Factors associated with scientific production citations in dentistry: Zero-inflated negative binomial regression and hurdle modelling

Abstract

Background: The global scientific literature in dentistry has shown important advances in the field, with major contributions ranging from the analysis of the basic epidemiological aspects of prevention to specialised results in the field of dental treatments. The present investigation aimed to analyse the current state of the scientific literature on dentistry hosted in the Web of Science database. Methods: The methodology included two phases in the analysis of articles and indexed reviews in all thematic areas. During the first phase, the following variables were analysed: scientific production by the publisher, the evolution of scientific output published by publishers, the factors associated with the impact of scientific production, and the modelling of the impact of scientific production on dentistry. During the second phase, associations, evolutions, and trends in the use of keywords in the scientific literature in dentistry were analysed. Results: The first phase shows that scientific production in dentistry will increase between 2010 and 2021, reaching 12,126 articles in 2021. Publishers such as Wiley and Elsevier stand out, but Quintessence Publishing has the most citations. Factors such as pages, authors, and references influence the number of citations. Phase 2 analyzes trends in the dental literature using the WoS database. Topics such as "dental education", "pediatric dentistry", and "pandemic" stand out. The intersection of technology and dentistry and the importance of evidence-based education are highlighted. Conclusions: In conclusion, the study shows that the most studied topics include the association of dental education and the curriculum, the association of pediatric dentistry with oral health, and dental care. The findings show that more recently emphasised topics also stand out, such as evidence-based dentistry, the COVID-19 pandemic, infection control, and endodontics, as well as the need for future research to expand current knowledge based on emerging topics in the scientific literature on dentistry.

Keywords: Dentistry; Information / Knowledge Management; Research methods; bibliometric; dentistry; infection control; pandemic; scientific production.

Figure 1.. Summary of the methodological design used in this research.

Tcitations: total of citations, Npages: number of pages, Pyears: publication years, Nauthors: number of authors, Nreferences: number of references. Figure 1 Alt Text. The figure provides a concise overview of the methodological design employed in the research, encompassing the analysis of co-occurring keywords using VOSviewer, tracking emerging words and thematic evolution through Microsoft Excel®, and collaborative author involvement for minimizing biases and achieving consensus.

Figure 2.. Discontinuity regression models for scientific production.

Source: Published by publishers in the field of dentistry. Figure 2 Alt Text. Figure illustrates the scientific production trend in dentistry from 2010 to 2021 using polynomial models of discontinuous regression and regression models for the top 10 main publishers.

Figure 3.. Grouping of thematic clusters.

Figure 3 Alt Text. The Figure depicts the main keyword co-occurrence network in dentistry research from the WoS database, revealing thematic relationships and trends based on rigorous analysis of scientific output and impacts in Phase 2 of the methodological design.

Figure 4.. Evolution of scientific approaches.

Figure 4 Alt Text. The figure showcases the conceptual evolution of dentistry's scientific literature, highlighting the most frequently explored keyword for each year within the specified database timeframe.

Figure 5.. Validity and frequency of keywords.

Figure 5 Alt Text. This figure displays a keyword analysis of indexed scientific activity in dentistry from the WoS database. Using a Cartesian plane, the figure illustrates the frequency of keywords against the year of usage, categorizing concepts into four quadrants based on frequency and recency. Quadrants I-IV depict varying combinations of frequency and currency in the scientific literature.