The 100 top-cited articles on scrub typhus: a bibliometric analysis

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to analyze the characteristics of the 100 top-cited articles on scrub typhus (ST), and to assess the present research landscape and future research directions using bibliometric analysis. METHODS: Web of Science was used to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the 100 top-cited articles on ST. The articles were analyzed by publication year, number of citations, document type, journals, keywords, institutions, country of origin, and authorship. RESULTS: The top 100 articles on ST were published between 1945 to 2017. The number of citations ranges from 39 to 227 and the interquartile range was 35.5. The United States published the highest number (n=21) of articles. Mahidol University was the most prolific institution in terms of articles (n=14). The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene was the journal with the most articles (n=14), and Paris DH was the most productive author in terms of the Hirsh-index, which was 10 for that author. The study revealed a significant correlation between the total number of citations and the number of authors (r=0.668, p<0.001), number of institutions (r=0.692, p<0.001), number of years since publication (r=0.869, p<0.001), and number of countries involved (r=0.963, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study provide landmarks in the publication and citation frequency of the most influential articles on ST. In addition, this study provides useful information for readers and health policy-makers in evaluating the literature on ST.