BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are essential for advancing evidence-based healthcare by evaluating the effectiveness and safety of health interventions. Despite the increasing recognition of clinical research, the Philippines has had limited contributions to global RCT output. This bibliometric analysis aims to assess the trends, characteristics, and impact of RCTs conducted in the Philippines and published online.

METHODS

A systematic search of Medline (PubMed), and EMBASE, along with Acta Medica Philippina, was conducted to identify published RCTs from January 1990 to October 2022. Eligible studies were screened and analyzed based on publication trends, funding sources, study designs, research settings, and institutional contributions. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize key findings.

RESULTS

A total of 391 RCTs were identified, with a notable increase in number of RCTs published over time. Most studies (91.8%) were published in international journals, and funding was primarily sourced from pharmaceutical companies (47.1%). The predominant RCT design was two-arm parallel (64.7%), with hospitals being the most common research setting (54.2%). Research areas were led by infectious diseases, particularly vaccine-preventable illnesses (23.8%). While the University of the Philippines Manila (21.1%) and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (13.7%) were the leading institutions in terms of highest number of published RCTs, foreign authors accounted for nearly half (47.3%) of primary authorships. The most cited studies focused on cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, and oncology.

CONCLUSION

The increasing number of published RCTs in the Philippines reflects growth in research capacity and institutional engagement. Strengthening national research dissemination platforms and fostering regional collaborations will be essential in advancing the Philippines’ contribution to global clinical research.

Human ; Bibliometrics ; Bibliometric Analysis ; Philippines ; Publications

OBJECTIVES

The increasing prevalence of Kawasaki disease in Southeast Asia (SEA) and its potential relation with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection resulted in heightened interest in KD in the region, thus, this paper aimed to determine the trend and the socioeconomic facilitators of scientific productivity of KD research within the region. Specifically, this article determined the number of publication and citations related to KD per country, institution, and journal. We also explored the networks of countries within the region to the rest of the world and the keywords mostly associated with KD research in the region. Lastly, correlation of these bibliometric indices with socioeconomic factors in the region was analyzed.

METHODS

A literature search of KD papers in SEA was performed using Scopus database. We obtained bibliographic data from the available literature and visualized network of existing collaborations and keywords using VOSviewer software.

RESULTS

A total of 196 papers were included in the study. Bibliometric analysis showed a rising trend in publication within the region, most of which were from institutions in Singapore and Thailand. The most common topics on KD studies included clinical features, complications, treatment, and comorbidities. 

Country characteristics such as gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, research and development (R&D) expenditure (% GDP), and number of physician and R&D researchers were positively correlated with bibliometric indices of KD research in SEA. Moreover, number of international linkages was significantly associated with KD research productivity in the region. 

CONCLUSION

In summary, we showed an increasing trend of KD research in SEA. Funding allocation and capacity building are necessary to strengthen research productivity within the region.

Asia ; Asia, Southeastern ; Bibliometrics ; Capacity Building ; Coronavirus ; Covid-19 ; Database ; Disease ; Efficiency ; Gross Domestic Product ; Guanosine Diphosphate ; Infection ; Infections ; Literature ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome ; Paper ; Physicians ; Prevalence ; Publications ; Research ; Research Personnel ; Rest ; Singapore ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Software ; Thailand ; Therapeutics

Objective To explore the research progress and hotspots of intelligent ultrasound imaging in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules and clarify the research directions via the bibliometric method.Methods The relevant research articles on intelligent ultrasound imaging in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection,covering the period from January 2004 to August 2024.Python was used to analyze the number of annual publications.VOSviewer was used to create the co-occurrence network of authors and the keyword density map.CiteSpace was used to demonstrate the dual-map overlays of the journals,as well as the bursts and clustering of co-citations and keywords.Results A total of 1 179 articles were included.The annual number of publications increased steadily.The involved journals demonstrated high quality,and the publications showed a trend of cross-research.Chinese researchers were the core research force in this field.Haugen et al.'s study on the guidelines for thyroid nodules had the most citations.The clustering of co-citations and keywords indicated studies in multiple fields.Thyroid nodules,cancer,and deep learning were the representative keywords in this field.Conclusions The continuous enrichment of research topics promotes the rapid development of intelligent ultrasound imaging for thyroid nodules.Intelligent diagnosis methods based on deep learning can provide diagnostic suggestions,while there are still challenges such as interpretation.One of the research directions is the deep combination of intelligent diagnosis algorithms and medical knowledge.
Thyroid Nodule/diagnostic imaging* ; Humans ; Ultrasonography ; Bibliometrics

Objective To analyze the research status of in situ simulation in the medical field and explore its hotspots and trends. Methods Relevant literature was searched in China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Web of Science core collection from the inception to February 2024.CiteSpace 6.3.R1 was used to analyze the authors,institutions,and keywords and draw visual knowledge maps. Results A total of 25 Chinese articles and 438 English articles were included.Only 14 English articles were from China.In Chinese articles,the authors with the largest number of articles were Dai Hengmao and Liu Shangkun,and the institution with the largest number of articles was Tongji Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.There was little cooperation between the authors and institutions.In English articles,the author and institution with the largest number of articles was Auerbach Marc and Yale University,respectively,and the cooperation between authors and institutions was close.Emergency medicine,emergency event handling,and on-the-job training were the keywords with high frequency in Chinese articles.Patient safety,medical education,and cardiac arrest were the keywords with high frequency in English articles.A total of 4 clusters were generated for Chinese keywords and 13 clusters for English keywords. Conclusions The application of in situ simulation in the medical field is still in the initial stage,and the development is not balanced at home and abroad.The number of articles published and the cooperation between authors and institutions in China obviously lags behind those abroad.Treatment and care of emergency critical patients,emergency event handling and skill training,identification of latent safety threats,improvement of readiness,and promotion of medical quality improvement are the future research hotspots and research trends in this field.
Bibliometrics ; Humans ; China ; Simulation Training ; Education, Medical ; Emergency Medicine/education*

OBJECTIVE: To explore the current status, evolution, hot topics, and future research trends in the field of burn-related sepsis research through a visual analysis of literature. METHODS: A bibliometric method was employed to retrieve articles related to burn-related sepsis from January 1, 1994, to May 16, 2024, in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and the Web of Science database. The CiteSpace 6.3.R1 software was used to analyze the retrieved literature. The number of publications, authors, countries, and institutions in both Chinese and English literature was statistically analyzed. Co-occurrence analysis, clustering analysis, and co-citation analysis of keywords were performed. RESULTS: A total of 1 090 articles from the CNKI database and 1 143 articles from the Web of Science database were retrieved. Over the past 20 years, the volume of Chinese publications has remained stable, although there has been a slight decline in the past two years. In contrast, the number of English publications, after a period of growth, showed a sharp decline over the past three years. In Chinese literature, 1 457 authors published articles on burn-related sepsis as first authors, with 14 core authors publishing four or more articles. In English literature, 98 authors published articles on burn-related sepsis as first authors. Research on burn-related sepsis was conducted by 76 countries, with the United States having the most collaborations and publications. Globally, 1 349 institutions published articles on burn-related sepsis, with the top institutions being the First Affiliated Hospital of the PLA General Hospital (8 articles) for Chinese literature and the University of Texas Medical Branch (57 articles) for English literature. In the co-occurrence analysis, 208 Chinese keywords and 211 English keywords were included. Excluding keywords related to search terms, the top five most frequent keywords in Chinese literature were burn, sepsis, infection, severe burn, and procalcitonin; the top five most frequent keywords in English literature were sepsis, septic shock, mortality, injury, and burn injury. Chinese keyword analysis identified six clusters, with the largest being sepsis, followed by procalcitonin, infection, and severe burn. English keyword analysis identified seven clusters, with the largest being expression, followed by epidemiology, inhalation injury, and acute kidney injury. The persistent clusters in Chinese literature were procalcitonin, with recent emerging nodes being severe burn, inflammatory response, platelets, and predictive value. In English literature, the persistent clusters were inhalation injury and nitric oxide, with recent emerging nodes being continuous renal replacement therapy, hemorrhagic shock, and early enteral nutrition. The longest-lasting emergent keyword in Chinese literature was delayed resuscitation (2003-2010), with the highest emergent strength being severe burn. In English literature, the longest-lasting emergent keywords, each lasting five years, were nitric oxide (2007-2012), management (2019-2024), and impact (2019-2024), with the highest emergent strength being thermal injury. CONCLUSIONS Research on burn-related sepsis has shifted from focusing on early studies on pathogenesis and mortality to focus on prevention, treatment, and early diagnosis. Future research is expected to focus on early diagnosis and risk factors of burn-related sepsis.
Burns/complications* ; Sepsis/etiology* ; Humans ; Bibliometrics ; China

OBJECTIVE: Traditional medicine (TM) has played a key role in the health care system of East Asian countries, including China, Japan and South Korea. This bibliometric study analyzes the recent research status of these three TMs, including traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), traditional Korean medicine (TKM), and Kampo medicine (KM). METHODS: Research topics of studies published for recent 10 years (2014 to 2023), through a search on MEDLINE via PubMed, was analyzed. Medical Subject Headings were used to distinguish between the three TMs researches. Bibliographic information was analyzed through VOSViewer version. Total 10,151 documents were included: TCM studies (n=9,630); TKM studies (n=256); and KM studies (n=295). RESULTS: Comparing the three co-occurrence analysis maps, TCM studies generally overwhelm the quantitative scale of TKM and KM studies. In the trend of the latest research of TCM, not only corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but also clinical research topics such as gastrointestinal microbiome and diabetes mellitus have emerged, with in silico research approaches being actively applied. In the case of TKM, obesity and cooperative treatment with Western medicine are gaining attention. In KM, COVID-19 and Scutellaria baicalensis were recent research focuses. Unique features that distinguished from the other two TM research trends included 'gut microbiota', 'diabetes mellitus', 'clinical trials', 'disease models', and 'quality control' in the TCM map; 'prospective studies', 'cell line, tumor', and 'panax' in the TKM map; and 'aged, 80 and over', 'retrospective studies', 'glycyrrhiza', 'panax', and 'paeonia' in the KM map. Also, some quantitative and qualitative differences were found in author co-operation maps in each TM. CONCLUSIONS This analysis revealed that there were clear quantitative and qualitative differences among TCM, TKM, and KM. Although these medicines have a common root, they may have become distinct due to factors such as the size of research funds, cultural differences, and the medical licensing system.
Bibliometrics ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Medicine, Kampo ; Medicine, East Asian Traditional ; Medicine, Korean Traditional ; Asia, Eastern ; COVID-19 ; SARS-CoV-2

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Awake craniotomy is often used in the surgery of glioma, the most common primary brain tumor. It has been proven to maximize the extent of tumor resection while minimizing post-operative neurologic deficits. Extensive research has been conducted on this topic, and we would like to perform a bibliometric analysis to identify the top 100 most cited articles in awake glioma surgery. Knowing the relevant and most impactful studies in the field would help clinicians streamline the evidence and determine its application in their practice.

METHODS

In October 2023, we performed a title-specific search on the Scopus and PubMed databases using (“glioma*” OR “astrocytoma*” OR “glioblastoma” OR “low grade glioma” OR “high grade glioma”) and (“awake craniotomy” OR “awake surgery” OR “awake brain surgery” OR “awake neurosurgery”) as our query term without any restriction criteria. The top 100 most cited articles were identified, reviewed, and analyzed.

RESULTS

Our search yielded a total of 5557 articles published. The top article had a citation count of 834 and reported on functional outcome after language mapping in glioma resection. Journal of Neurosurgery had the most number of publications. Neurosurgeons (n=81) were the primary author in most publications, followed by anesthesiologists (n=22) and neurologists (n=6). Three countries (USA, France, Italy) contributed to 74% of the articles. Most of the articles were reviews and case reports/series.

CONCLUSION

This study identified the top 100 most cited articles on awake glioma surgery. The content dealt with several aspects of awake craniotomy such as brain mapping, intraoperative techniques and adjuncts, and practice recommendations. This analysis can help identify knowledge gaps and potential areas of research in glioma surgery.

Glioma ; Glioblastoma ; Astrocytoma ; Bibliometric Analysis ; Bibliometrics

Objective To investigate the research hotspots， development trends， and potential challenges in the field of stroke and exosomes based on bibliometric and visual analyses， and to provide scientific evidence for basic research and clinical translation. Methods The Web of Science database was used to obtain related articles published up to 2024， and CiteSpace and other tools were used to perform visual analyses from various aspects such as publication trends， collaboration networks， co-occurrence and clustering of keywords， and literature burst analysis. Results A total of 1 153 articles were included. The analysis showed an overall increasing trend in the number of publications per year. The institution with the highest number of publications was Henry Ford Health System， the author with the highest number of publications was Professor Chopp， and the journal with the highest number of articles Int J Mol Sci. High-frequency keywords included "extracellular vesicles" "ischemic stroke" and "stroke"， forming 12 research clusters， with neural repair and barrier protection as the key research directions. Conclusion The research on stroke and exosomes has been increasing year by year， with rapid development in recent years and the formation of an interdisciplinary pattern. Future studies should focus on the molecular mechanisms mediated by exosomes and their clinical application in stroke treatment， so as to promote the development of precision medicine and provide new therapeutic approaches.
Stroke ; Exosomes ; Bibliometrics

OBJECTIVE

To describe the trend and landscape of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)-related publications in nursing authored by at least one Philippine-based author.

METHODS

This study is a bibliometric analysis of documents retrieved from Scopus using the search terms “COVID-19” and “nurs*” in the article title, abstract, and keywords. The documents were limited to those published in English, affiliated with Philippine-based authors, and those published from 2020 to 2023. We used the ‘analyze report’ function in Scopus to analyze the data including the number of publications, types, sources, authors, and affiliations. We used VOSViewer for the co-authorship analysis of countries and co-occurrence analysis of author keywords.

RESULTS

A total of 136 documents were found. Majority of these documents were classified as original articles (83%). There was a rapid increase in COVID-19 publications in nursing authored by at least one Philippine-based researcher published from 2020 to 2021 and plateaued from 2022-2023. Co-authorship analysis showed that Philippine-based authors have written documents with authors from 111 countries most notably from Saudi Arabia, the United States, Indonesia, and Australia. Most documents were published in the Belitung Nursing Journal. Authors from the University of Santo Tomas had the most publications. The most cited articles focused on psychosocial impacts, resilience, workplace stress, and online education. Author keywords commonly used in the documents were COVID-19, nursing, and nursing students, covering topics such as pandemic impacts, workplace impacts, nurse well-being, psychosocial impacts, and nursing education. Keywords have evolved through the pandemic period with a recent focus on stress and professional values.

CONCLUSION

Philippine-based authors actively contributed in understanding the impact of COVID-19 on nurses and nursing education. Their scientific productivity was driven partly by their collaboration with foreign-based researchers. To sustain this trend in productivity and collaboration, policies, programs, and strategies are needed to promote, support, and foster research collaboration among local and international nursing researchers and institutions.

Human ; Bibliometrics ; Covid-19 ; Nursing ; Philippines

This study systematically analyzed the global research landscape, technological composition, and core patents in the field of networks target and network pharmacology, and proposes further suggestions based on the IncoPat patent citation database and VOSviewer bibliometric network visualization tool. Using patent literature metrics and scientific knowledge mapping method, technological innovation pathways, research hotspots, and future directions in this field were further revealed. In particular, this field is moving towards data-driven, intelligent, and systematic approaches. Patent analysis indicated that most patent applications in this domain focused on traditional Chinese medicine(TCM), which have provided key engineering technical approaches to explore and solve complex problems of TCM. By integrating big data and artificial intelligence technologies, network targets and network pharmacology have conferred high-precision screening and quality control of key components and targets in herbal formulations and prescriptions, accelerating the clinical translation and industrialization of TCM-based new drugs and health products with medicine-food homology. Therefore, it is essential to optimize the patent protection system and establish integrated technology platforms in this field for ensuring the competitiveness of technological achievements in research and clinical application. These efforts will advance the widespread application and high-quality development of TCM modernization, precision medicine, and innovative drug discovery.
Bibliometrics ; Patents as Topic ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Network Pharmacology/trends* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology*