Abstract
BackgroundRecently, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology has been widely used to quantitatively analyze brain structure, morphology, and functional activities, as well as to clarify the neuropathological and neurobiological mechanisms of schizophrenia. However, although there have been many relevant results and conclusions, there has been no systematic assessment of this field.AimTo analyze important areas of research utilizing MRI in studies of schizophrenia and explore major trends and the knowledge structure using bibliometric analysis.MethodsLiterature related to MRI studies of schizophrenia published in PubMed between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2018 were retrieved in 5-year increments. The extracted major Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms/MeSH subheadings were analyzed quantitatively. Bi-clu-stering analysis, social network analysis (SNA), and strategic diagrams were employed to analyze the word matrix and co-occurrence matrix of high-frequency MeSH terms.ResultsFor the periods of 2004 to 2008, 2009 to 2013, and 2014 to 2018, the number of relevant retrieved publications were 916, 1,344, and 1,512 respectively, showing an overall growth trend. 26, 34, and 36 high-frequency major MeSH terms/MeSH subheadings were extracted in each period, respectively. In line with strategic diagrams, the main undeveloped theme clusters in 2004–2008 were effects of antipsychotics on brain structure and their curative efficacy. These themes were replaced in 2009–2013 by physiopathology mechanisms of schizophrenia, etiology of cognitive disorder, research on default mode network and schizophrenic psychology, and were partially replaced in 2014–2018 by studies of differences in the neurobiological basis for schizophrenia and other mental disorders. Based on SNA, nerve net/physiopathology and psychotic disorder/pathology were considered the emerging hotspots of research in 2009–2013 and 2014–2018.ConclusionsMRI studies on schizophrenia were relatively diverse, but the theme clusters derived from each period may reflect the publication trends to some extent. Bibliometric research over a 15-year period may be helpful in depicting the overall scope of research interest and may generate novel ideas for researchers initiating new projects.
Highlights
Schizophrenia, as a common and devastating mental disorder, has been characterized by abnormal social behavior and the failure to understand reality, accompanied by emotional disorder or substance abuse, and even suicide [1], which leads to high risk for physical diseases, increased disability and recurrence for patients, and places a serious burden on their families and society [2, 3]
The journal Schizophrenia Research ranked first in the number of articles published in all three periods, but its proportion of the total number of searched publications declined slightly
26, 34, and 36 high-frequency major Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms/MeSH subheadings were extracted in each period, respectively, and their cumulative frequency percentages were 49.0459, 53.8805, and 52.1285% of the total, and could be considered as the research hotspots of Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies on schizophrenia in the past three 5-year time periods (Table 2)
Summary
Schizophrenia, as a common and devastating mental disorder, has been characterized by abnormal social behavior and the failure to understand reality, accompanied by emotional disorder or substance abuse, and even suicide (approximately 5%) [1], which leads to high risk for physical diseases, increased disability and recurrence for patients, and places a serious burden on their families and society [2, 3]. As early as 1927, scientists began to perform brain scans of schizophrenia patients, but the traumatic operation (injecting air into the cerebrospinal canal) meant that patients had to endure pain for months [16]. It wasn’t until 1976 that Johnstone used computerized tomography technology to make the first noninvasive study of the brain of schizophrenia patients with enlarged lateral ventricles [17]. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology has been widely used to quantitatively analyze brain structure, morphology, and functional activities, as well as to clarify the neuropathological and neurobiological mechanisms of schizophrenia. There have been many relevant results and conclusions, there has been no systematic assessment of this field
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