A Bibliometric and Citation Network Analysis of Myopia Genetics

Background: To aim of the study was describe the growth of publications on genetic myopia and understand the current research landscape through the analysis of citation networks, as well as determining the different research areas and the most cited publications. Methods: The Web of Science database was used to perform the publication search, looking for the terms “genetic*” AND “myopia” within the period between 2009 and October 2020. The CitNetExplorer and CiteSpace software were then used to conduct the publication analysis. To obtain the graphics, the VOSviewer software was used. Results: A total of 721 publications were found with 2999 citations generated within the network. The year 2019 was singled out as a “key year”, taking into account the number of publications that emerged in that year and given that in 2019, 200 loci associated with refractive errors and myopia were found, which is considered to be great progress. The most widely cited publication was “Genome-wide meta-analyses of multiancestry cohorts identify multiple new susceptibility loci for refractive error and myopia”, an article by Verhoeven et al., which was published in 2013. By using the clustering function, we were able to establish three groups that encompassed the different research areas within this field: heritability rate of myopia and its possible association with environmental factors, retinal syndromes associated with myopia and the genetic factors that control and influence axial growth of the eye. Conclusions: The citation network offers a comprehensive and objective analysis of the main papers that address genetic myopia.