Abstract
Background: It is beneficial to evaluate changes in neuroscience research field regarding research directions and topics over a defined period. Such information enables stakeholders to quickly identify the most influential research and incorporate latest evidence into research-informed education. To our knowledge, no study reported changes in neuroscience literature over the last decade. Therefore, the current study determined research terms with highest citation scores, compared publication shares of research areas and contributing countries in this field from 2006 to 2015 and identified the most productive journals.Methods: Data were extracted from Web of Science and Journal Citation Reports (JCR). Only articles and reviews published in journals classified under the JCR “Neurosciences” category over the period of interest were included. Title and abstract fields of each included publication were extracted and analyzed via VOSviewer to identify recurring terms with high relative citation scores. Two term maps were produced for publications over the study period to illustrate the extent of co-occurrence, and the impact of terms was evaluated based on their relative citation scores. To further describe the recent research priority or “hot spots,” 10 terms with the highest relative citation scores were identified annually. In addition, by applying Bradford's law, we identified 10 journals being the most productive journals per annum over the survey period and evaluated their bilbiometric performances.Results: From 2006 to 2015, there were 47 terms involved in the annual lists of top 10 terms with highest relative citation scores. The most frequently recurring terms were autism (8), meta-analysis (7), functional connectivity (6), default mode network (4) and neuroimaging (4). Neuroscience research related to psychology and behavioral sciences showed an increase in publication share over the survey period, and China has become one of the major contributors to neuroscience research. Ten journals were frequently identified (≥8 years) as core journals within the survey period.Discussion: The landscape of neuroscience research has changed recently, and this paper provides contemporary overview for researchers and health care workers interested in this field's research and developments. Brain imaging and brain connectivity terms had high relative citation scores.
Highlights
Neuroscience is an exciting research field, and many recent discoveries have informed paradigm-shifts and innovations
From 2006 to 2015, a total of 340,210 publications matched with the selection criteria of this study, of which 305,175 were articles and 35,035 were reviews
Terms on the right are more related to brain imaging involving humans, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, perception, task, performance and patient
Summary
Neuroscience is an exciting research field, and many recent discoveries have informed paradigm-shifts and innovations. In Japan, the Brain Mapping by Integrated Neurotechnologies for Disease Studies (Brain/MINDS) program started in 2014, and the Brain Science and Brain-Like Intelligence Technology project will soon be officially launched by China, though significant preliminary research has already been done (Grillner et al, 2016) With these abundant investments in neuroscience in recent years, more explorative, fundamental or basic research could be conducted, which eventually led to today’s paradigm shifts—or paradigm shifts yet to come. The emergence of brain connectivity studies (Friston, 2011) in recent years may enable us to compare and contrast the normal and diseased brains, and identify abnormal brain connectivity patterns as potential biomarkers for neurologic diseases These advances in the neuroscience field drive significant progress in brain biology and confer practical implications to medicine. The current study determined research terms with highest citation scores, compared publication shares of research areas and contributing countries in this field from 2006 to 2015 and identified the most productive journals
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