Evaluating the current state of the art of Huntingtondisease research: a scientometric analysis

• Published in: Brazilian journal of medical and biological research Vol. 51; no. 3
• Main Authors: Barboza, LA, Ghisi, NC
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ribeirao Preto Revista Brasileira de Pesquisas Medicas 01.01.2018
• Subjects: Hereditary diseases; Huntington's disease; Language; Nervous system; Neurodegenerative diseases; Scientometrics
• ISSN: 0100-879X; 1678-4510

Huntington disease (HD) is an incurable neurodegenerative disorder caused by a dominant mutation on the 4th chromosome.We aim to present a scientometric analysis of the extant scientific undertakings devoted to better understanding HD. Therefore,a quantitative study was performed to examine the current state-of-the-art approaches that foster researchers’ understandingsof the current knowledge, research trends, and research gaps regarding this disorder. We performed literature searchesof articles that were published up to September 2016 in the ‘‘ ISI Web of Sciencet’’ (http://apps.webofknowledge.com/).The keyword used was ‘‘ Huntington disease’’ . Of the initial 14,036 articles that were obtained, 7732 were eligible for inclusion inthe study according to their relevance. Data were classified according to language, country of publication, year, and area ofconcentration. The country leader regarding the number of studies published on HD is the United States, accounting for nearly30% of all publications, followed by England and Germany, who have published 10 and 7% of all publications, respectively.Regarding the language in which the articles were written, 98% of publications were in English. The first publication to be foundon HD was published in 1974. A surge of publications on HD can be seen from 1996 onward. In relation to the variousknowle dge areas that emerged, most publication s were in the fiel ds of neuroscience and neurology, likely because HD is aneurodegenerative disorder. Publications written in areas such as psychiatry, genetics, and molecular biology also predominated.