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Review
. 2019 Mar;29(1):96-114.
doi: 10.1111/jora.12396.

Puberty in the Last 25 Years: A Retrospective Bibliometric Analysis

Affiliations
Review

Puberty in the Last 25 Years: A Retrospective Bibliometric Analysis

Kristine Marceau et al. J Res Adolesc. 2019 Mar.

Abstract

Puberty research has been highly productive in the past few decades and is gaining momentum. We conducted an analysis of bibliographic data, including titles, abstracts, keywords, indexing terms, and citation data to assess the sheer numbers, audience and reach, publication types, and impact of puberty-related publications. Findings suggest that puberty-related publications are increasing in sheer numbers, and have reach in many fields as befits an interdisciplinary science. Puberty-related publications typically have higher impact in terms of citations than the journal averages, among the journals that published the most studies on puberty. Limitations of the field and recommendations for researchers to improve the impact and reach of puberty-related publications (e.g., clear conclusions in abstracts, highlighting the importance of puberty) are discussed.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Puberty-related Publication Treands WOS = Web of Science. The left plot shows the number of articles (dark line) and journal titles (light line) per year included in the search results from PubMed that included the terms “puberty” or “pubertal” among all titles and abstracts, as well as the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) term “puberty”. The right plot shows the number of articles (dark line) and journal titles (light line) per year included in the search results from WoS that included the phrase “puberty or pubertal” as Topic, and then limited the document type to “article” or “review”. Quantity of articles/journals are displayed on the Y-axis. Publication year is displayed on the X-axis.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Number of puberty articles published in top journals from PubMed and Wos searches: 1990–2016 WoS = Web of Science. The left panel shows the top 23 journals publishing the highest quantity of papers from PubMed that included the terms “puberty” or “pubertal” among all titles and abstracts, as well as the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) term “puberty”. The right panel shows the top 21 journal publishing the highest quantity of papers from WoS that included the phrase “puberty or pubertal” as Topic, and then limited the document type to “article” or “review”. There are more than 20 journals listed because ties were included. Bubble sizes correspond to the quantity of puberty papers published in that given year. Totals for the entire period of 1990–2016 are presented along the right side of each plot. Most gaps in article publication are due to changes in coverage of journals indexed by PubMed and WOS respectively. Horm Res Paediatr is the same journal as Hormone Res, switching names ~2010. Thus, this journal actually consistently published puberty research across this timespan. Plos One was established in 2001 and later became indexed, explaining the lack of puberty-related publications prior to 2007/2009.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Represented WoS Categories (fields reached) by top journals from Web of Science Search Web of Science categories are assigned to each journal as a proxy for the field that the journal belongs to. Journals may have multiple assigned categories/fields. This figure displays the WoS categories tapped by every journal (41 in total) identified as a top puberty journal as defined by any of the 3 WoS searches (all three publication date ranges). The percentage of the top journals that were indexed as belonging to each field is depicted to display the range in fields and the best-represented fields that are exposed to relatively high amounts of puberty-related publications.

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