysis: a cumulative analysis of document categories, authors affiliations, country scientific collaborations, institution collaboration networks, keyword analysis, comprehensive of co-occurrence network, thematic map analysis, and 2021 sub-analysis of trend topics was performed.
    RESULTS: A total of 5623 articles and 16,833 authors from 908 different sources have been identified. The first available document was published in March 2012, while the most recent included was released on the 31st of December 2021. China and USA were the most productive countries. Co-occurrence network analysis identified five words clusters based on top 50 authors' keywords: Radiomics, computed tomography, radiogenomics, deep learning, tomography. Trend topics analysis for 2021 showed an increased interest in artificial intelligence (n = 286), nomogram (n = 166), hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 125), COVID-19 (n = 63), and X-ray computed (n = 60).
    CONCLUSIONS: Our work demonstrates the importance of bibliometrics in aggregating information that otherwise would not be available in a granular analysis, detecting unknown patterns in Radiomics publications, while highlighting potential developments to ensure knowledge dissemination in the field and its future real-life applications in the clinical practice.
    CLINICAL RELEVANCE STATEMENT: This work aims to shed light on the state of the art in radiomics, which offers numerous tangible and intangible benefits, and to encourage its integration in the contemporary clinical practice for more precise imaging analysis.
    KEY POINTS: • ML-based bibliometric analysis is fundamental to detect unknown pattern of data in Radiomics publications. • A raising interest in the field, the most relevant collaborations, keywords co-occurrence network, and trending topics have been investigated. • Some pitfalls still exist, including the scarce standardization and the relative lack of homogeneity across studies.
    Keywords:  Bibliometrics; Diagnostic imaging; Machine learning
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-023-09645-6
  23. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2023 Apr 20. 24(1): 312
       BACKGROUND: This study intended to analyze the application of extracorporeal shock wave therapy in medicine and to evaluate the quality of related literature.
    METHODS: All publications were extracted from 2000 to 2021 from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). The literature characteristics were depicted by VOSviewer (version 1.6.15) and the online bibliometric website ( http://bibliometric.com/ ). The future trends and hotspots were conducted by Bibliographic Item Co-occurrence Matrix Builder (version 2.0) and gCLUTO software.
    RESULTS: We analyzed 1774 articles corresponding to the criteria for ESWT publications from 2000 to 2021. Most studies were conducted within the United States and China which besides have the most cooperation. The most published research institutions are Chang Gung University, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, and Kaohsiung Medical University. Six research hotspots were identified by keyword clustering analysis: Cluster0: The effects of ESWT on muscle spasticity; Cluster1: The application of ESWT in osteoarthritis (OA); Cluster2: Therapeutic effect of ESWT on tendon diseases; Cluster3: Early application of ESWT/ESWL in urolithiasis; Cluster4: The Role of angiogenesis in ESWT and the efficiency of ESWT for penile disease; Cluster5: The Special value of radial extracorporeal shock wave therapy (rESWT).
    CONCLUSIONS: A comprehensive and systematic bibliometric analysis of ESWT was conducted in our study. We identified six ESWT-related research hotspots and predicted future research trends. With the gradual increase of research on ESWT, we find that ESWT is used more and more extensively, such in musculoskeletal disease, bone delay union, neurological injury, andrology disorders, lymphedema, and so on. In addition, the mechanism is not destructive damage, as initially thought, but a restorative treatment. Furthermore, delayed union, cellulite, burn, and diabetic foot ulcers may be the future direction of scientific study.
    Keywords:  Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT); Research hotspots; VOSviewer
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-023-06407-9
  24. Med Gas Res. 2023 Oct-Dec;13(4):13(4): 212-218
      The medical use of molecular hydrogen, including hydrogen-rich water and hydrogen gas, has been extensively explored since 2007. This article aimed to demonstrate the trend in medical research on molecular hydrogen. A total of 1126 publications on hydrogen therapy were retrieved from the PubMed database until July 30, 2021. From 2007 to 2020, the number of publications in this field had been on an upward trend. Medical Gas Research, Scientific Report and Shock have contributed the largest number of publications on this topic. Researchers by the name of Xue-Jun Sun, Ke-Liang Xie and Yong-Hao Yu published the most studies in the field. Analysis of the co-occurrence of key words indicated that the key words "molecular hydrogen," "hydrogen-rich water," "oxidative stress," "hydrogen gas," and "inflammation" occurred most frequently in these articles. "Gut microbiota," "pyroptosis," and "COVID-19" occurred the most recently among the keywords. In summary, the therapeutic application of molecular hydrogen had attracted much attention in these years. The advance in this field could be caught up by subscribing to relevant journals or following experienced scholars. Oxidative stress and inflammation were the most important research directions currently, and gut microbiota, pyroptosis, and coronavirus disease 2019 might become hotspots in the future.
    Keywords:  COVID-19; autophagy; bibliometric analysis; gut microbiota; inflammation; molecular hydrogen; oxidative stress; pyroptosis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.4103/2045-9912.344980
  25. J Pain Res. 2023 ;16 1225-1241
       Purpose: Urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome has attracted a lot of attention in the new century, and an increasing number of relevant studies have been published. Therefore, we performed a bibliometric analysis of these publications, hoping to show the current research hotspots and future research trends.
    Methods: The articles on were selected from the Web of Science Core Collection. Countries, authors, references and keywords in the field were visualized and analyzed using CiteSpace and VOSViewer software.
    Results: A total of 1014 articles on urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome were identified, with "chronic pelvic pain syndrome" being the most common keyword, with a strong association with "interstitial cystitis" and "chronic prostatitis". The hotspot of urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome research has gradually shifted from chronic prostatitis / urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome to cystitis/bladder pain syndrome over the past few years. Future research tends to focus on urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome etiology, including oxidative stress and inflammation.
    Conclusion: Research on urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome is steadily growing. The United States has made the most prominent contribution in this area, and the share of China's contribution is expected to grow further. The etiology of urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome, including inflammation and oxidative stress, have been the focus of current research and developmental trends in the future research.
    Keywords:  bibliometric analysis; chronic pelvic pain syndrome; chronic prostatitis; interstitial cystitis; mechanisms; treatments
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S396009
  26. Front Neurol. 2023 ;14 1139746
       Objective: The study aimed to analyze the research status, hotspots, and frontiers of global research on cancer and sleep through bibliometrics and provide references and guidance for future research.
    Methods: The literature regarding cancer and sleep from 2002 to 2022 was searched from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database. CiteSpace 5.6.R3 was performed for visualization analysis.
    Results: A total of 1,172 publications were identified. The number of publications in the field has gradually increased over the past two decades. The United States had the most prominent contributions. Taipei Medical University and the University of California, San Francisco, and David Gozal were the most prolific institutions and author, respectively. The most published academic journal was Supportive Care in Cancer. The research hotspots can be summarized into the symptom cluster intervention for cancer survivors and the association between cancer and melatonin and/or obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The complex interaction between cancer and sleep disruption and the influencing factors of sleep quality may be the emerging trends of research.
    Conclusion: This study systematically analyzed the hotspots and frontiers in the field of cancer and sleep and called for strengthening cooperation among countries, institutions, and authors. In addition, intervention measures for the cancer symptom cluster, the bioavailability of exogenous melatonin, the causal relationship between OSA and cancer, the mechanism of tumor-induced sleep disruption, the dose-response relationship between sleep duration and cancer risk, and the path relationship between sleep quality influencing factors may be the focus of future research.
    Keywords:  CiteSpace; bibliometrics; cancer; sleep; visualization analysis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2023.1139746
  27. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2023 Apr;pii: 31914. [Epub ahead of print]27(7): 2832-2844
       OBJECTIVE: Hyperuricemia (HUA) is a metabolic disease caused by abnormal purine metabolism in the body. It also shows a trend of high incidence among younger people worldwide. More and more studies have shown that natural products can be used to treat HUA, and the literature in this field has been increasing in recent years. However, few bibliometric analyses have systematically examined this field. Our study aims to analyze the published literature to identify trends and hotspots in natural product therapy for HUA, present the research status and summarize critical topics.
    MATERIALS AND METHODS: A literature search was conducted through the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) database, using Bibliometric R, VOS Viewer, and CiteSpace to examine the eligible publications. A total of 1,201 publications (1,040 articles and 161 reviews) concerning natural product therapy for HUA research between 2000 and 2021 were ultimately included.
    RESULTS: In recent years, research articles in this field have increased. China and the United States are the main driving forces in this field and have a high academic reputation. China published the most relevant articles, while the United States cited the most. Chinese Acad Sci is the institution with the most relevant research results. Flavonoids, xanthine oxidase, antioxidant activity, and gout are the current research hotspots and future research trend topics.
    CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide a general overview of the leading research directions of natural products in HUA research. The mechanisms of natural products, especially those related to xanthine oxidase, antioxidant activity, and gout, may soon become hot spots and should be closely watched. The field of natural product therapy for HUA is going through rapid development, and our research provides a valuable reference for clinical researchers and practitioners.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.26355/eurrev_202304_31914
  28. Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2022 Apr;10(4): e4248
      Facial transplantation (FT) has advanced extensively over the past two decades, with over 40 transplants performed to date. Over this time, the FT literature has evolved as well, from early discussions on ethics and feasibility of FT to functional outcomes reports more recently. We aimed to evaluate the entire body of FT literature to identify trends in publications over time in addition to current existing gaps in the field.
    Methods: We conducted a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the published FT literature from 1994, the first year FT was mentioned in the literature, through July 2020. Co-authorship and keyword information were analyzed using VOSviewer. Articles were manually categorized based on keywords and their aim to provide insight on trends.
    Results: A total of 2182 articles were identified. Analysis identified the top 50 publishing authors in the field and demonstrated co-authorship linkage between 84.8% of the top 1000 authors. Clinical surgical techniques, protocols, and experiments were the most frequently published category. Within clinical outcomes, immunologic outcomes were most frequent, while psychosocial were the lowest. Gaps were identified in long-term outcomes reporting and patient-reported outcomes, with physician-reported outcomes heavily outweighing patient-reported outcomes.
    Conclusions: As the field continues to evolve, rigorous tracking of publication patterns over time will encourage development of a more robust evidence base, identify gaps in the published literature, and highlight opportunities to enhance collaboration in the field. This data will provide surgeons and research institutions with information to further improve this life-changing procedure.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/GOX.0000000000004248
  29. Apoptosis. 2023 Apr 18.
      Pyroptosis is one of the mechanisms of programmed cell death (PCD) activated by inflammasomes and involved by the caspase family and the gasdermin family. During the oncogenesis and progression of tumors, pyroptosis is crucial, and complex withal. Currently, pyroptosis is the focus topic in the research field of oncology, but there is no single bibliometric analysis systematically studying 'pyroptosis and cancer'. Our study aimed to visualize the research status of pyroptosis in oncology and excavate the hotspots and prospects in this field. Furthermore, in consideration of the professional direction of researchers, we particularly emphasized articles on pyroptosis in gynecology and formed a mini systematic review. This bibliometric work integrated and analyzed all articles from ISI Web of Science: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-Expanded) (dated April 25th, 2022), based on quantitative and visual mapping approaches. Systematically reviewing articles on pyroptosis in gynecology helped us complement our analysis of research advancements in this field. Including 634 articles, our study found that the number of articles on pyroptosis in cancer increased exponentially in recent years. These publications came from 45 countries and regions headed by China and the US mainly aiming at the mechanism of pyroptosis in cell biology and biochemistry molecular biology, as well as the role of pyroptosis in the development and therapeutic application of various cancers. The top 20 most cited studies on this topic mostly came from the US, followed by China and England, and half of the articles cited more than 100 times in total were published in Nature. Moreover, as for gynecologic cancer, in vitro and bioinformatics analysis were the main methodology conducting to explore roles of pyroptosis-related genes (PRGs) and formation of inflammasomes in cancer progression and prognosis. Pyroptosis has evolved into a burgeoning research field in oncology. The cellular and molecular pathway mechanism of pyroptosis, as well as the effect of pyroptosis in oncogenesis, progression, and treatment have been the hot topic of the current study and provided us the future direction as the potential opportunities and challenges. We advocate more active cooperation to improve therapeutic strategies for cancer.
    Keywords:  Global research; Gynecology; Inflammasomes; Prognosis; Pyroptosis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10495-023-01821-9
  30. AIMS Neurosci. 2023 ;10(1): 5-32
      This review aims to perform a bibliometric analysis of the research related to brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in schizophrenia and offer suggestions for further work. Based on the keywords used, our study retrieved 335 documents for further analysis using a combination of three bibliometric techniques: co-word analysis, document co-citation analysis, and bibliographic coupling. A general rising trend in the number of publications was found in BDNF and schizophrenia research. Researchers from China and the United States have mostly researched BDNF and schizophrenia. Molecular Psychiatry is the most prestigious journal in the field of BDNF and schizophrenia research. The main topics and important research areas are cognition and the involvement of BDNF as a neurobiological marker (pathogenesis, therapy monitoring, and risk factors). Future research is anticipated to concentrate on relevant subjects, such as factors that affect BDNF levels or are connected to BDNF dysfunction in schizophrenia, as well as animal models of schizophrenia, in addition to cognition in schizophrenia.
    Keywords:  Harzing's Publish or Perish; VOSviewer; bibliometric analysis; brain-derived neurotrophic factor; schizophrenia
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3934/Neuroscience.2023002
  31. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Apr 17.
      The study on the fate and transport of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products, PPCPs (FTP) in the environment, has received particular attention for over two decades. The PPCPs threaten ecology and human health even at low concentrations due to their synergistic effects and long-range transport. The research aims to provide an inclusive map of the scientific background of FTP research over the last 25 years, from 1996 to 2020, to identify the main characteristics, evolution, salient research themes, trends, and research hotspots in the field of interest. Bibliometric networks were synthesized and analyzed for 577 journal articles extracted from the Scopus database. Consequently, seven major themes of FTP research were identified as follows: (i) PPCPs category; (ii) hazardous effects; (iii) occurrence of PPCPs; (iv) PPCPs in organisms; (v) remediation; (vi) FTP-governing processes; and (vii) assessment in the environment. The themes gave an in-depth picture of the sources of PPCPs and their transport and fate processes in the environment, which originated from sewage treatment plants and transported further to sediment/soils/groundwater/oceans that act as the PPCPs' major sink. The article provided a rigorous analysis of the research landscape in the FTP study conducted during the specified years. The prominent research themes, content analysis, and research hotspots identified in the study may serve as the basis of real-time guidance to lead future research areas and a prior review for policymakers and practitioners.
    Keywords:  Bibliographic coupling; Bibliometric analysis; Content analysis; Risk assessment; Text mining
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26796-7
  32. J Relig Health. 2023 Apr 19.
      This study identified the 100 most impactful global contributors to religion journals and mapped their respective disciplinary affiliations. To conduct this investigation, we performed a secondary data analysis of a Scopus-derived database featuring the world's leading scientists. The mean contributor published 51.93 papers, had an h-index of 13.57, and an hm-index 11.50. Most contributors were located in the USA with the most common disciplinary affiliations being religion, non-specialized (n = 22), sociology, non-specialized (n = 21), sociology of religion (n = 20), and theology (n = 11). The results reveal that religion discourse is populated by some of the leading scholars in the world. Leveraging their expertise can help advance the field's knowledge development.
    Keywords:  Bibliometrics; Career impact; Faculty productivity; Religion scholars; h-index
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-023-01815-6
  33. J Assoc Inf Sci Technol. 2023 Jan;74(1): 50-66
      Academic research often draws on multiple funding sources. This paper investigates whether complementarity or substitutability emerges when different types of funding are used. Scholars have examined this phenomenon at the university and scientist levels, but not at the publication level. This gap is significant since acknowledgement sections in scientific papers indicate publications are often supported by multiple funding sources. To address this gap, we examine the extent to which different funding types are jointly used in publications, and to what extent certain combinations of funding are associated with higher academic impact (citation count). We focus on three types of funding accessed by UK-based researchers: national, international, and industry. The analysis builds on data extracted from all UK cancer-related publications in 2011, thus providing a 10-year citation window. Findings indicate that, although there is complementarity between national and international funding in terms of their co-occurrence (where these are acknowledged in the same publication), when we evaluate funding complementarity in relation to academic impact (we employ the supermodularity framework), we found no evidence of such a relationship. Rather, our results suggest substitutability between national and international funding. We also observe substitutability between international and industry funding.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24726
  34. Health Info Libr J. 2023 Apr 19.
       BACKGROUND: As the prevalence of autism appears to increase, more research to guide effective diagnosis and intervention practices is needed. Findings disseminated through peer-reviewed publications are critical, but the number of retractions continues to rise. An understanding of retracted publications is imperative to ensure the body of evidence is corrected and current.
    OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this analysis were to summarize key characteristics of retracted publications in autism research, examine the length of time between publication and retraction, and assess the extent journals are adhering to publishing ethical guidelines for reporting retracted articles.
    METHODS: We searched five databases through 2021 (PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Retraction Watch).
    RESULTS: A total of 25 retracted articles were included in the analysis. Ethical misconduct accounted for the majority of retractions rather than scientific error. The shortest time to retraction was 2 months and the longest length was 144 months.
    DISCUSSION: The time lag between publication and retraction since 2018 has improved considerably. Nineteen of the articles had retraction notices (76%), whereas six articles did not have a notice (24%).
    CONCLUSION: These findings summarize errors of previous retractions and illuminate opportunities for researchers, journal publishers and librarians to learn from retracted publications.
    Keywords:  ethics; mental health; publishers and publishing; scholarly communication
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12482
  35. Transp Res Rec. 2023 Mar;2677(3): 1551-1566
      This paper investigates the intellectual structure of the literature addressing "epidemic/pandemic" and "aviation industry" through a bibliometric approach to the literature from 1991 to 2021. The final count of 856 publications was collected from Web of Science and analyzed by CiteSpace (version 5.8.R1) and VOS Viewer. Visualization tools are used to perform the co-citation, co-occurrence, and thematic-based cluster analysis. The results highlight the most prominent nodes (articles, authors, journals, countries, and institutions) within the literature on "epidemic/pandemic" and "aviation industry." Furthermore, this study conceptualizes and compares the growth of literature before theCOVID-19 pandemic and during the COVID-19 ("hotspot") era. The conclusion is that the aviation industry is an engine for global economics on the road to recovery from COVID-19, in which soft (human) resources can play an integral part.
    Keywords:  aircraft/airport compatibility; airlines; airport terminals; aviation; aviation economics; aviation forecasting; economics and forecasting
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981221125741
  36. Asian J Surg. 2023 Apr 15. pii: S1015-9584(23)00422-0. [Epub ahead of print]
      
    Keywords:  Bibliometric analysis; Cesarean section; Postoperative analgesia
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asjsur.2023.03.113
  37. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Apr 21.
      Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) has been one of the most efficient and widely used technologies to remove nitrogen oxides (NOx). SCR research has developed rapidly in recent years, which can be reflected by the dramatic increase of related academic publications. Herein, based on the 10,627 documents from 2001 to 2020 in Web of Science, the global research landscape and hotspots in SCR are investigated based on a comprehensive bibliometric analysis. The results show that SCR research has developed positively; the annul number of articles increase sharply from 246 in 2001 to 1092 in 2020. People's Republic of China and Chinese Academy of Sciences are the most productive country and institution, respectively. The global collaboration is extensive and frequent, while People's Republic of China and USA have the most frequent research cooperation. Applied Catalysis B-Environmental is the leading publication source with 711 records. Five major research areas on SCR are identified and elaborated, including catalyst, reductant, deactivation, mechanism, and others. Zeolite is the most widely studied SCR catalyst, while copper, silver, platinum, and iron are the most popular metal elements in catalyst. Ammonia (NH3) is dominated among various SCR reductants, while hydrocarbon reductant has gained more attention. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) and vapor are the two most concerned factors leading to catalyst deactivation, and catalyst regeneration is also an important research topic. Density functional theory (DFT), in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and kinetics are the most widely used methods to conduct mechanism study. The studies on "low temperature," "atomic-scale insight," "elemental mercury," "situ DIRFTS investigation," "arsenic poisoning," "SPOA-34," "Cu-CHA catalyst," "TiO2 catalyst," and "Ce catalyst" have been the hotspots in recent years.
    Keywords:  Air pollution; Bibliometric analysis; NOx removal; Research hotspots; Selective catalytic reduction
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26993-4
  38. Resuscitation. 2023 Apr 18. pii: S0300-9572(23)00112-0. [Epub ahead of print] 109799
      Meta-analyses and systematic reviews (MSR) have been conceived as tools to summarize evidence on a specific health question. However, in the last years, an exaggerated number of MSRs published by scientific journals has been observed, i.e. 286 MSRs in the field of Resuscitation Science over the last 3 years, i.e. approximately 95 per year. Thus, doubts on the real scientific need of such a high number of MSRs may arise, potentially being only a way to rapidly improve authors' citation index and fame and sometimes the journals' impact factor.
    Keywords:  Meta-analyses; cardiopulmonary resuscitation; citation; systematic reviews
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resuscitation.2023.109799
  39. Tob Control. 2023 Apr 17. pii: tc-2022-057760. [Epub ahead of print]
       OBJECTIVE: Describe the landscape of tobacco-related topics, funders and institutional networks in Africa.
    DATA SOURCES: We searched PubMed, Embase and African Index Medicus for published articles from January 1996 to August 2018 in any language.
    STUDY SELECTION: Two researchers independently reviewed titles and abstracts for a focus on nicotine or tobacco product(s) and describe data or recommendations specific to Africa. Ultimately, 818 articles were identified.
    DATA EXTRACTION: Three independent coders conducted qualitative analyses of articles and extracted funders, study populations, countries of research focus, research topics, tobacco products, study design and data source. A bibliometric analysis estimated coauthorship networks between the countries of authors' primary institutional affiliation.
    DATA SYNTHESIS: All 54 African countries were represented in two or more articles. The coauthorship network included 2714 unique authors representing 90 countries. Most articles employed a cross-sectional study design with primary data collection, focused on cigarettes and studied use behaviour. Few articles examined tobacco farming or interventions for cessation or prevention. The most frequently cited funder was the US National Institutes of Health (27.2%). A range of coauthorship patterns existed between African institutions with some coauthoring with one institution while others coauthored with 761 institutions in other African countries.
    CONCLUSIONS: The literature review identified the need for implementation research for tobacco control interventions and policies, economic and development impacts of tobacco use research, and tobacco industry and tobacco production and farming research. Numbers of research collaborations between institutions in Africa vary, suggesting the need for regional institutional capacity building.
    Keywords:  addiction; global health; public policy; tobacco industry
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1136/tc-2022-057760
  40. J Periodontol. 2023 Apr 15.
       BACKGROUND: The level of evidence (LOE) is an important tool in current evidence-based practice and clinical research. However, in clinical studies on peri-implantitis, the present status of LOE and its association with research impact remains to be determined. The present study aimed to gather the characteristics and level of evidence (LOE) of clinical studies on peri-implantitis conducted during 2017-2021 and to assess the association of LOE with social and scientific impact.
    MATERIALS AND METHODS: The PubMed database was searched for retrieving clinical studies that evaluated peri-implantitis related healthcare interventions and were published between 2017 and 2021. A four-level modified Oxford 2011 LOE tool was used to determine the LOE of these studies. Citation count and Altmetric Attention Scores (AAS) were derived from Web of Science and Altmetric Explorer, respectively. Multivariate generalized estimation equation (GEE) analysis was conducted to explore relationships between LOE and citation count, and between LOE and AAS; the publication year was considered the grouping factor for adjusting for potential clustering effects.
    RESULTS: Two hundred and thirty-five studies were considered eligible. The percentage of level-1 to level-4 studies was 9.8%, 35.7%, 28.9%, and 25.5%, respectively. Multivariable GEE analyses revealed that studies with higher LOE had significantly greater citation counts (p = 0.008). However, no significant association (p = 0.872) was observed between LOE and AAS.
    CONCLUSIONS: During 2017-2021, more than 40% of high-LOE studies on peri-implantitis were published each year. High-LOE studies showed a tendency to have larger scientific impact. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
    Keywords:  bibliometrics; evidence-based dentistry; peri-implantitis; social impact
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/JPER.23-0093
  41. PeerJ. 2023 ;11 e15186
      Male researchers dominate scientific production in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, potential mechanisms to avoid this gender imbalance remain poorly explored in STEM, including ecology and evolution areas. In the last decades, changes in the peer-review process towards double-anonymized (DA) have increased among ecology and evolution (EcoEvo) journals. Using comprehensive data on articles from 18 selected EcoEvo journals with an impact factor >1, we tested the effect of the DA peer-review process in female-leading (i.e., first and senior authors) articles. We tested whether the representation of female-leading authors differs between double and single-anonymized (SA) peer-reviewed journals. Also, we tested if the adoption of the DA by previous SA journals has increased the representativeness of female-leading authors over time. We found that publications led by female authors did not differ between DA and SA journals. Moreover, female-leading articles did not increase after changes from SA to DA peer-review. Tackling female underrepresentation in science is a complex task requiring many interventions. Still, our results highlight that adopting the DA peer-review system alone could be insufficient in fostering gender equality in EcoEvo scientific publications. Ecologists and evolutionists understand how diversity is important to ecosystems' resilience in facing environmental changes. The question remaining is: why is it so difficult to promote and keep this "diversity" in addition to equity and inclusion in the academic environment? We thus argue that all scientists, mentors, and research centers must be engaged in promoting solutions to gender bias by fostering diversity, inclusion, and affirmative measures.
    Keywords:  Gender diversity; Gender equality; Inclusion; Triple-anonymized policy
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15186
  42. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2023 Apr 20.
       BACKGROUND: National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding of orthopaedic surgery departments has historically lagged behind that of other surgical disciplines. In this study, we present an updated analysis of NIH grants awarded to orthopaedic surgery departments at U.S. medical schools and an evaluation of the characteristics of NIH-funded principal investigators (PIs).
    METHODS: The NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools Expenditures and Results (RePORTER) database was queried for grants awarded to orthopaedic surgery departments in the 2015 to 2021 fiscal years. Funding totals were calculated for 4 categories: award mechanism, awarding institute, recipient institute, and PI. Trends in funding from 2015 to 2021 were determined and compared with the annual NIH budget. Funding awarded to orthopaedic surgery departments was compared with awards received by other surgical specialties in 2021. The characteristics of NIH-funded PIs and co-PIs were evaluated. Funding awarded to orthopaedic surgery departments in 2021 was compared with funding in 2014 as reported in a previous study.
    RESULTS: In 2021, 287 grants were awarded to 187 PIs at 47 orthopaedic surgery departments for a total of $104,710,841, representing 0.4% of the overall NIH budget. The top 5 departments earned $41,750,321 (39.9%) of the total NIH funding for orthopaedic surgery. From 2015 to 2021, total funding increased by 79.7% (p < 0.001), but the rate of increase was not significantly different from that of the overall annual NIH budget (p = 0.469). In 2021, grants were most commonly awarded via the R01 mechanism (70.0% of total funding), with a median annual award of $397,144 (interquartile range [IQR], $335,017 to $491,248). The majority of grants (70.0%) supported basic science research, followed by translational (12.2%), clinical (9.4%), and educational (8.4%) research. NIH funding did not vary by the gender of the PI (p = 0.505), and the proportion of female PIs was significantly greater in 2021 than in 2014 (33.9% versus 20.5%, p = 0.009). Compared with other surgical departments, orthopaedic surgery departments ranked second-lowest in terms of the total NIH funding received in 2021.
    CONCLUSIONS: NIH funding to orthopaedic surgery departments continues to be limited and lags behind that of other surgical subspecialties, which may create challenges in addressing the rising burden of musculoskeletal disease in the U.S. These findings highlight the importance of efforts to identify barriers to grant procurement in orthopaedic surgery.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.23.00006
  43. Postgrad Med J. 2022 Sep 01. 98(1163): 705-709
       BACKGROUND: Despite changes in the discourse around gender distributions within academic leadership, women continue to be under-represented in academia. Our study aims to identify the extent of gender disparity in the academic leadership in the top 50 North American universities and to critically analyse the contributing factors through a comprehensive theoretical framework.
    METHODS: We adopted the theoretical framework of leadership continuum model. A retrospective analysis of the gender of the leadership ranks was conducted between December 2018 and March 2019 for the top 50 universities in North America (2019 Quacquarelli Symonds World University Ranking system). The leadership hierarchy was classified into six tiers.
    RESULTS: A total of 5806 faculty members from 45 US and five Canadian universities were included. Women were overall less likely to be in a senior leadership role than men (48.7% vs 51.3%; p value=0.05). Women accounted for fewer positions than men for resident/chancellor (23.8% vs 76.2%; p value<0.001), vice-president/vice-chancellor (36.3% vs 63.7%; p value<0.001), vice provost (42.7% vs 57.3%; p value=0.06), dean (38.5% vs 61.5%; p value<0.001) and associate dean (48.2% vs 51.8%; p-value=0.05). Women however were in a greater proportion in the assistant dean positions (63.8% vs 36.2%; p value<0.001).
    CONCLUSION: Leadership gender imbalance is trans-organisational and transnational within the top 50 universities of North America and progressively widens towards the top leadership pyramid. This correlates with the lack of women leadership progress and sustainability in later cycles of the leadership continuum model (beyond assistant dean).
    Keywords:  education and training; health policy; health services administration & management
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-139615
  44. Int J Bioprint. 2023 ;9(2): 653
      As the body's largest organ, the skin has important roles in barrier function, immune response, prevention of water loss and excretion of waste. Patients with extensive and severe skin lesions would die due to insufficient graftable skin. Commonly used treatments include autologous skin grafts, allogeneic/allogeneic skin grafts, cytoactive factors, cell therapy, and dermal substitutes. However, traditional treatment methods are still inadequate regarding skin repair time, treatment costs, and treatment results. In recent years, the rapid development of bioprinting technology has provided new ideas to solve the above-mentioned challenges. This review describes the principles of bioprinting technology and research advances in wound dressing and healing. This review features a data mining and statistical analysis of this topic through bibliometrics. The annual publications on this topic, participating countries, and institutions were used to understand the development history. Keyword analysis was used to understand the focus of investigation and challenges in this topic. According to bibliometric analysis, bioprinting in wound dressing and healing is in an explosive phase, and future research should focus on discovering new cell sources, innovative bioink development, and developing large-scale printing technology processes.
    Keywords:  Bioprinting; Keratinocyte; Stem cell; Tissue engineering; Wound dressing; Wound healing
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.18063/ijb.v9i2.653
  45. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2023 Jun 05. 378(1878): 20220108
      The idea of 'nuclear species' has received a lot of attention in mixed-species flock research. Our impression of this literature is that referenced statements tend to cite the same papers in support of a small set of ideas, and often there is a mismatch between what papers contain and what they're cited for. Motivated by these impressions, we built and quantitatively examined a database of referenced statements about nuclearity in flocks. This confirmed our impression quantitatively, but more strikingly, a single paper stood out in its influence on ideas around nuclearity in flocks. Moynihan's 1962 monograph on mixed-species flocks in Panama, 'The organization and probable evolution of some mixed-species flocks of neotropical birds' published in Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, was cited twice as much as the next most-cited paper and was the most-cited paper for 10 out of 15 most-discussed ideas related to nuclearity. Further, a number of other highly cited papers are strongly influenced by Moynihan's ideas, i.e. its influence is much greater than what a count of citations conveys. We also found that Moynihan was mis-cited frequently. We juxtapose what we found from the citation analysis with what the paper actually contains to better understand the nature of support that Moynihan provides, and discuss the implications of our findings for what we know about and how we research nuclearity in flocks. This article is part of the theme issue 'Mixed-species groups and aggregations: shaping ecological and behavioural patterns and processes'.
    Keywords:  biological concept; citation analysis; citation practice; flock leadership; history of biology; nuclear species
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0108
  46. JB JS Open Access. 2023 Apr-Jun;8(2):pii: e22.00138. [Epub ahead of print]8(2):
      Orthopaedic surgery remains one of the most competitive residency specialties, with the number of applicants outpacing the availability of residency positions each year. The purpose of this study was to analyze present-day orthopaedic surgery match data, identify differences between matched and unmatched applicants, and compare our findings to previous trends.
    Methods: Applicant data from the National Resident Matching Program from 2016 to 2022 were analyzed. The number of matched and unmatched US allopathic senior orthopaedic applicants relative to the number of available positions was used to determine respective match rates. Performance metrics and applicant characteristics were compared by match status. Trends were compared with those of previous analysis from 2006 to 2014.
    Results: The number of applicants increased from 863 in 2016 to 1,068 in 2022. The match rate decreased from 75% in 2016 to 66% in 2022 (p < 0.0001). Matched applicants had a higher number of contiguous ranks (12.3 vs. 6.5; p < 0.001), United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step-1 score (248 vs. 240; p < 0.001), USMLE Step-2 score (255 vs. 247; p < 0.001), Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) membership (38% vs. 13%; p < 0.001), and enrollment at a top 40 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded medical school (34% vs. 24%, p < 0.001). Compared with 2006 to 2014 data, a smaller percentage of matched applicants were enrolled in a top 40 NIH-funded medical school (34% vs. 37%, p = 0.013). The mean differences in USMLE Step-1 score (16 vs. 8.25 points, p < 0.001) and USMLE Step-2 score (16 vs. 8.25 points, p = 0.002) in favor of matched applicants nearly halved compared with that in 2006 to 2014. In addition, there was no longer a significant difference in the number of research products (abstracts, presentations, posters, and publications) between matched and unmatched applicants (p = 0.309).
    Conclusions: Differences in the academic attributes of matched and unmatched orthopaedic surgery applicants have become less profound over time, making it increasingly difficult to predict a successful match based on USMLE Step scores, AOA membership, research productivity, and medical school research reputation. Future studies should evaluate differences in subjective metrics (e.g., away rotation and interview performance and letters of recommendation) by match status.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.OA.22.00138
  47. J Surg Res. 2023 Apr 17. pii: S0022-4804(23)00124-5. [Epub ahead of print]289 8-15
       INTRODUCTION: NIH funding to departments of surgery reported as benchmark Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research (BRIMR) rankings are unclear.
    METHODS: We analyzed inflation-adjusted BRIMR-reported NIH funding to departments of surgery and medicine between 2011 and 2021.
    RESULTS: NIH funding to departments of surgery and medicine both increased 40% from 2011 to 2021 ($325 million to $454 million; $3.8 billion to $5.3 billion, P < 0.001 for both). The number of BRIMR-ranked departments of surgery decreased 14% during this period while departments of medicine increased 5% (88 to 76 versus 111 to 116; P < 0.001). There was a greater increase in the total number of medicine PIs versus surgery PIs during this period (4377 to 5224 versus 557 to 649; P < 0.001). These trends translated to further concentration of NIH-funded PIs in medicine versus surgery departments (45 PIs/program versus 8.5 PIs/program; P < 0.001). NIH funding and PIs/program in 2021 were respectively 32 and 20 times greater for the top versus lowest 15 BRIMR-ranked surgery departments ($244 million versus $7.5 million [P < 0.01]; 20.5 versus 1.3 [P < 0.001]). Twelve (80%) of the top 15 surgery departments maintained this ranking over the 10-year study period.
    CONCLUSIONS: Although NIH funding to departments of surgery and medicine is growing at a similar rate, departments of medicine and top-funded surgery departments have greater funding and concentration of PIs/program versus surgery departments overall and lowest-funded surgery departments. Strategies used by top-performing departments to obtain and maintain funding may assist less well-funded departments in obtaining extramural research funding, thus broadening the access of surgeon-scientists to perform NIH-supported research.
    Keywords:  Academic surgery; BRIMR ranking; NIH funding; Physician-scientist; Surgeon-scientist; Surgical research
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2023.03.023
  48. Saudi Med J. 2023 Apr;44(4): 345-354
       OBJECTIVES: To describe variations in characteristics of randomized controlled trials conducted in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and critically appraising the quality of design, conduct and analysis of the trials.
    METHODS: We carried out a systematically comprehensive electronic search of articles published between 1990 and 2018 and indexed in several databases: i) MEDLINE/PubMed, ii) EMBASE, iii) Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), iv) ClinicalTrials.gov, and v) World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform. We summarized the overall risk of bias present in all analyzed studies using the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool (CCRBT).
    RESULTS: A remarkable shift in numbers of publications from 2006 onwards was found. The largest number of publications were from Saudi Arabia and consisted of hospitals/clinics based studies. Lack of randomization was found in the majority of reports, and nearly three-fourth of the studies involved the use of intention-to-treat (ITT) principle. However, the proportion of adequately generated random sequence methods has increased yearly, and this increase accounted for a relatively large proportion over the latter half of the studied period (p<0.001), in contrast to the proportion of allocation concealment and blinding. Journal impact factor was significantly correlated with the quality of random sequence generation (r=0.145; p=0.014).
    CONCLUSION: The randomization methods have gained more attention over the last 3 decades. Secondly, Journal impact factor can serve as an indicator of randomization quality. To mitigate the large rate of overall high risk of bias in GCC studies, high-quality trials must be considered by ensuring adequate allocation concealment and blinding methods. PROSPERO No. ID: CRD42022310331.
    Keywords:  Arab world; Clinical Trial; bias; systematic review
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.15537/smj.2023.44.4.20220664
  49. J Neuroophthalmol. 2023 Apr 19.
       BACKGROUND: There is modest literature regarding fellowship applicant factors that may predict future career achievement. We aim to characterize neuro-ophthalmology fellows and identify and analyze characteristics that may predict future career trajectory.
    METHODS: Data, including demographic information, academic background, scholarly activities, and practice information, were collected using publicly available sources, on individuals who completed neuro-ophthalmology fellowships from 2015 to 2021. Summary statistics describing the cohort were calculated. Prefellowship characteristics were compared with postfellowship characteristics to evaluate which prefellowship characteristics may predict postfellowship academic productivity and career achievement.
    RESULTS: Data were collected on 174 individuals (41.6% men, 58.4% women). Sixty-five percent were residency-trained in ophthalmology, 31% neurology, 1.7% both, and 1.7% pediatric neurology. Fifty-eight percent completed residency in the US, 8% in Canada, 32% internationally, and 2% in multiple locations. Among those practicing in the US/Canada, 63.8% practice at academic centers, 35.3% private practice, and 0.9% at both. Thirty-one percent completed additional subspecialty training and 17.8% additional graduate degrees. Completion of additional fellowship training or graduate degrees, and publication of more papers before fellowship, correlated with later academic productivity. There were no significant correlations between completion of an additional fellowship or graduate degree with current practice environment or attainment of leadership roles. There were no significant correlations between total publishing productivity prefellowship and practice environment or leadership roles postfellowship.
    CONCLUSIONS: Additional graduate degrees/subspecialty training, and prefellowship academic productivity, correlated with later academic productivity among neuro-ophthalmologists, suggesting that these metrics may be helpful in predicting future academic performance among fellowship applicants.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/WNO.0000000000001836