Abstract
Purpose The current study quantitatively assessed research trends in tropical medicine in China via a bibliometric method, which used the Web of Science database to analyse the research-based literature related to tropical medicine published from 2010 to 2019. Methods Articles were analysed according to the output and research performance of institutes and countries that collaborated with China. Distribution of keywords was applied to evaluate research trends. Results Our findings showed that 3372 articles in the field of tropical medicine have been indexed under the Web of Science database during the past 10 years, indicating that studies pertaining to tropical medicine have been growing from 2010 to 2019. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) system, which published 549 articles on tropical medicine, may be considered as the flagship of tropical medicine in China. The United States ranked first in internationally collaborative articles with China. Furthermore, Parasite & Vectors, which published 707 papers, emerged as the top journal according to the number of publications. Conclusions This study highlights the key institutes and topics pertaining to tropical medicine research in China. Although there has been rapid progress in research on tropical medicine in China, some gaps still remain.
Highlights
Tropical diseases are prevalent in 149 countries and regions worldwide
Trend of Articles. e results of the search strategies used in this study indicated that 3372 records related to Chinese scientists had been indexed under the field of tropical medicine in the Web of Science database over a period of 10 years (2010–2019). e sum of times cited was 32592, while the h-index was 59. ese findings further indicated that a relative growth had taken place in the number of studies conducted on tropical medicine in China over the past 10 years (Figure 1). e number of studies rose from 119 in 2010 to 419 in 2019, while the number of documents peaked at 495 in 2017
Document Type of Publication. e distribution of document types, as identified by the Web of Science, was analysed. e 3372 publications produced during the 10year study period were categorised into nine document types
Summary
Tropical diseases are prevalent in 149 countries and regions worldwide. Most of which lies in the subtropical zone, is beset by some of the most serious tropical diseases worldwide. Imported tropical diseases are increasing yearly because of the large number of migrant workers arriving in China. E prevention and control of tropical diseases in China, as well as worldwide, are facing severe challenges. International health communities have been paying increasing attention to the prevention and control of tropical diseases [5]. China is yet to formulate a systematic, comprehensive policy towards tropical medicine, as a result of which tasks related to research and obtaining international assistance are dispersed among many research institutes and disease control institutions [7]. Organizations that are responsible for researching tropical disease prevention and control rarely collaborate with each other, resulting in a dearth of top-level research publications on tropical disease prevention and control
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