Multi-Disciplinary Approach and Collaborative Studies Increase the Impact of Osteoarthritis Publications: A European Perspective

Abstract

Scientometric analysis of osteoarthritis (OA) publication was randomly undertaken during the last five years. A multi-disciplinary and collaborative scientometric study was designed and conducted. We analyzed publication and citation trends of OA articles between 2007 and 2021 in the Clarivate-Web of Science and InCites databases for the European Union (EU), the non-EU associated and the geographically European (Geo-EU) countries. We furthermore evaluated citations, Citation Impact (CI), Category Normalized Citation Impact (CNCI) and the Impact Relative to World (IREW) distributions. Leading countries, authors, institutions and funding agencies were defined. The impact of multi-disciplinary and collaborative studies was determined. Publication and citation numbers on OA research increased from 2007 to 2021. European citations, CI, CNCI and IREW distributions were higher than that of the World baseline. The United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany preceded OA research in Europe. UDICE-French Research Universities, University of Oxford and Assistance Publique Hopitaux Paris were leading European institutions. Funding was mostly from non-European resources. European countries with a higher gross national income quantitatively dominated the outcome and impact of OA research. We found that multi-disciplinary and collaborative studies were mostly published in higher journal quartiles. We conclude that collaboration and multi disciplinarity increases the impact in OA research. Methodology of quantifying impact could be applied to other research areas in the future.