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. 2023 Sep 21;11(9):1507.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines11091507.

Systematic Mapping of Research on Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in Children in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Decennial Scientometric Analysis

Chidozie Declan Iwu  1 , Chinwe Iwu-Jaja  2   3 , Anelisa Jaca  2 , Charles Shey Wiysonge  2   3
Affiliations

Systematic Mapping of Research on Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in Children in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Decennial Scientometric Analysis

Chidozie Declan Iwu et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

Vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) remain a significant public health challenge, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The high burden of VPDs in this region necessitates the need for continued investigation and intervention. This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of research on VPDs in children in sub-Saharan Africa in the last 10 years to capture the current state of research in the field. This study used a systematic search for articles published between 2013 and 2022 in the Web of Science Core Collection database and, subsequently, scientometric techniques for data analyses and interpretation. Annual scientific production of publications on the research of VPDs in children in sub-Saharan Africa increased from 2013 to 2019 and then gradually declined. South Africa had the most VPD studies (n = 148; 16.2%), followed by Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, The Gambia, Malawi, Ethiopia, and the Republic of Congo. The Vaccine journal published the most. The Pan African Medical Journal was the most frequent destination journal based in Africa. The commonly studied pathogens were Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae. Research productivity increased exponentially in the pre-COVID era and declined in the past two years, so more VPD research in this region is needed.

Keywords: Africa; VPDs; bibliometric analysis; scientometric analysis; vaccine preventable diseases.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The PRISMA flow diagram of the study selection process.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The geographical distribution of the research on VPDs in children in sub-Saharan Africa (2013–2022).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The annual distribution, mean total citation per year, mean total citation per article, and moving average (Mov. Avg) of the annual publications on vaccine-preventable diseases in children in sub-Saharan Africa (2013–2022).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Most-cited publications on VPDs in children in sub-Saharan Africa, globally (A) and locally (B), from 2013 to 2022.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Prominent author’s affiliations (A) and corresponding author’s country (B). SCP: single-country publications; MCP: multiple-country publications.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Global appearances of authors on VPDs in children in Sub-Saharan Africa by country of affiliation 2013–2022.
Figure 7
Figure 7
A word cloud (A) and trend topics (B) on VPDs in children in sub-Saharan Africa, 2013–2022.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The conceptual structure of VPDs in children in sub-Saharan Africa (2013–2022) showing the co-occurrence network (A), thematic map (B), and thematic evolution (C).
Figure 9
Figure 9
Intellectual structure of VPDs in children in sub-Saharan Africa (2013–2022) based on the co-citation network using a clustering algorithm.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Social structure of VPDs in children in sub-Saharan Africa (2013–2022) showing the author collaboration network (different colours represents different clusters) (A), institution collaboration network (different colours represents different clusters) (B), and country collaboration network (red lines) (C).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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