Bibliometric Analysis of 25 Years of Emergency Medicine Research in Latin America

Abstract

Background: The global landscape of Emergency Medicine (EM) research has been extensively studied through bibliometric analyses, revealing patterns in productivity, impact, and collaboration. However, these analyses consistently highlight a significant disparity in scientific output, particularly in Latin America.

Objective: This study aims to analyze the scientific production and trends in EM research in the last 25 years in Latin America, identify the main thematic trends, and discuss opportunities for improvement in carrying out high-level scientific research that could benefit the region's healthcare.

Methods: We performed a bibliometric analysis of the Latin American EM scientific output from 2000 until 2024 in Scopus, Clarivate Analytics' Web of Science Core Collection, and Clarivate Analytics' Web of Science SciELO Citation Index. The analysis was made using Bibliometrix and Biblioshiny packages in R-Studio.

Results: We identified 8499 articles written by 45,583 authors, with 8.52% international collaborations with an average annual increase in publication rate of 12.5%. The most productive countries were Brazil, Colombia, and México. The main outlets for publications were local journals not closely related to EM and international journals like the American Journal of EM, among others. The most common topics were emergency services, traumatic brain injury, trauma, and coronavirus disease 2019.

Conclusion: This study identified limited publications by Latin American researchers in EM. However, there is promising space to organize, improve, and create opportunities to publish data to address emergency care in Latin America.

Keywords: Bibliometrix; Emergency Medicine; bibliometric analysis; global health; healthcare disparities.