Scientific Progress of Global Research on BCG Vaccine: A Scientometric Study

Abstract

ABSTRACT The study presents an overview of global research output on the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine from 1989–2021 using various scientometric indicators. The objective is to inform and present a comprehensive analysis of BCG vaccine research to health practitioners, researchers, and librarians that has not been explored from the perspective of scientometrics. Using a search strategy, data was collected from the Web of Science database and 2416 original articles were identified. Computed analysis of the literature was done through the software bibloshiny (a web interface for bibliometrix analysis) in the R statistical programming environment. The study examined the pattern of growth of research output, prolific authors, institutions, key journals, and countries involved in BCG vaccine research. Findings reveal an increase in research output on BCG vaccine from 2008 onwards. The highest number of articles 163 were published in 2016. Key journals, authors, and institutions working in the field of BCG vaccine research have been identified. A Sankey diagram has been used to depict the evolution of BCG vaccine research. This article reports the evolution of BCG vaccine research in terms of annual growth of publications, relevant authors, institutions, countries, and the evolution of author keywords and the growth of BCG vaccine research areas.