Scientific research publications in dengue: A global and Indian bibliometric analysis from 1997 to 2018

Abstract

Dengue fever is common in tropical and subtropical countries of the world and its present impact is 30 times more than what it was 50 yr ago. The aim of the study was to analyze the research output/publications on dengue across the world as well as in India, using the Web of Science database. Literature search was done using the keyword 'dengue' in the title field to find global and Indian publications on dengue from 1 June 1997 to 20 July 2018. Bibliometric analysis was done on the basis of the magnitude of research output; year, type and language of publications; citations and h-index, impact factor, keywords, most productive institutes etc. Descriptive analysis was performed using MS Office, Word Cloud Generator and SPSS software. The analysis of the records obtained indicated that globally 11,742 articles were published on dengue during the period of 21 yr of which 1114 were Indian. The country with highest number of publications was United States (3449; 29.37%) while India ranked third (1114; 9.48%). Majority of the published articles where in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (1366; 11.63%) and the leading journal in India was Indian Journal of Medical Research (56; 5.02%) followed by the Journal of Vector Borne Diseases (42; 3.77%). The most productive Institute at global level was 'Mahidol University, Thailand' while in the Indian context it was 'All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi'. The elevated metrics of citation, impact factor, and h-index are based on the magnitude of scientific research outputs. Increasing trend in the number of publications over the years both globally as well as in India indicates overall growth in dengue research. Even though it is a good sign of productivity it is still significantly related to the magnitude of occurrence of dengue cases across the globe. Further, it is a good indication that the scientific community is dynamic and responding well in bringing out the regional scenarios to the public for health promotion.