A bibliometric study of global research in sepsis: from 1984 to 2014

• 1、Department of Anesthesiology, the First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003

Abstract：Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the global trends of sepsis research and compare the quantity and quality of sepsis-related publications. Methords: Sepsis-related publications were main retrieved from the Web of Science online database by using the keywords "sepsis" or "septic shock". Bibliometric indicators, including the number of publications, total citation frequency, citation frequency per paper, h-index, research type, orientation, organization, author, journal and funding support were analyzed. Results: From 1984 to 2014, a total of 70,564 papers regarding sepsis research were published worldwide. The global number of publications regarding sepsis showed a positive growth trend with an average annual growth rate of 11.11% (r2=0.96, p<0.001). The USA published the largest number of sepsis articles (25,107, 35.58%), the highest citations (25,107) and h-index (315). Basic research was the main research types in the global sepsis research field (23,521, 29.20%). Three point six percent of the publications were contributed by authors from Chinese institutions. Although this contribution was less than the Unites States, Germany, England, France or Japan, a notable trend of increase in number of scientific publications (r2=0.57, p<0.001), with an average annual growth rate of 20.78%, was observed. Conclusion: Global sepsis research developed swiftly during the 1984-2014 period. The USA was in the forefront of sepsis research. Although the data indicated that China had a large increasing rate of publications, there was a considerable gap in the quality of articles between China and other developed countries.

Keywords： Sepsis Bibliometric analysis Web of Science PubMed