Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Nov 18;9(11):1669-1675.
doi: 10.18240/ijo.2016.11.22. eCollection 2016.

Trends in ophthalmology journals: a five-year bibliometric analysis (2009-2013)

Christopher B Schulz  1 , Alasdair Kennedy  2 , Ben C Rymer  3
Affiliations

Trends in ophthalmology journals: a five-year bibliometric analysis (2009-2013)

Christopher B Schulz et al. Int J Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Aim: To explore the trends in the ophthalmic literature over a 5-year period in relation to country, research expenditure and demographics.

Methods: Articles published between 2009 and 2013 by the 20highest-contributing countries in the 20 top-ranked ophthalmology journals were identified by their country of affiliation. The number of articles published and mean impact factor were measured per country for each year and trends explored using regression analysis with 5-year and 10-year forecasts calculated. Data on research expenditure was collected and tested for correlation with the number of articles and mean impact factor.

Results: The analysis included 19 338 articles. The USA, UK and Europe accounted for 60.2% of articles published, with the USA contributing 7388 articles (34.0%). The USA also demonstrated the highest mean impact factor (3.5). Research expenditure was significantly correlated with both research output (r=0.86, P<0.001) and scholarly impact (r=0.42, P<0.001). China (P<0.01), Korea (P<0.01) and India (P<0.02) demonstrated a significant growth in research output over the study period. The research contribution of these three countries combined is forecasted to overtake that of Europe within ten years, with China expected to be the second-largest contributor within five years. These countries were also among those demonstrating the greatest growth in research expenditure.

Conclusion: While the USA and European countries are major contributors of ophthalmic research, the productivity of some Asian countries is growing impressively. The contribution of China, Korea and India is forecasted to outweigh that of Europe by 2023. Research expenditure is highly correlated with research productivity and these trends reflect the differing economic priorities across the world.

Keywords: bibliometrics; journal impact factor; ophthalmology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Proportion of ophthalmology research published by country of affiliation between 2009 and 2013, compared with forecasted data for 2018 and 2023.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Thomson Reuters. Using bibliometrics: a guide to evaluating research performance with citation data. Philadelphia: 2008.
    1. Falagas ME, Michalopoulos AS, Bliziotis IA, Soteriades ES. A bibliometric analysis by geographic area of published research in several biomedical fields, 1995-2003. CMAJ. 2006;175(11):1389–1390. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ohba N. Bibliometric analysis of the current international ophthalmic publications. Nihon Ganka Gakkai Zasshi. 2005;109:115–125. - PubMed
    1. Guerin MB, Flynn TH, Brady J, O'Brien CJ. Worldwide geographical distribution of ophthalmology publications. Int Ophthalmol. 2009;29(6):511–516. - PubMed
    1. International Monetary Fund . World economic outlook - crisis and recovery: a survey by the staff of the International Monetary Fund. Washington, DC: Apr 2009. Available at: http://www.imf.org.

LinkOut - more resources