Research Trends and Collaboration Patterns on Polymyxin Resistance: A Bibliometric Analysis (2010–2019)

Abstract

Background: Antimicrobial resistance is a serious public health problem that has become a global threat. Special attention should be given to polymyxins (polymyxin B and colistin) which, since their reintroduction into clinical practice, are considered “last resort” drugs. The objective of this study is to perform a bibliometric analysis of scientific research on polymyxin resistance.Methods: Scopus was used to retrieve documents relevant to polymyxin resistance from 2010 to 2019. Data was exported to Microsoft Excel for table presentation. SciVal was used for volume and citation analysis as well as collaboration patterns. Also, we extracted data regarding the top documents, authors, countries, institutions, and the metrics of journals. VantagePoint and VOSviewer were used for geographical distribution of worldwide research and keyword co-occurrence analysis, respectively.Results: A total of 1,409 documents were retrieved. The retrieved documents received 25.0 citations per document. Articles (73.88%) and letters (18.09%) were the most frequent types of documents. During 2010–2019, there was a significant growth in publications (p-value < 0.001). The received citations were 35,209 with a peak in 2016 (11,250 citations). China and the United States led the scientific production with 299 (21.2%) and 238 (16.9%) publications, respectively. Little or no contribution came from central Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. Chinese institutions have caused the greatest impact, with University of Zhejiang (China) being the most prolific institution on the subject (88 documents). In terms of the most productive journals, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy ranked first with 196 (13.9%) documents. Most of the documents were published in quartile one journals and only had national collaboration (43.2%). Analysis of keyword co-occurrence revealed that research on polymyxin resistance during the last decade has focused on its relationship with public health, pharmacology, and genetics.Conclusion: The number of documents on polymyxin resistance has increased significantly in the recent years, with a steep growth from 2016 onwards. China and the United States led the scientific production. Most of the documents were published in high-quality journals. Greater joint efforts and more contribution from central Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America are still needed to tackle this global problem.

A 10-Year Scientometrics Analysis of Brain Tumors Treated with Gamma Knife Radiosurgery: Visualization, Characteristics, and Scientific Trends

“…However, these errors would be the fault of the database rather than an error on our part as researchers since we tried to present the information objectively. Finally, this research was consistent with the methodology of other bibliometric articles [22][23][24][25].…”

The top 100 cited studies on bacterial persisters: A bibliometric analysis

“…Significantly, Peking University in China had one paper in the list of top 100 cited publications, and this represented the progress in the influence of our national scientific research. Previous studies have proved that China led the scientific production in several bacterial fields, however, the quality of publications from China should be further improved ( Zhu et al, 2020 ; Quincho-Lopez and Pacheco-Mendoza, 2021 ).…”

Bibliometric Analysis of the Current Landscape of Global Scientific Production on the Development of Vaccines against Dental Caries

“…Although the results identified in the present bibliometric study are similar to the aforementioned studies, in some, the journal was not positioned in the first place as the most productive or the one with the highest impact. This may be due to the use of a different database than the one used in this study, such as Web of Science, and a larger number of documents and also because there was no restriction with respect to the year of publication of the document or any specification in the topic of vaccines or caries and studies of the development of these topics in multiple fields were analyzed, not only dentistry and in a more general manner [ 40 ]. The journals in quartile 1 were those that predominated, a result that agrees with another bibliometric study related to the topic [ 35 ].…”

“…Besides, it should be considered that the search strategy, more specifically the formula, is perfectible over time, even if it has been elaborated in an advanced and specialized way, which could result in a bias of results in the future. Finally, in this study, the bibliographic search was performed using only the Scopus database, so it is recommended that future studies complement the scientometric analysis by including other databases [ 40 – 43 ].…”