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. 2017 Jul 26;7(7):e013615.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013615.

Respiratory syncytial virus: a systematic scientometric analysis of the global publication output and the gender distribution of publishing authors

Dörthe Brüggmann  1   2 , Corinna Köster  2 , Doris Klingelhöfer  2 , Jan Bauer  2 , Daniela Ohlendorf  2 , Matthias Bundschuh  2 , David A Groneberg  2
Affiliations

Respiratory syncytial virus: a systematic scientometric analysis of the global publication output and the gender distribution of publishing authors

Dörthe Brüggmann et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objective: Worldwide, the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) represents the predominant viral agent causing bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children. To conduct research and tackle existing healthcare disparities, RSV-related research activities around the globe need to be described. Hence, we assessed the associated scientific output (represented by research articles) by geographical, chronological and socioeconomic criteria and analysed the authors publishing in the field by gender. Also, the 15 most cited articles and the most prolific journals were identified for RSV research.

Design: Retrospective, descriptive study.

Setting: The NewQIS (New Quality and Quantity Indices in Science) platform was employed to identify RSV-related articles published in the Web of Science until 2013. We performed a numerical analysis of all articles, and examined citation-based aspects (eg, citation rates); results were visualised by density equalising mapping tools.

Results: We identified 4600 RSV-related articles. The USA led the field; US-American authors published 2139 articles (46.5%% of all identified articles), which have been cited 83 000 times. When output was related to socioeconomic benchmarks such as gross domestic product or Research and Development expenditures, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia and Chile were ranked in leading positions. A total of 614 articles on RSV (13.34% of all articles) were attributed to scientific collaborations. These were primarily established between high-income countries. The gender analysis indicated that male scientists dominated in all countries except Brazil.

Conclusions: The majority of RSV-related research articles originated from high-income countries whereas developing nations showed only minimal publication productivity and were barely part of any collaborative networks. Hence, research capacity in these nations should be increased in order to assist in addressing inequities in resource allocation and the clinical burden of RSV in these countries.

Keywords: Citation; Economic benchmarks; Gender; Publication; Respiratory Syncytial Virus; Scientometry.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chronological development of the number of articles.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Density equalising mapping projections. (A) Number of publications. (B) Modified h-Index.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Chronological development of annual citation numbers.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Density equalising mapping projections. (A) Articles/population index (Q1). (B) Articles/GDP index (Q2) (threshold > 15 articles). GDP, gross domestic product.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Density equalising mapping projections. (A) Articles/R&D expenditure in billion USD index. (B) Articles/researcher (per billion inhabitants) index (threshold  > 30 articles). R&D, Research and Development; USD, US dollars.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Country-specific gender analysis of the authors publishing articles referring to respiratory syncytial virus of countries (threshold: >50% definable genders,  >60 authors per country).
Figure 7
Figure 7
International cooperations on RSV research (threshold  > 2 cooperations). Numbers in brackets report the number of publications in total/collaborative publications .
Figure 8
Figure 8
Most prolific journals in the field of respiratory syncytial virus research in regard to overall publication numbers and the average citation rate.
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