Bibliometric assessment of the global scientific production on Sindbis virus: Implications for Surveillance of Emerging Arboviruses in Latin Americas

Abstract

Background: Sindbis virus (SINV) is an arbovirus (genus Alphavirus) widely distributed in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Europe, causing infections by 6 genotypes. As other emerging zoonotic arbovirus (such as Usutu, Kyasanur, Orthobunyavirus), its potential arrival to Latin America is of concern. Although all of this, there is no bibliometric studies assessing advances in its research. Methods & Materials: Bibliometric studies at 7 databases: Web of Sciences (WoS)®, Scopus®, GoPubMED, SciELO, Google Scholar, LILACS and ScienceDirect®, assessing the global scientific production on SINV, measuring the number of article per countries, productive institutions, number of original articles, published historically and during the last 5 years (2012-2016), productive authors, citations and H index, among other indicators. Results: Those most productive countries in WoS (N = 771): USA (337[43.7%]), France (53 [6.9%]) and UK (53 [6.9%]). At Scopus (N = 3486): USA (1751 [50.23%]), Germany (160 [4.59%]) and Japan (150 [4.3%]). At GoPubMed (N = 2898): USA (353 [12.18%]), Japan (38 [1.31%]) and UK (33 [1.13%]); production during 2012-2016 at WoS: 684 articles; at Scopus: 420 articles; GoPubMed: 296 articles. Countries with higher H-index (Scopus): USA (112, 68,419 citations), France (42, 4,313 citations), Germany (41, 5,075 citations), Japan (37, 5,512 citations), UK (34, 3,629 citations). Most productive cities on the topic: New York, USA (31 articles), Helsinki, Finland (18) and Beijing, China (17). A georeferenced map of scientific production on PubMed was developed. Conclusion: As in other bibliometric studies, scientific production by USA and their groups is predominant. In areas such as Latin America, investigation on SINV should began, particularly related to preparedness, medical education, epidemiology and transmission. At the same time, is necessary to increase its global research and initiate also this in Latin America, a suitable region where other recent arboviruses have emerged, such as was the case of chikungunya and Zika. For these arboviruses, bibliometric assessment helped to WHO to identify needs for research on these emerging infectious diseases.