Bibliometric mapping of microbiology research topics (2012–16): a comparison by socioeconomic development and infectious disease vulnerability values

• Published in: FEMS microbiology letters Vol. 366; no. 2; p. 1
• Main Authors: Dehdarirad, Tahereh, Sotudeh, Hajar, Freer, Jonathan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01.01.2019
• Subjects: Animal experimentation; Animal research; Anopheles; Backup software; Bibliometric mapping; Bibliometrics; Big data; Collaboration; Communicable diseases; data collection; disease control; Disease susceptibility; Diseases; Economic aspects; Economic development; Energy poverty; Food; Food safety; Forecasts and trends; Gross domestic product; Health aspects; human development; Infectious diseases; Mapping; Microbiological research; Microbiology; Poverty; Risk factors; Social aspects; Social class; Socioeconomic development; Socioeconomic factors; socioeconomic status; Socioeconomics; Sweden; Vulnerability to infectious disease; Sweden; microbiology; vulnerability to infectious disease; bibliometric mapping; socioeconomic development
• ISSN: 1574-6968; 0378-1097; 1574-6968
• DOI: 10.1093/femsle/fnz004

Abstract Amongst health-related scientific disciplines, microbiology appears to play a vital role in creating a sustainable future with respect to health, the environment and a biobased economy. Microbiology research covers a wide range of different disciplines and addresses many important global issues. This study aimed to identify topics being addressed within the last 5 years (2012–16) in the field of microbiology worldwide and to compare them in terms of three different indicators: gross domestic product, Human Development Index and Infectious Disease Vulnerability Index. The dataset of this study comprised 167 874 articles and reviews from 2012 to 2016, which were extracted from the Web of Science Medline. To identify and visualise the topics addressed during the studied period, VOSviewer was used. The construction and visualisation of the term map was done based on 5918 MESH subject headings. The methodology and procedures employed included Kruskal–Wallis test and two-sample proportion test. Overall, our study showed that the field of microbiology has focused on six different topics during 2012–16. The papers written with the collaboration of countries with low socioeconomic status and high vulnerability to infectious diseases mainly addressed topics related to the primary needs of people such as food safety, the prevention and control of infectious diseases, food and energy poverty. In contrast, papers written with the collaboration of countries with high socioeconomic development status and less vulnerability to infectious diseases mainly focused on big data, alternative methods to animal experiments. This study provides a mapping of microbiology research worldwide using bibliometrics and compares the topics by socioeconomic development and infectious disease vulnerability values of countries.