Abstract
Dimethyl fumarate is a cytoprotective and immunomodulatory drug used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis. We performed a bibliometric study examining the characteristics and trends of the top 100 cited articles that include dimethyl fumarate in the title. On 21 September 2020 we carried out an electronic search in the Web of Science (WOS), seeking articles that include the following terms within the title: dimethyl fumarate, BG-12, or Tecfidera. To focus our investigation on original research, we refined the search to include only articles, early access, others, case report, and clinical trials. We obtained a total of 1115 items, which were cited 7169 times, had a citation density of 6.43 citations/item, and an h-index of 40. Around 2010, there was a jump in the number of published articles per year, rising from 5 articles/year up to 12 articles/year. We sorted all the items by the number of citations and selected the top 100 most cited (T100). The T100 had 4164 citations, with a density of 37 citations/year and contained 16 classic research articles. They were published between 1961 and 2018; the years 2010–2018 amassed nearly 80% of the T100. We noted 17 research areas with articles in the T100. Of these, the number one ranking went to neurosciences/neurology with 39 articles, and chemistry ranked second on the T100 list with 14 items. We noticed that the percentage of articles belonging to different journals changed depending on the time period. Chemistry held the highest number of papers during 1961–2000, while pharmacology andneurosciences/neurology led the 2001–2018 interval. A total of 478 authors from 145 institutions and 25 countries were included in the T100 ranking. The paper by Gold R et al. was the most successful with 14 articles, 1.823 citations and a density of 140.23 citations/year. The biotechnological company Biogen led the T100 list with 20 articles. With 59 published articles, the USA was the leading country in publications. We concluded that this study analyzed the use of and research on dimethyl fumarate from a different perspective, which will allow the readership (expert or not) to understand the relevance of classic and recent literature on this topic.
Highlights
Among the many difficulties researchers encounter when facing a research topic, one is the huge number of journals and articles that are periodically published
On 21 September 2020, we conducted an electronic search in the Web of Science database for references that included the term methyl fumarate in the title
We believe that this study will help readers to identify the highest-quality papers with the most relevant discoveries and trends regarding this drug’s history and evolution
Summary
Among the many difficulties researchers encounter when facing a research topic, one is the huge number of journals and articles that are periodically published. It is often hard to understand or grasp the relevance of a particular article, especially when the article is not recent. In a totally subjective manner, the choice to read an article and interpret its relevance 4.0/). A bibliometric analysis aims to identify the academic impact and features of a number of publications within a specific research field, all of which provide valuable information for researchers involved in the development of research strategies to address various problems. This analysis is based on a statistical and quantitative assessment that allows for an objective evaluation of a given article. It performs a time-efficient, focused exploration within a larger field
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