Objective: Vertebral osteomyelitis is defined as an infection of the intervertebral disc and the disc space of the adjacent vertebrae, which causes mortality and morbidity. This disease has started to be detected more frequently due to increased diagnostic possibilities. In this study, we aimed to review the contribution of the increasing number of cases to the scientific literature.
Method: This bibliometric analysis study was carried out by searching the keywords "vertebral osteomyelitis (VO)" or "spondylodiscitis" in Scopus database of Elsevier. English was chosen for the searching language. The distribution of the number of publications by years was evaluated in terms of the institution in which the publications were made, the language of the publication, the country, the author, the institutions providing financial support, the number of citations and the journal in which they were published.
Results: It was determined that there were 2679 publications on vertebral osteomyelitis(VO). First publication was published in 1911. While there was very few publication on this subject until 1937, the number of publications after year 1980s were increased (Graph 1). A total number of 1924 (71.81%) were published after the year 2000. The authors with the highest number of articles in this field were Louis Bernard (16 publications) and Aurélien Dinh (16 publications) from France. A total number of 2576 (96.15%) publications were published in the field of medicine. There were publications on VO in 20 different disciplines, from nursing to veterinary. The publications were consisted of 2123 (79.24%) articles, 261 (9.7%) of them are not categorized, 9 (0.33%) letters to the editor, 150 (5.59%) reviews, and 136 (5.07%) other types of studies (conference papers, notes, book chapters, etc.). The dominant language of publication was English (1992, 74.35%). The most scientifically productive countries on VO were United States (n=452, 16.87%), France (n=303, 11.31%) and Germany (n=248, 9.25%).
Conclusion: It is necessary to support scientific activities on VO and increase the number of publications made globally.