Obesity is a chronic disease whose origin is determined by genetic factors as well as environmental influences. The prevalence has rapidly increased worldwide in the recent decades. This paper evaluated the research on obesity in the period of 1900 - 2009 in the ISI "Web of Science" by Thomson Reuters. For this purpose scientometric methods were used and the results were graphically illustrated by "Density Equalizing Map Projections". From 1900 till 2009 94.987 published items are the basis for the present qualitative and quantitative data analysis. The publication rates show an exponential growth indicating a pronounced research activity. Concerning the country comparison the United States has the highest number of publications and citations, the highest modified h-index and most academic institutions. This manuscript shows the first comprehensive scientometric data on obesity. In this research area, the United States is a leader and is located at the center of global collaborations.

No abstract

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is of major scientific and socioeconomic interest in most of the industrialized countries due to increasing prevalence. This interest is reflected by a marked increase in the number of publications since the 1990 s. It is therefore difficult for a single author to obtain an overview of the topic. The total number of published items on DR was determined in the Web of Science database. All bibliometric data were collected for the period 1900 to 2008 (search term:"diabet* retinopath*" and "diabet* macul*"). A number of different scientometric methods were applied in accordance with the NewQIS protocol, e.g. state of the art visualisation techniques such as density equalising maps and network diagrams. A total of 15,624 publications were identified. The U. S. A. leads in the overall number of publications (4,689). The most productive and the most prolific institutions, authors and publications are all in the U. S. A. The University of Wisconsin (i.e. Ronald Klein and his wife Barbara Eden Kobrin Klein) have established an international network with a large number of institutions publishing important work. Nevertheless, many other important institutions can be identified, e.g. the Joslin Diabetes Center, which has published many articles on VEGF. The results reveal that the scientific interest on the topic DR is continuously increasing. International collaboration is of growing importance in this field.

No abstract