Bibliometric analysis of research relating to hypertension reported over the period 1997-2016

Abstract

Objective: Hypertension, a major cardiovascular risk factor, may reach a global prevalence of 1.56 billion by 2025. Much research has been conducted in this field, but few bibliometric studies have been performed. We aimed to analyse the changes in scientific output relating to hypertension over the past two decades.

Methods: We analysed, via PubMed and Web of Science, the scientific output relating to hypertension from 1997 to 2016. Quantitative (number of publications) and citation (top 1 and 10%) analyses were performed for output globally and by major countries/regions, with a particular focus on the European Union.

Results: In total, 100 789 articles relating to hypertension were identified in Web of Science. The number of publications increased by 52.7% (3989 in 1997, 6092 in 2016). Of the 100 789 articles, 38% had authors from the European Union, 32.1% had authors from the USA, and 26.7% had authors from Asia, with a marked increase in contributions from China over the period analysed. Articles appeared in more than 400 journals and were cited nearly 2 556 000 times. The relative weights of different research fields have also changed over time.

Conclusion: Combined use of PubMed and Web of Science enabled robust bibliometric analysis of the studies into hypertension published in the period 1997-2016, including assessment of the contributions from major countries, particularly those in the European Union. This study also allowed us to validate our methodology, which could be used to evaluate research policies and to promote international cooperation.

FIGURE 1

Percentage change relative to 1997 in the number of Web of Science articles in the fields of ‘medical and health sciences’, ‘peripheral vascular disease’, ‘cardiac & cardiovascular systems’, and ’hypertension’.

FIGURE 2

Growth in the numbers of articles relating to hypertension with authors from the main geographic countries and regions.

FIGURE 3

Major changes in the categories of articles (categories that were relatively stable are not shown).

FIGURE 4

European Union collaboration network based on analysis of the articles relating to hypertension that were among the 10% most cited articles. The size of each coloured circle is proportional to the total number of articles with authors from that country. The distance between two countries is inversely proportional to the number of articles from those two countries.