Abstract
Cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD), caused by viruses of the family Geminiviridae (genus Begomovirus), is of great concern for cotton production worldwide. The aim of the study was to characterize and quantify the worldwide scientific output of CLCuD research using bibliometric analysis. PubMed, Google Scholar and Scopus search engines were used to extract available data from 1901 to July 2017. A total of 854 CLCuD-related published documents were identified. Most of the documents were published in the form of original research articles (644, 75.4 %) and English was the main language of publication (807, 94 %). The results demonstrate that the study of CLCuD exhibits an overall increasing trend from 1991 to 2017, with the highest number of articles published in 2013. The top 10 countries in terms of absolute research output (number of publications) on this subject were Pakistan (217; 25.40%), India (161; 18.85%), the United States of America (USA; 122; 14.85%), China (85; 9.95%), United Kingdom (57; 6.67%), Sudan (31; 3.62%), Israel (14; 1.63%), Spain (13; 1.52%), Australia (11; 1.28%), Saudi Arabia (9; 1.05%) and Iran (9; 1.05%). Pakistan’s most important collaborator was United States of America, followed by China. Noteworthy, not one of the papers listed here was the result of scientific collaboration between India and Pakistan. The total number of citations for all the publications was 3174, with an average of 3.71 citations per publication. The h-index for all extracted data related to CLCuD was 91. The top h-index was achieved by Pakistan (54) followed by the United Kingdom (43), the USA (41) and India (39). The National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad, ranked the first in the top 10 list of the most productive institutes. This bibliometric analysis highlights the leading role of Pakistan, India and the USA in research on CLCuD and points out that the initiation of a collaboration between Pakistan and India may have a significant impact on the research output and progress.
Highlights
Cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) is a severe disorder of cotton ( Gosypium hirsutum and other Gossypium species) transmitted by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci[1]
Our study provides an overview of the previous research conducted on CLCuD and identifies the leading countries and institutes involved in CLCuD research
A total of 854 documents related to CLCuD/ cotton leaf curl virus (CLCuV), published between 1901 and July 2017, were identified
Summary
Cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) is a severe disorder of cotton ( Gosypium hirsutum and other Gossypium species) transmitted by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci[1]. The disease was first reported in Nigeria in 1912, affecting G. vitifolia and. In Asia, CLCuD was reported in Pakistan in 1967 in the vicinity of Multan[4]. The disease in Pakistan was sporadic and caused only minor economic losses. CLCuD-affected cotton plants have characteristic symptoms that include downward or upward leaf curling, vein thickening, darkening of veins, enations and, dependent upon cotton variety, the formation of leaf-like enations on the veins on the undersides of the leaves[1,5]. CLCuD has a severe effect on the growth of cotton plants. Reduces the yield and quality of lint (cotton fiber)[6]
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