Research trends in osteoporosis in Asian countries and regions in the last 20 years

Abstract

Asian countries have made great progress in the osteoporosis research over the past 20 years. Mainland China has a significant increase in the number of articles. The scientific influence of Japan ranked by citations was leading in Asia. Indian researchers published fewer articles on osteoporosis, but the overall citation was quite well.

Purpose: To analyze the quantity and quality of literature regarding osteoporosis from the Asian countries/regions.

Methods: Data were obtained from the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection on May 4, 2020. Qualitative and quantitative analysis was conducted based on WoS. Keywords analysis was performed using VosView software.

Results: The core countries/regions in Asia in the osteoporosis research included the Mainland China (MC), Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Taiwan, India, and Iran. The core countries/regions published 4798 papers, which accounted for 33.8% of the total globally. The MC with 2242 literature and Japan with 971 were ranked second and fourth worldwide. Over the past decade, MC has published the most articles and increased dramatically. Japan had the highest mean citations and the highest mean citation density. The country with the most publications in the top ten popular osteoporosis-related journals was Japan. The top institutional from the MC, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan published the most articles. The top authors with the most articles were from Japan and MC. Top institutions and authors from Japan, MC, and India led the way in citations. The core countries/regions had more frequent cooperation with the USA, the UK, and Canada compared with the limited cooperation among Asian countries. Osteoporosis research in Asia relies heavily on public funding and pharmaceutical companies. Keywords for these studies have changed over the past 20 years.

Conclusions: Asian countries have made progress in the osteoporosis research over the past 20 years. The MC has a significant increase in the number of articles. The scientific influence of Japan ranked by citations was leading in Asia. Indian researchers published fewer articles on osteoporosis, but the overall quality was quite well. The core Asian countries/regions should strengthen in-depth cooperation in the future.

Keywords: Asian; Bibliometric analysis; Osteoporosis.