Scientometrics
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Meta-Anal. Apr 28, 2020; 8(2): 163-172
Published online Apr 28, 2020. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v8.i2.163
Chinese research into ulcerative colitis from 1978 to 2017: A bibliometric analysis
Min Zhu, Jing-Xi Mu, Ming-Shan Jiang, Arjudeb Mukherjee, Zhen Zeng, Yi-Ding Chen, Xiao-Li Yang, Hu Zhang
Min Zhu, Jing-Xi Mu, Ming-Shan Jiang, Zhen Zeng, Yi-Ding Chen, Xiao-Li Yang, Hu Zhang, Department of Gastroenterology and Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China
Arjudeb Mukherjee, West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China
Author contributions: Zhu M conceived the study, did the statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript; Mu JX, Jiang MS, and Yang XL performed the database research and made critical revisions to the manuscript; Zeng Z, Chen YD, and Mukherjee A recorded and checked relevant information and did the statistical analysis; Zhang H supervised the study and edited the manuscript; all of the authors approved the version of the article to be published.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81570502; and 1.3.5. Project for Disciplines of Excellence, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, No. ZYJC18037.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hu Zhang, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Director, Department of Gastroenterology and Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 37 Guoxue Lane, Wuhou District, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China. zhanghu@scu.edu.cn
Received: September 29, 2019
Peer-review started: September 29, 2019
First decision: October 23, 2019
Revised: February 22, 2020
Accepted: March 27, 2020
Article in press: March 27, 2020
Published online: April 28, 2020
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract. Its accurate diagnosis and effective treatment remain a challenge for physicians. Along with the increasing morbidity of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in China, even in Asia, the epidemiologic research and bibliometric analysis of UC in China are crucial in the world range. Thus, a comprehensive study of UC related publications is warranted to investigate the trend and distribution of the publications in China for the last four decades.

Research motivation

A bibliometric analysis of publications focused on UC will provide information about the current status of research outputs related to UC in recent years. There was a bibliometric analysis focused on the 50 top-cited articles in IBD. But no comprehensive bibliometric analysis of UC during four decades was conducted. Such a study contributes to the blank of bibliometric analysis of UC in China, and the trend of literature and research will be instructive to clinicians and scientists in other countries.

Research objectives

The aim of this study was to demonstrate the trend and distribution of the publications focused on UC in China over the past 40 years. And a bibliometric analysis of the number and proportion of evidence-based articles and randomized controlled trial publications can provide the quality distribution of the publications. Such a study can establish comprehensive information on the UC studies in China, provide the information that scholars should pay attention, and help improve the quality of the studies in future research.

Research methods

We searched the Chinese periodical database SinoMed for the related literature of UC published between January 1978 and December 2017. Papers should focus on UC as the main topic and studies performed in China. And a bibliometric analysis was used to demonstrate the distribution of publication date, journal, region, and research organization of these papers, especially papers published in core journals, evidence-based articles, and randomized controlled trial publications.

Research results

A total of 16257 papers met the searching criteria, including 7561 papers published in the core journals. There were only 4641 evidence-based articles and 4177 randomized controlled trial publications, but the proportion of these papers in all publications was increased. In terms of the regional distribution, a total of 4796 (30.78%) papers have been published in the Eastern area of China. Jiangsu, Henan, Shandong, and Guangdong Provinces have witnessed 5097 (32.50%) papers. In addition, our research found that most of the studies were conducted by academic institutions.

Research conclusions

This bibliometric analysis indicated a significant increase in the quantity and quality of UC research in China for the period from 1978 to 2017. Although the proportion of evidence-based articles and randomized controlled trial publications has increased, the total number was still inadequate. Besides, the regional distribution of the literature was unbalanced, and academic institutions played a leading role in the relevant research of UC. Further research is warranted to investigate the epidemiological surveys for the general population in China, so as to provide information comparing directly an increase in UC incidence and the number of publications.

Research perspectives

The research focused on UC has developed rapidly in China over the years. As the accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of UC remain a challenge for physicians, it is promising for scholars to further explore the etiology and pathogenesis of UC, and thus identify new insights for more effective treatment options. Therefore, scholars should focus on the rigorousness and science of experimental design. Besides, academic institutions should work as a fundamental effect in promoting teaching activities and the cooperation between different departments, to improve the research capabilities of UC in China.