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Infectious diseases
Research
Respiratory syncytial virus: a systematic scientometric analysis of the global publication output and the gender distribution of publishing authors
  1. Dörthe Brüggmann1,2,
  2. Corinna Köster2,
  3. Doris Klingelhöfer2,
  4. Jan Bauer2,
  5. Daniela Ohlendorf2,
  6. Matthias Bundschuh2,
  7. David A Groneberg2
  1. 1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles, California, USA
  2. 2 Institute of Occupational Medicine, Social Medicine and Environmental Medicine, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
  1. Correspondence to Dr Dörthe Brüggmann; doerthe.brueggmann{at}med.usc.edu

Abstract

Objective Worldwide, the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) represents the predominant viral agent causing bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children. To conduct research and tackle existing healthcare disparities, RSV-related research activities around the globe need to be described. Hence, we assessed the associated scientific output (represented by research articles) by geographical, chronological and socioeconomic criteria and analysed the authors publishing in the field by gender. Also, the 15 most cited articles and the most prolific journals were identified for RSV research.

Design Retrospective, descriptive study.

Setting The NewQIS (New Quality and Quantity Indices in Science) platform was employed to identify RSV-related articles published in the Web of Science until 2013. We performed a numerical analysis of all articles, and examined citation-based aspects (eg, citation rates); results were visualised by density equalising mapping tools.

Results We identified 4600 RSV-related articles. The USA led the field; US-American authors published 2139 articles (46.5%% of all identified articles), which have been cited 83 000 times. When output was related to socioeconomic benchmarks such as gross domestic product or Research and Development expenditures, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia and Chile were ranked in leading positions. A total of 614 articles on RSV (13.34% of all articles) were attributed to scientific collaborations. These were primarily established between high-income countries. The gender analysis indicated that male scientists dominated in all countries except Brazil.

Conclusions The majority of RSV-related research articles originated from high-income countries whereas developing nations showed only minimal publication productivity and were barely part of any collaborative networks. Hence, research capacity in these nations should be increased in order to assist in addressing inequities in resource allocation and the clinical burden of RSV in these countries.

  • Respiratory Syncytial Virus
  • Publication
  • Citation
  • Scientometry
  • Gender
  • Economic benchmarks

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013615

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors DB, CK, DK, DAG, DO, JB and MB have made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the study, acquisition of the study data and have been involved in drafting and revising the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

    • Funding This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement Datasets of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.