Bibliometric analysis of glaucoma-related literature based on SCIE database: a 10-year literature analysis from 2009 to 2018

Abstract

Aim: To explore the global trends and focus of glaucoma research from 2009 to 2018.

Methods: Searching for glaucoma-related articles published in Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) database during 2009-2018, and describing the distribution of the published year, countries, authors, institutions, funding agencies, journals, impact factor, citation and hot research topic of articles by using bibliometric methods. Meanwhile, we compared some of these indicators over two five-year periods, from 2009 to 2013 and from 2014 to 2018.

Results: A total of 19 609 glaucoma-related articles were retrieved and the global SCIE articles have increased yearly from 2009 to 2018. The USA was the pioneer which has made great contributions. China kept the second place and the number of publications has increased rapidly between 2014 and 2018. The author with the highest number of publications was Weinreb, RN. Co-occurrence maps were built amongst the top 50 authors or the top 50 institutions with the most articles, which visualize the closer collaboration of international authors or institutions. The journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science has published the most papers. Glaucoma literature with an impact factor of 3-5 points accounted for the largest proportion (28.96%). The most frequently cited paper had 798 citations. The top three hot areas on glaucoma were intraocular pressure, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and retinal ganglion cells. And trabecular meshwork, primary angle-closure glaucoma and Spectral-domain OCT have become new hot research topics in recent five years during 2014-2018.

Conclusion: Bibliometric analysis is an effective method to describe the global literature on glaucoma. In a 10-year literature survey from 2009 to 2018, global glaucoma research has developed in a balanced manner, and the cooperation between various institutions and teams has become closer. Glaucoma-related pathogenesis research, imaging examinations of OCT and surgery therapy have attracted most attention.

Keywords: Science Citation Index Expanded; bibliometric analysis; glaucoma; ocular hypertension.

Figure 1. The co-occurrence map of the top 50 authors with the greatest number of articles in the first (A, 2009-2013) and second (B, 2014-2018) halves of the decade from 2009 to 2018

The larger the circle in the figure, the larger the number of articles published by the author. The thicker the lines, more cooperation among the authors. The connection will be displayed only when the number of the author's cooperative publication is no less than 12.

Figure 2. The co-occurrence map of the top 50 authors' institutions with the greatest number of articles in the first (A, 2009-2013) and second (B, 2014-2018) halves of the decade from 2009 to 2018

Organization only; the larger the circle in the figure, the larger the number of articles published by the organization. The thicker the lines, the higher the cooperation frequency between the organizations. The line will be only displayed when cooperation article numbers are no less than 20.

Figure 3. The co-occurrence map of the top 50 keywords appeared most in the articles

The larger the circle in the figure, the larger the number of the article. The thicker the lines, and the stronger the correlation between keywords. The inter-keyword connection will be displayed only when they appeared simultaneously in no less than 5 articles.