Bibliometric Analysis of Major Neurosurgical Publications 2011–2020, Part 2: Journal, Author, Yearly Publication Trends, and Citation Related Metrics

BACKGROUND: Scientometrics, a subfield of bibliometrics, examines scientific publications by using bibliometric methods. The aim of a scientometric study is to study the various citation-based metrics of scientific articles, such as parameters pertaining to authors (including institutions and country of origin), articles, journals, and other citation related metrics. OBJECTIVE: In this second part of our scientometric analysis of the 6 major neurosurgical journals from 2011–2020, we study journal and author trends, yearly publication trends, and citation related metrics in Neurosurgery, Journal of Neurosurgery, Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics, Operative Neurosurgery, and World Neurosurgery. METHODS: We analyzed parameters, including article and journal metrics (total articles published per journal per year, breakdown of the Bradford’s law distribution of journals, and Lotka’s law, journal impact factors), author metrics (country of origin, collaborations), citation totals, and keyword counts. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The highest number of published articles from all journals occurred in 2011, the lowest in 2016. World Neurosurgery published the most. The author collaboration index has declined since 2016 with a notable drop in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Impact factors remained stable, except for Operative Neurosurgery, which experienced a steep decline in 2020, and World Neurosurgery, which experienced a mild decline in 2020. Canadian authors were the most likely to participate in multi-country collaborations. CONCLUSION: The most articles were published in Journal of Neurosurgery, followed by Neurosurgery, Spine, and World Neurosurgery.