Bibliometric analysis of lung transplantation research articles

Background: In the last 30 years lung transplantation has proven to be a lifesaving therapeutic option for patients with end-stage lung disease. The objective of this study was to perform a bibliometric analysis of lung transplantation research articles.

Method: A bibliometric evaluation of the evolution of scientific production in the field of lung transplantations between 1989 and 2009 was conducted using the ISI Web of Science. The search terms selected were "lung transplant" OR "pulmonary transplant". Specific features including year of publication, language, geographical distribution, first author, main journal publishing these articles, journals publishing highly cited articles, and institutional affiliation were analyzed. The citation characteristics of articles were additionally analyzed.

Results: A total of 6409 (58.0 %) research articles were found. The time trend of the number of articles showed an increase of more than 6.81 between 1989 and 2009. North America contributed 50.4 % and Europe contributed 46.0 % of published articles. The greatest number of contributions came from the USA (43.6 %), followed by England (9.1 %) and Germany (8.6 %). There were 104 522 citations of these articles by 25 July 2010. The average citation per article was 16.31. The New England Journal of Medicine ranked first with regard to the number of articles and the number of highly cited articles. G. A. Patterson, Washington University, and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) were the top author, institution and funding agency, respectively.

Conclusion: The number of publications and the scientific interest in lung transplantation has increased rapidly in recent years. Citations of articles published in the field of lung transplantation are increasing and the numbers of uncited articles are fewer compared to the average citations of articles and uncited articles in the field of medicine.