A bibliometric analysis of scientific production in mesothelioma research

Ugolini, Donatella; Neri, Monica; Casilli, Cristina; Ceppi, Marcello; Canessa, Pier Aldo; Ivaldi, Giovanni Paolo; Paganuzzi, Michela; Bonassi, Stefano

doi:10.1016/j.lungcan.2010.01.013

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Volume 70, Issue 2 , Pages 129-135, November 2010

A bibliometric analysis of scientific production in mesothelioma research

Donatella Ugolini
- Dipartimento di Oncologia, Biologia e Genetica, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
- Unit of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, National Cancer Research Institute, Genoa, Italy
- Corresponding author at: Dipartimento di Oncologia, Biologia e Genetica, University of Genoa, Istituto Nazionale per la ricerca sul cancro, Largo R. Benzi, 10, 16132 Genoa, Italy. Tel.: +39 010 5737421; fax: +39 010 354103.
Monica Neri
- Unit of Molecular Epidemiology, National Cancer Research Institute, Genoa, Italy
Cristina Casilli
- Dipartimento di Oncologia, Biologia e Genetica, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
Marcello Ceppi
- Unit of Molecular Epidemiology, National Cancer Research Institute, Genoa, Italy
Pier Aldo Canessa
- Unit of Pneumology, Ospedale San Bartolomeo, Sarzana, Italy
Giovanni Paolo Ivaldi
- Unit of Pneumology, Azienda Ospedaliera Villa Scassi, Genoa, Italy
Michela Paganuzzi
- Unit of Clinical Pathology, National Cancer Research Institute, Genoa, Italy
Stefano Bonassi
- Unit of Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology, IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Rome, Italy

Received 29 July 2009; received in revised form 23 December 2009; accepted 19 January 2010. published online 19 February 2010.

Abstract

This study aims at comparing scientific production in malignant mesothelioma (MM) among countries and evaluating publication trends and impact factor (IF).

The PubMed database was searched with a strategy combining keywords listed in the Medical Subject Headings and free-text search. Publications numbers and IF were evaluated both as absolute values and after standardization by population and gross domestic product (GDP).

5240 citations were retrieved from the biennium 1951–1952 (n=22) to 2005–2006 (n=535). The 177% increase of MM publications from 1987 to 2006 exceeded by large the corresponding value of total cancer literature (123.5%). In these two decades, 2559 articles with IF were published: 46.4% came from the European Union (EU) (the UK, Italy and France ranking at the top), and 36.2% from the US. The highest mean IF was reported for the US (3.346), followed by Australia (3.318), and EU (2.415, with the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands first). Finland, Sweden and Australia had the best ratio between IF (sum) and resident population or GDP. The number of publications correlated with GDP (p=0.001) and national MM mortality rates (p=0.002). An association was found between a country commitment to MM research and the burden of disease (p=0.04). Asbestos, survival, prognosis, occupational exposure, differential diagnosis, and immunohistochemistry were the most commonly used keywords.

This report represents the first effort to explore the geographical and temporal distribution of MM research and its determinants. This is an essential step in understanding science priorities and developing disease control policies.

Keywords: Mesothelioma, Publications, Bibliometrics, Biomedical research, Resource allocation