Pediatric Minimally Invasive Surgery—A Bibliometric Study on 30 Years of Research Activity

Abstract

Background: Pediatric minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is a standard technique worldwide. We aimed to analyze the research activity in this field. Methods: Articles on pediatric MIS (1991–2020) were analyzed from the Web of Science™ for the total number of publications, citations, journals, and impact factors (IF). Of these, the 50 most cited publications were evaluated in detail and classified according to the level of evidence (i.e., study design) and topic (i.e., surgical procedure). Results: In total, 4464 publications and 53,111 citations from 684 journals on pediatric MIS were identified. The 50 most cited papers were published from 32 institutions in the USA/Canada (n = 28), Europe (n = 19), and Asia (n = 3) in 12 journals. Four authors (USA/Europe) contributed to 26% of the 50 most cited papers as first/senior author. Hot topics were laparoscopic pyeloplasty (n = 9), inguinal hernia repair (n = 7), appendectomy, and pyloromyotomy (n = 4 each). The majority of publications were retrospective studies (n = 33) and case reports (n = 6) (IF 5.2 ± 3.2; impact index 16.5 ± 6.4; citations 125 ± 39.4). They were cited as often as articles with high evidence levels (meta-analyses, n = 2; randomized controlled trials, n = 7; prospective studies, n = 2) (IF 12.9 ± 22.5; impact index 14.0 ± 6.5; citations 125 ± 34.7; p > 0.05). Conclusions: Publications on laparoscopic pyeloplasty, inguinal hernia repair, appendectomy, and pyloromyotomy are cited most often in pediatric MIS. However, the relevant number of studies with strong evidence for the advantages of MIS in pediatric surgery is missing.

Hotspots and Frontiers of Congenital Biliary Dilatation: A Bibliometric Analysis from 1990 to 2022

“…Bibliometric analysis is a crucial tool for identifying and predicting emerging trends in potential topics, which has been widely used to evaluate the literature on pediatric diseases [18][19][20][21][22]. However, there is a lack of bibliometric research on CBD.…”

The Top Ranked 101 Articles in Pediatric Surgical Journals from an Altmetric Perspective

“…The lower the impact index, the higher the citation rate since publication, which indicates an augmented recognition in the scientific community. 9,12…”

“…In contrast to traditional bibliometric studies that provide insights into a global research productivity by using mathematical and statistical methods, none of the established measurements such as the date and journal of publication, number of citations, impact factor, impact index, or h-index are taken into account for the calculation of AAS. [7][8][9] The correlation between AAS ratings and traditional bibliometric analyses remains controversial and has not been evaluated for manuscripts with the highest AAS scores in pediatric surgery. 10 Therefore, this study aimed to identify and characterize the top 100 articles with the highest AAS in pediatric surgery.…”

“…The impact index was considered as a bibliometric marker for research quality, which was calculated by dividing the number of years since publication by the number of citations multiplied by 100. The lower the impact index, the higher the citation rate since publication, which indicates an augmented recognition in the scientific community 9,12 .…”

Untitled

“…It enables researchers to identify classical ar-ticles from a great number of publications, which can promote the development in special research areas. Traditionally, measures of bibliometrics are the mainstream for assessing the influence of article and journal performance, which have been widely used and accepted by researchers [1,2]. However, studies have shown that it takes up to 3 years after publication for a certain article to reach citation peak and this delayed period affects the judgement of including Twitter, Blogs, Facebook and others are providing novel insights into the immediate impact of research work com-pared to traditional bibliometrics.…”