Bibliometric analysis of publications on pediatric epilepsy between 1980 and 2018

Childs Nerv Syst. 2021 Feb;37(2):617-626. doi: 10.1007/s00381-020-04897-9. Epub 2020 Sep 26.

Abstract

Background/objective: Childhood epilepsy is one of the disease groups with the highest disease burden in society. This study aimed to guide researchers for new studies by determining the most compelling studies and current issues through a bibliometric analysis of scientific outputs about childhood epilepsy between 1980 and 2018.

Methods: The literature review was conducted using the Web of Science (WoS) database. Epilepsy and status epilepticus were used as search keywords in WoS, and the search was performed only in the title section of the publications. Only publications in the research field of pediatrics were included in the study and were analyzed bibliometrically. Linear regression analysis was used to estimate the number of publications in the coming years.

Results: It was seen that the number of articles on pediatric epilepsy has been increasing with a linear trend. A total of 3424 publications were found. Of these publications, 2197 (64.2%) articles were analyzed bibliometrically. The top two most productive countries were the USA(654) and Italy (199). The first two most active institutions were The Hospital for Sick Children (40, 1.8%) and Tel Aviv University (38, 1.7%). The top three journals that published the most were Journal of Child Neurology (422, 19.2%), Pediatric Neurology (335, 15.2%), and Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology (201, 9.1%).

Conclusion: In this bibliometric study on childhood epilepsies, a data summary of 2197 articles published between 1980 and 2018 is presented. We hope that this article will be a useful literature review and guide researchers working on pediatric epilepsy.

Keywords: Bibliometric analysis; Epilepsy; Pediatric; Status epilepticus; Trends.

MeSH terms

  • Bibliometrics
  • Child
  • Epilepsy*
  • Humans
  • Italy
  • Pediatrics*
  • Publications