Eye neoplasms: a bibliometric analysis from 1966 to 2012

Abstract

AbstractPurpose To calculate the growth rate of biomedical literature on eye neoplasms and to assess key journals, authors, and country affiliations.Methods PubMed was used to search for papers published from 1966 to 2012. Total number of articles per year was fitted to a linear equation as well as an exponential curve. To identify the core journals and predict the number of journals containing articles related to eye neoplasms, Bradford's law was applied. The mean number of publications per year and per author were calculated. For each country, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) index (publications per 1 billion US dollars of GPD) and the population index (publications per million inhabitants) were calculated.Results A total of 27 943 references were retrieved. The growth in the number of publications showed a linear increase with a yearly average growth rate of 2.08%. Using Bradford's law, 17 core journals were identified. Only 9 authors published more than 5 papers per year. The United States was by far the predominant country in number of publications, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom. However, population and Gross Domestic Product indexes showed that absolute production did not reflect the production per capita nor the economic efficiencyConclusion This bibliometric study provides data contributing to a better understanding of the eye neoplasm research field.